Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Flora's Drink Hideout

For drink recipes alcoholic and non-alcoholic, go to this great site:


 www.floras-hideout.com/drrecipes/recipes   


You will probably have to copy and paste this link into your browser. The link is in effect under December Recipes if you wish to link from there.  Here are some recipes from that site:



Welcome to

Flora’s Drink Hideout

These are non-alcoholic drinks to serve to your “non-drinkers” at your New Year’s Eve Party. There are many more on the site. I included these three here:

Faux Pink Champagne

1 ½ cups Sparkling apple cider, chilled
1 ½ cups Sparkling cherry-flavored mineral water, chilled
1 cup Cranberry juice cocktail, chilled
Combine and pour into 4 glasses. Serve immediately.

Frosty Strawberry Daiquiri

3 oz. or (1/2 of 6 oz. can) undiluted lemonade
1 cup water
1 pkg (10 oz.) frozen strawberries in syrup
12 ice cubes
1 ½ tsp. sugar optional
Place ingredients, water, strawberries, ice cubes and sugar, if using, into blender container. Cover and process on liquefy until slushy.

Faux Pina Colada

2 tbsp. coconut milk
2  tbsp. unsweetened pineapple juice
1 slice pineapple, diced
1 cup crushed ice
Put all ingredients in blender and blend until frothy.

Monday, December 27, 2010

The Day After Christmas

It’s the second day after Christmas, but it’s a Monday so we’ll call it the day after as far as day-after activities go. We all have our after-Christmas routines.

My mother’s routine rarely varied. The only thing that might hold her up is a blizzard like the one the Northeast is experiencing today. We had our one inch here yesterday, but most of my family up north is hunkering down today. One household is sick and two young ones, with their baby, are headed back to Massachusetts in this stuff. I’ll be glad when everyone reports in on Facebook, so I’ll know everyone is safe.

If this was a usual day after Christmas, however, most of us would be following our after-Christmas rituals. For my mother, that meant taking down the tree, first of all. All the ornaments were taken off carefully and stored away in their special boxes or wrapped up in tissue. When we were on Fulton Street that meant everything had to be carried back up into the attic--up two flights of stairs.

All the rest of the Christmas decorations would also be taken down and packed up till next year. These days those people who have huge outside light displays must take a full day with family help to get everything stored away. We didn’t have such displays in the South End. Putting the Christmas tree in the window so it could be seen outside was about the extent of our light display.

When everything was put away and all the Christmas tree sprills and tinsel were vacuumed up, Christmas was officially over. Everything looked so bare and depressing in a way. It was always a big let down for me.

To remedy the let down many housewives felt, what better way to pick themselves up than to go shopping. The White Sales were not far off after all. Meanwhile, after Christmas sales abounded and the inevitable returns for stuff that didn’t fit. The lines for that chore were always long the day after Christmas.

This time is also good for buying all your Christmas decorations at 50% off to save for next year. Opening that particular box next Christmas will be a nice surprise to look forward to.

It’s also a good idea to buy next year’s Christmas cards. They are always discounted. I save the current year’s cards so I’ll be able to make my new Christmas card list next year. If I buy cards now, I will store them altogether.

The only thing left to dispose of is food. Our refrigerator is still full of the ham we got as a gift and leftover seafood I sent away to Graffam’s in Rockport for. We’ll eat on it all this week and maybe part of the next week. If you didn’t manage to send your Christmas guests out the door with a package of leftovers, you now have to look up some recipes to incorporate your leftovers. I’ll try to help you out in that department in January recipes.

I hope all you folks up North have enough leftovers in the house so that you don’t have to go out in this storm. Snuggle down after you dismantle everything. Have some eggnog if any is left and settle down with a good book or watch a movie on T.V.  The snowblowing can wait.

Thanks for listening.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas With The Crockers

I thought you might enjoy one of the Christmas scenes from my book,
 "The South End"


When Gloria and the kids arrived in town two days before Christmas, Frank invited Doris, Linda and George, and Jimmy and Shirley to join his family at the Samoset for dinner. Doris had never eaten at the Samoset except for a few committee meetings and banquets for organizations she and Louis were involved in. She was very awed with all the Christmas decorations at the resort. Gloria and Frank gave her the grand tour, including the view of the ocean and the breakwater lighthouse from their room. She especially liked the big Christmas tree by the fireplace in the main lounge.

