Holy heck! I fled the house, laptop in big black canvas bag, to get some work done and discovered our small local library is wifi. Who knew?

I have my camera. Had I packed the chip reader as well I could have taken a digital photo of Clifford the Big Red Dog and the wooden playhouse here in children’s. My View From the Rocking Chair.

The children’s librarian is weeding out old books. She said they call it “de-accessing,” as in the books are now removed from access.

“Say you’re ‘de-accessing’ instead of ‘spring cleaning,’” she said.

She recently found an old Curious George book in which the Man in the Yellow Hat is smoking a cigarette at the zoo. Hm, better de-access that one.

OK, back to work.

Is it possible, after all, that spite of bricks and shaven faces, this world we live in is brimmed with wonders, and I and all mankind, beneath our garbs of common-placeness, conceal enigmas that the stars themselves, and perhaps the highest seraphim can not resolve? – Herman Melville

Why is this man smiling?

The Washington Post called The Da Vinci Code “Unputdownable.” The media hype, with the trial, and the movie, is unignorable.

Because Dan Brown is a New Hampsha boy and the movie will be everywhere in 49 days, New Hampshire Magazine editor Rick Broussard is in search of Da Vinci Code readers, critics, fans and water-cooler theologists…

If you have a quotable quote on the book, the movie, Dan Brown, the Merovingians, or “How Monty Python Got It Wrong About the Holy Grail,” please either e-mail me or leave me a comment. Also let me know if you know someone of significance who has something to say on the topic.

Tell him.

My husband, teen daughter and I took turns reading Da Code when it came out a while back and we all agreed it was unputdownable – a fast-and-furious, fun, (and fictional) read.

I’ll bet if I ended every post like he ended every chapter, with an incredible cliffhanger you must see resolved, you’d be back for more pretty darn quick.

That I cannot devise cliffhangers is just one of the many reasons he is a filthy-rich bestselling author and I’m not.

What will happen next on Area 603?! Will Rick get any comments he can actually use in the magazine? Will he crack a smile? Stay tuned!

The Boston Comedy Festival Returns to the Ioka Theater on Friday, March 31 at 9:30 p.m. Doors open at 9 p.m. 21+ only. Buy tickets online.

The show benefits the Squamscott Community Center, which will be not just for Exeter residents but surrounding towns like North Hampton as well.

Squamscott Community Commons plans to construct a community center that will be home to a full-service family YMCA, and over ten agencies that provide programs and services in health, wellness, arts, culture, nutrition, childcare and recreation to the region.

Hat tip to Cynthia Swank for the link.

Feel free to email me community news for the blog as well as the newspaper. Sometimes news briefs I send in don’t make the North Hampton page due to space constraints. Blog space is practically infinite, with rapid and ink-free publication (and hot links)… though there are probably fewer readers.

This beautiful pea green door opens into one of my favorite restaurants.

I skulked around Portsmouth for an hour yesterday afternoon, after picking up a pair of dancing/acting “character” shoes for the teen at Danstuff. Also found a pair of cat’s eye glasses for her at MacroPolo. I am such a good (stage) mother.

She will appear in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” at the high school this Thursday through Saturday. Here’s the lowdown: Showtime for spring musical.

Lindbergh’s Crossing reflecting a tugboat

I walked the 6-mile ocean-and-back loop this morning. On Chapel, in the field behind the Lampreys, I watched a young red fox. He ignored me, trotting along a margin where long and short grass met, about 20 yards away.

He pounced a few times and finally caught something that looked like a meadow vole. He chewed it hard with his front teeth, more like a repeated biting… crunch, crunch, I thought I could actually hear the bones. Then he swallowed it whole and hunted some more.

North Hampton unites in cancer fight

NORTH HAMPTON – A third bout with cancer and a bone marrow transplant has kept Nick Leis out of school for his seventh-grade year, but the student body has not forgotten him.

On March 10 a benefit dance raised $1,060 for the Nick Leis fund. Donations to the fund have enabled Nick’s aunt and legal guardian, Alessandra Leis, to stay home and care for him.

To help Nick and his family, donations may be made to the “Nicholas Leis Fund” and sent to North Hampton School. Nick’s Caring Bridge Web site is located at www.caringbridge.org/visit/nicholasleis.

Police seek gunman suspected in robbery

NORTH HAMPTON – Police are looking for a redheaded man they say robbed a Route 1 convenience store Saturday night after showing a clerk what appeared to be a black semi-automatic pistol.

Dear Irving,

What is it about you that robbers and upskirt photographers find so attractive?

“It’s right smack dab in the middle of Route 1 and is open 19 hours a day,” said Stokel about the Irving Mainway’s recent string of crimes.