The public is invited to join members of the Wellesley College Alumnae in Eastern Maine on its coach trip to view the “Americans in Paris, 1860-1900” exhibit in Gund Gallery of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

The coach departs at 7 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, from the Park and Ride lot opposite the Ramada Inn on Odlin Road in Bangor, and arrangements for boarding along Interstate 95 south can be made before the trip.

The $119 cost includes transportation, admission to the museum with a recorded tour of the special exhibit, and dinner at the Village Cafe in Portland.

A coffee stop in Augusta and a visit to Quincy Market in Boston will be on your own.

The coach is fully accessible, and the reservation deadline is Sept. 1.

Nancy Ziegenbein of Bangor reports the exhibit features paintings and sculpture by some of America’s most celebrated artists, among them Homer, Sargent, Child Hassam and Whistler, and includes the loaned work, “Whistler’s Mother.”

This debut exhibition was organized by The National Gallery, London; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Proceeds benefit Wellesley College, and all sales are final.

For more information and reservations, call Ziegenbein at 947-7965, fax her at 947-7766, or write her at 41 Linden St., Bangor 04401.

Debra “Debbie” Hanson of Crawford is a member of the Friends of Calais Free Library.

She and her 12-year-old son, Tyler Provencher, are also volunteer workers at the Friends’ Secondhand Book Store in that Washington County community.

It came to Hanson’s attention recently that the library has an abundance of Reader’s Digest condensed books – piles of them, in fact.

But Hanson has come up with an idea where they just might be put to good use.

Hanson’s husband and Tyler’s stepfather, Spc. Leonard Hanson II, is currently serving with the military overseas, and the mother and son are acutely aware that our troops are without a great deal of enjoyable reading material.

Hanson can get the books ready to send off to the troops, but it will be costly, so the library Friends are asking for your help.

Any financial donations to help pay the postage to mail these books to our troops would be greatly appreciated.

Donations can be left at the library, at the Friends Secondhand Book Store, or with any member of the organization.

For more information, call the library at 454-2758.

Earlier this month, I wrote briefly about a meeting of the East Grand Dames Summer Book Club, and now it’s time for the rest of the story.

Pam Taylor had written me about this organization, which will host its next gathering to select books for discussion in 2007, at 10 a.m. (EDT) Wednesday, Aug. 2, at a member’s home.

Call Taylor, 448-2928, or Jane Cook, 448-2717, for directions.

Now for the story of the club’s origin: Taylor explained that, 10 years ago, six women in Forest City “met for tea on a lovely summer afternoon.”

“From their conversation about good books to read, came the idea to start a summer reading group” and the following year, “the name East Grand Dames was chosen.”

Today, East Grand Dames has more than 30 members.

Taylor wrote that the “membership is composed of both year-round and summer residents” from Washington and Aroostook counties, New Brunswick’s Carleton County, and New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Wisconsin and Missouri.

She added, as I mentioned before, that “no one has to read the books to attend the meetings.”

“Just come to be stimulated, to socialize or to enjoy the delicious refreshments,” and the East Grand Dames will welcome you.

Here is a reminder, for anyone heading for southern Maine this weekend from Shalom Odokara of Women in Need Industries, that the fourth annual Greater Portland Festival of Nations is being held 2-8:30 p.m. today at Deering Oaks Park in Portland.

Admission is free and includes music, dancing and fun. Food and gifts are extra.

The theme of this year’s festival is “Made in Maine,” showcasing Maine’s ethnic diversity with more than 60 different nations and 90 community service organizations and businesses represented.

Two stages of nonstop music and dance, an international bazaar, health fair, international soccer competition, and exotic food from a variety of vendors offers fun and entertainment for the whole family.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.