They were given a special table in Marcel’s Restaurant, overlooking Penobscot Bay. The table was decorated by a three-foot tall old-fashioned elaborately dressed Father Christmas. Doris assumed it belonged to the hotel and admired it throughout the meal. When Gloria presented it to her at the end of the meal, she was flabbergasted. Gloria bought it especially for Doris at Macy’s in New York City when she returned to get the car.

Hidden in the folds of Father Christmas’ gown was a small box with Doris’ name on it. Gloria retrieved it from the folds and said, “This box has your name on it, mother. Why don’t you open it.”

Doris put her hand over her heart. “For me? Oh, this is too much.”

“Open it, mother,” said Frank.

With trembling hands, Doris opened the box to reveal a pair of diamond earrings.

“Ohhhh…they’re so beautiful. You shouldn’t have,” she said.

Jimmy piped up, “You’ll look real good when you wear them to church, Ma. Those old hens will think you got a new man or something.”

Frank glared at Jimmy. Besides reminding Doris she was now a widow, he was also scoffing at a gift he could never afford to give his mother. Frank could see that and so could everyone else. The remark went over Doris’ head, however.

O.K., thought Frank. Get your digs in now little brother. I’ll settle with you later.

Frank spoke up quickly, “Mother, you wear them anywhere you want to. You deserve them.”

“Try them on,” said Linda.

“Yes, do, Gramma,” said Jessie, jumping up to help.

After adjusting them on her grandmother’s ears, she stood back to look.

“Oh, you look so beautiful, Gramma.”

Doris beamed. She moved her head from side to side to make them shine in the lights.

“I do? Oh I wish I could see them. I’ll have to look at them in the mirror later. Thank you, Gloria and Frank. This is the best present I ever got.”

“Hmmph,” said Jimmy, slumping in his chair with crossed arms.

Doris leaned over and gave Frank a kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you for making this a special Christmas, son, and you too Gloria. This nice dinner and everything. It’s so nice to have the whole family around me.”

“Thank you, Mother,” said Frank, “for all the Christmases you made so special for us when we were kids. It’s about time we all did something special for you.”

In spite of Jimmy’s sullenness, the evening was a huge success. Now the family was gathered once again for Christmas eve at Linda’s house on Ocean Street. Frank stood in the kitchen and inhaled deeply, taking in the special smells of Christmas. Pies were baking in the oven and he could smell the scent from the Christmas tree in the front room every time someone opened the kitchen door. Memories of his mother’s kitchen and the Christmases of his youth flooded his mind. He was glad Gloria agreed to spend Christmas with his family in Maine and even happier that his own children could experience a New England Christmas.

What made this Christmas even more special to Frank were the younger children, the great-grandchildren, the next generation of Crockers. There’s something about children’s laughter that makes Christmas really seem like Christmas, Frank thought. There was an abundance of children at Linda’s house tonight. Linda had four children, all living in the area, three of them married with children. All seven grandchildren showed up at Linda’s on Christmas Eve to have a party with Nana and get their promised Christmas stockings and the Christmas cookies Linda always gave them to take home and leave for Santa.

Jimmy had two children. Little Jimmy was his only grandchild. Jimmy brought him to the party at Linda’s. He was the first grandchild to arrive and he was underfoot in the kitchen as usual, keeping up a lively chatter.

Not all of the parents were there, however, as some of them were still shopping for the children in question or putting together toys to put under their own trees for the morning. Nana’s party gave them a chance to do this and was in fact the reason Linda started the tradition in the first place. They would all show up later in the evening.

As each child arrived, they gave Nana a big kiss and handed her a present to put under her own tree. Since Joey and Jessie were here this year, Linda enlisted their aid in keeping the little ones happy and in line. Neither Joey nor Jessie had met all of the second cousins. Jessie was delighted to be of help. She loved kids and was, in fact, studying to be a teacher in college. Joey wasn’t so sure about the little munchkins, but he pitched in anyway.

Doris sat among all of them and watched their antics with a big smile on her face. She hoped that some of the older ones would remember their great-grandfather Louis. As her mind wandered to Christmases past, the oldest great-grandchild, seven-year-old Jake, approached her timidly.

“Gramma Doris?” he said.

“What is it, Jake? Come here and talk to your old Gramma a minute.”

Jake walked slowly over to Doris. He had a big frown on his face. Doris
made a place for him next to her and put a loving arm around him, hugging him to her side.
“My, you’re getting to be such a big boy, Jake, but why such a face?”

“Well…” he hesitated.

“What is it? You can tell me.”

“Well…I just…it’s…I miss Grampa Louis. He died didn’t he.”

Doris was very touched and she gave him a squeeze.

“Yes, son, he did, but you know what?”

“What?”

Jake looked at her hopefully.

“He’s here with us today in this very house.”

Jake got very excited and looked all around the room searching for his old friend and great-grandfather; he expected the man who used to tell him jokes and laugh a lot to walk by him at any minute.

Doris said, “No you can’t see him, Jake, but he’s here all right. In spirit. Do you know what an angel is?”

“Yes…I think so. They fly around in heaven a lot and do good things for people on earth.”

“That’s right, Jake,” Doris said. “Well your Grandpa Louis is an angel now. He’s watching over all of us. He’s probably looking at you and me right this very minute.”

Jake’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“He is? Can we talk to him?”

“No. Not out loud anyway. You can talk to him with your heart though. He’s right here.”
Doris touched him lightly on the chest.

“And when you say your prayers tonight, if you say ‘God bless, Grandpa Louis,’ I betcha he’ll hear you.”

“He will?”

“Yes, he will. I’m sure of it.”

Jake sat quietly a minute with a look of great concentration on his face. Doris could almost see the wheels of understanding turning in his head. She waited patiently for him to process the information and ask his next question.

“Gramma?” he said, after a while.

“Yes, dear, what else would you like to know?”

“It’s just…well…if Grampa Louis can’t talk to us and we can’t see him, who’s gonna tell the story?”

“Oh my,” said Doris. “We’ll have to think about that one, won’t we.”

It was a tradition at the Christmas eve party for Grampa Louis to recite the “The Night Before Christmas,” by Clement Moore. Jake looked at Doris expectantly, waiting for an answer. Just then Frank walked by with another present to put under the tree.

“Ah hah,” said Doris. “I think we have our answer, Jake.”

“We do?” he said.

“Yes we do. Do you see that man right there? Do you know who he is?”

Jake screwed up his face and thought some more. He had never met Frank before. All of a sudden he said, “No…but you know what Gramma?”

“What, Jake?”

His face lit up. “He looks a lot like Grampa Louis.”

“You’re right, Jake. My what a smart boy you are.”

Doris was amazed that a seven-year-old could pick out family resemblances so easily.

“Do you know why he looks like Grampa Louis,” she said.

“Why?”

“Because that man is Grampa Louis’ son. He looks like his daddy just like you look like your daddy. What do you think of that?”

“Is his name Louis too? My daddy’s name is Jake, like mine is.”

“No, his name is Frank Crocker. He’s your great-uncle, like Grampa Louis was your great-grampa.”

“Oh,” said Jake, looking very confused.

“But you know what?” Doris said. “Because he looks so much like Grampa Louis, I think he should read the story this year. What do you think?”

“Do you think he would, Gramma?”

“I bet if you went over to him and asked him nicely and said please. I think he would. Why don’t you go try.”

“Well…O.K. Now?”

“Yes. Now. Go on, go ask him nicely.”

Doris gave him a little nudge and Jake got up and headed for Frank timidly. He turned back once and said, “What’s his name, Gramma, I forgot.”

“Call him Great-uncle Frank,” said Doris, very seriously.

She couldn’t wait to see the expression on Frank’s face when he heard that moniker.

Frank was down on one knee when he felt a tug on his sweater sleeve. He turned toward the tug and looked into the face of his own son, Joey. He blinked a minute as if in a time warp.

“Great-Uncle Frank?”

Frank was taken aback at the name and was speechless for a minute until he heard a snicker and looked toward the couch and saw the smile on his mother’s face. He shook his finger at her.

“You put him up to this, didn’t you.”

Doris laughed and clapped her hands together.

“Great-Uncle Frank?” Jake said again.

Doris burst out laughing and Frank couldn’t help it. He had to laugh too.

“What’s so funny?” Jake said. “Isn’t that your name? Gramma said…”

Jake stood there uncertainly, now afraid to ask what he had come over to Frank to ask. Frank quickly put him at ease.

“It’s O.K., pardner. Yes, your Gramma’s right, but Great-Uncle Frank is such a long name. Why don’t you just call me Uncle Frank. O.K.? And what is your name?”

“Oh…O.K…my name is Jake and Gramma said…”

Frank held out his hand and Jake held his out tentatively. Frank shook his tiny hand and said, “And what can I do for you, Jake, my man?”

“Well…Gramma said…I said…well, anyway. You look like Grampa Louis and so you should read the story this year, I mean…please…”

“The story?”

Frank looked to his mother for help, amazed as much as she was, that one so young would think he looked like his father, Louis. He suddenly realized Doris was giving him a message through the voice of a child. It moved him very much.
“Tradition, Frank. Family tradition. It’s your turn to read the Christmas story.”

Doris produced a book from behind her back.

“Remember? I was going to read it this year, but Jake had a better idea. Out of the mouths of babes.”

Frank recognized the tattered old book instantly. It was the book from which his father had read “The Night Before Christmas” to he and Jimmy and Linda for so many Christmases. The old boy kept up the tradition all these years, he thought, even down to the great-grandchildren. Suddenly the thought crossed his mind that Louis must have been the last person to touch that book except for his mother.

He looked at Doris and dropped his jaw in amazement. Jake looked back and forth between them, not knowing quite what to do.

Frank came over and took the old book from Doris and held it reverently. Some of the leaves were loose and were sticking at odd ends out of the cover.

“I’d be delighted to read it,” he said, looking at his mother lovingly.

“Oh boy, oh boy,” Jake said, jumping up and down.

He ran and gathered the rest of the great-grandchildren.

“Come on, everyone. Uncle Frank’s gonna read the story.”

All seven great-grandchildren came running and gathered on the floor in front of Frank. Frank sat down on the floor too and put his arm around Jake. Jake smiled up at him. He felt very special because he had found a new storyteller for the group.

When the adults in the house heard that Frank was going to read the story, they all dropped what they were doing and gathered around in the background to witness the kids enjoy the story once more. Frank not only looked like Louis, he sounded like him too and some of the women had to dab at their eyes as he read, including Doris. It was only right that Frank continue the tradition. The Crocker clan all felt a sense of continuance, a feeling that all was right with the world on this very special Christmas Eve. Frank felt the presence of his father very near him as he read the familiar words.

The evening ended when the rest of the family arrived to pick up their respective children. Linda suggested that they all revive the old family tradition of singing Christmas carols around the old upright piano in the den. Doris was an accomplished piano player, a talent she had passed on to Linda, who inherited the family piano when Doris and Louis moved to their small apartment several years earlier.

Doris eagerly agreed to take her rightful place at the keys and the whole family gathered around her to sing the carols once again. Gloria stood next to Frank and squeezed his hand. He looked at her and thanked her with his eyes. She leaned over and whispered in his ear. “Thank-you, Frank. This is the best Christmas we’ve ever had.





Merry Christmas, Everyone



For more information on "The South End," please see my Facebook page, "Southend Stories" or hit the book box at the bottom on the right.






My Christmas Letter




Since I’ve given you a musical Christmas card already (see “My Christmas Card to You”), I decided I’d give you a Christmas letter to put inside it. I never think I have enough exciting things to write about in these things but I always seem to end up with something of interest, so here goes:

According to Facebook statistics, the three words I used most on Facebook this year are blog, don’t, and know. That about sums up my angst this year as I launched this new blog space in September. The other blog I had done for almost two years was restrictive, plus they began charging my readers to get to me. So I decided to go with blogspace and develop a whole new concept in blogging, which I did.

My fans have found me here or on Facebook and I am enjoying the heck out of it. I link many of my blogs to Facebook, and Goggle Buzz, therefore I have a wider audience than before. I have received hits from all over the world, including Canada, Columbia, Russia, Japan, Germany, Slovenia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, South Korea, the Phillipines and others.

On the book front, I continued to publicize The South End and was fortunate to participate in two book signings this summer, at the Festival and at the Maine Homes, Boats and Harbors show. I stopped in to see my favorite booksellers also at the Reading Corner in Rockland and Personal Book Store in Thomaston.

I met a new friend this year who has helped me immensely with my aforesaid blog angst problems. Her name is Jami Howard and she designed this blog space and set up the different elements within it. I couldn’t have done it without her. Thanks, Jami. By the way, she is a graphic designer who does free lance work. If you need graphics arts help and live in the Atlanta area, check out her website at www.imajworks.com.

On the family front, this year our youngest member, my great-great niece, Allison, is one-years-old this Christmas. That’s a fun time to watch little ones who usually end up playing with the bows, paper and boxes their presents come in. Our oldest family member is at the other end of the spectrum. Our Aunt Virginia Poletti turned 100 years old December 7. (See the stories I posted about her here.) She also had a story posted in the local paper; had two great birthday parties; got messages from the Maine legislature and from President and Mrs. Obama; and was wished Happy Birthday by Willard Scott on the Today Show. Quite an event all around.

Healthwise I’m still wrestling with physical therapy for chronic tendonitis in my feet, but otherwise have had no major health issues. Other family members in this generation have had their ups and downs this year, but we’re all out of the woods, thank god.

I look forward to the coming year and possibly finishing the new book I’m working on. More on that as it develops.

I wish you all the best of everything this Christmas and for the year to come.

Sandra, December 18, 2010

Monday, December 13, 2010

Christmas Storytelling Time




There are so many good Christmas stories. I always enjoyed reading them at this time of year. They were all so colorful and hopeful and full of miracles. A child’s imagination could really soar. They were our TV stories and often read to us on our father’s or mother’s lap. My father was a good storyteller and I took every chance I could get to sit in his lap and listen to his deep voice as he told me the story of Christmas from one Christmas book or another.

This video is one of the many films made about “The Little Match Girl,” by Hans Christian Andersen. This is the 1954 version.

The most noteworthy of these stories includes the story actually in the form of a poem, “Twas the Night Before Christmas” or as it is also called, “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas.” The author of this poem is debatable but is most often attributed to Clement C. Moore. I used to read this one to my sister, Sally, sometime during the Christmas season. We also had a classmate, Veronica Murry, who took elocution lessons. She would recite this poem for us in school.


“The Littlest Angel,” by Charles Tazewell, came out in 1946. It’s the story of a young boy who has just become an angel and misses the box of treasures he left under his bed. He is given this box and is very happy. He ends up giving the baby Jesus his box of treasures which include a butterfly, a bird’s eye, and several stories. He cries when he thinks that the gift may not be good enough for Jesus. Jesus answers, “Of all the gifts of all the angels, I find this small box pleases the most.”

There are several stories based on this same premise, a gift for the new baby Jesus. “The Little Drummer Boy” comes to mind.

There is also the story that is an adult story as well, “The Gift of the Magi,” by William Sydney Porter. The characters in “The Gift of the Magi” are a poor couple who can’t afford to give each other a Christmas present. She cuts her hair to buy him a watch chain; and he sells his watch to give her a comb to put in her hair. Her hair and his watch are their most prized possessions but they were willing to give them up to please the other. It ends up that the comb will not fit in her shorter hair and the chain is useless without the watch. The narrator summarizes that their gifts are as wise as the gifts that the magi brought to Christ because their gifts were given out of surrendered treasures and a loving heart. A good moral lesson for all who read the story.

Of course the biggest of all Christmas stories is Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” It probably is one of the most reprinted Christmas stories as well as being one of the biggest Christmas stories on the screen. I think I’ve seen most all of them. Many people don’t realize that Dickens also wrote two other Christmas stories, “The Cricket on the Hearth” and Chimes.”

My sister loved the Little Golden Books they sold at the grocery store. She begged mother for a new one every Friday when my mother went grocery shopping. They presently are celebrating their 65th anniversary. I found two Little Golden Books having to do with Christmas, “The Night Before Christmas” and “Santa’s Toy Shop.”

It is also the 50th anniversary of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” by Dr. Seuss. Some stories are quite recent and have movies also like “Frosty the Snowman” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” which were songs to begin with. I remember Gene Autry singing these tales.

Did you ever read any of these stories: “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” “Legend of the Christmas Stocking,” and “The Christmas Candle?” We also have the recent story called “The Polar Express” which was made into a wonderful movie.

I ran across the complete story, “The Other Wise Man” online. You can read it in its entirety at www.fullbooks.com/The-Story-of-the-Other-Wise-Man.html. You can find other stories to read at that site also.

Lastly, we must mention the story “Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Claus.” The story was published in the New York Sun September 21, 1897. Written by Francis Pharcellus Church, pictured here, he signed it Anonymous. It is an answer on the editorial page to the question posed by an eight-year-old named Virginia O’Hanlon. 
                                                          
I hope you will find a child or even a group of children to read to this Christmas season. Children who are read to turn out to be pretty good readers themselves. It’s a great gift to give any child. I may also mention that the Owl & Turtle Bookshop in Camden is accepting books to give to children this Christmas. Enjoy and pass on your favorite Christmas story to the next generation.

Thanks for listening.





Tuesday, December 7, 2010

DECEMBER UPDATE

This month is a busy one for all of us. I hope you will use this blog space to catch up on Christmas Recipes; Christmas Crafts and Decorations; Benefits and Good Works for December; and special events going on this month. I will also write special blogs of my own, as usual. This month you will find three different historical pieces centered on December of 1910.

I am still having some format woes. I ask you to be patient, especially in the recipe section. It may not look perfect graphically, but the information is all there. I am still on a learning curve when I try to move from one format to another and make it come out looking well. I may not be able to get all the different blogs up on one day so please be patient. Check back each day for new items. I will also update the happenings blogs daily as I come across new items to add.

This month I have decided to start a blog called “Literary Review.” From time to time I will try to review books and magazines related to Maine which I think you may enjoy. The first review covers the magazine, Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors, which as you know has offices in the old Naum and Adams building in the South End.

Special features this month include: Santa’s Itinerary, Christmas Music Events, Christmas Crafts and Decorations, and other surprises as the month goes on.

The November guest blog by Cindy Anderson, was well received. If you are interested in the Midcoast Community Chorus, reread that blog in the November archive. I welcome guest blogs on any subject of interest to you. Simple email me your request at www.southendstories.blogspot.com .

I have extended the deadline for ordering from my Winter Holiday Special. I will not be able to guarantee delivery for Christmas after the December 1 date, but I will still accept orders. See the Cyber Monday blog in the November archive as well as two sneak peeks from the blog CD, including many of the pictures included on the CD. Also, please shop from the ads along the side of my blog. Every time you click one of those ads, I benefit. I would appreciate it. If you will, consider it a Christmas gift for your favorite blogger writer…me!

I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

...and one to grow on



Virginia Dare Winchenbaugh Poletti in 2008


Remember when we were spanked on our birthday? It was one spank for each year we were old. When the spanker was finished they added one more and said…”one more to grow on.” Well I’m here to tell you there is one person I’m happy to have in my life who would be standing there a long time if I spanked her on her birthday this December 7. Her name is Virginia Dare Winchenbaugh Poletti and she is my aunt. (Yes she was named for the historical character Virginia Dare, who reportedly was the first white child born in America.)

Born on Dutch Neck at the family’s homestead, the family moved to West Meadow Road in Rockland when she was a small girl. The family would eventually number five boys and three girls. My grandfather, Herman Winchenbaugh, held several jobs in the community. He was a lay preacher and also studied for the law via the mail and became a Justice of the Peace. He eventually acquired a lot of real estate in Rockland and Spruce Head and did quite well renting out some of the properties, including several cottages in Spruce Head. He and his wife, Carrie, once owned and lived in the Berry House, now the Berry Manor Inn.

In the early years on the West Meadow Road, however, the family had to struggle at times. Virginia went to school at the Benner Hill School, a one-room schoolhouse on the Mountain Road, above West Meadow Road. She went to high school at Rockland High School on Lincoln Street. She and my mother had to walk to school from way up on the West Meadow Road.

One day when she was in high school they let school out early because of a blizzard. Virginia, instead of going home, took the dime she happened to have and went to the movies. When she got out the storm was worse and by the time she got to Kiln Hill she was in trouble. At one point she had to crawl on hands and knees. She almost didn’t make it home. Her father was getting ready to hitch up the horse and wagon to go look for her by the time she finally made it home.

She has fond memories, however, of going to church with the family on Sunday, then spending the day down at the cottages in Spruce Head, arriving there via their horse and buggy. The problem was that when they returned home the kids all had to trudge up Kiln Hill to the house because their horse, Molly, was tired.  Kiln Hill is the nickname for Shearer’s Lane. I imagine it was called Kiln Hill because of the many limestone quarries up that way.

She met her husband, Constantine Poletti, lovingly called “Uncle Mac,” when he was serving in the Navy and came to Rockland. I don’t know where the name “Mac” came from. She used to call him “Con” and he called her “Gin or Ginny.” When war broke out on her 31st birthday, December 7, 1941, Mac was deployed to several posts in the U.S. Aunt Virginia followed him wherever he went and met many friends along the way.

After the war, Mac worked for the Post Office in Boston until he retired. He and Virginia lived in Quincy, Massachusetts. They had no children, but we have always considered her to be our second mother in the family.

Virginia and Mac spent many summers at a cottage owned by my grandfather in Spruce Head and eventually bought it when my grandfather died. My mother and father bought the one next door. When the foursome retired they both spent the entire summer in Spruce Head. The Polettis spent the winter in Florida for many years. They went on a cruise every winter also, which totaled up to 21 cruises over the years.

After Uncle Mac passed away, Virginia continued to make the trek back and forth to Maine and Florida in the spring and fall with the help of a driver. Not long after she went through a bad hurricane season in Florida in which her mobile home was severely damaged, she decided to move back up to Maine permanently to be nearer her family. She is now a permanent resident of Bartlett Woods. The Spruce Head cottage is still used by family on occasion and Virginia gets to go down and sit on the front porch once in a while in the summer so she can watch the activity on the water and watch the tide come in and out.

We were happy to welcome her back to her home state of Maine; and we are happy to celebrate her 100th birthday this December 7. Still as witty as ever, she is well loved by us and by all the folks up at Bartlett Woods. Here’s to you, Aunt Virginia. I now will commence the spanking: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24-oh well you get the idea. Here’s the 100th spank…and one to grow on. Happy Birthday, Aunt Virginia.

Thanks for listening.

(See the related stories, “What Was Virginia’s Landscape Like in 1910?” and “Front Page Stories for December 10, 1910.”)



Virginia and Mac in Spruce Head, circa 1970s



The sisters, Evangeline and Virginia, enjoy watching the surf
 on the "whale rock" in Spruce Head

What was Virginia's Landscape Like in 1910?

We have talked a lot about personal landscapes, or what kind of world you are living in at a particular time in your life. I found the following to be what my Aunt Virginia’s world looked like as she was growing up in Rockland, Maine.

In 1910, the year she was born, the census counted 8,174 souls living in the Rockland area. I don’t know what the population is today, but I believe it varies every few years as young people grow up and leave the area for opportunities elsewhere.

In the early 1900s Rockland was a big limestone center. Limestone was quarried in the North End up off the Old County Road near where Virginia lived with her family, the Winchenbaughs, up on West Meadow Road. These quarries have been recorded as the deepest in the world. The lime was then carried down to the kilns on the waterfront in the north end of the business district by horse and buggy or by the Limerock Railroad.

 Virginia might very well have seen buggies full of lime as she traveled up and down Kiln Hill (actually Shearer’s Lane). Roads were not paved and became very muddy in spring. Main Street was not paved with stone till the 1930s.

The winters were cold and the harbor froze solid enough to run a team of horses and a wagon over the ice to the outer islands. Men cut ice for household use up off Chikawauka Lake also using horse and wagon out on the ice. There were no snowplows, so a big open tall-sided wagon was used, pulled by a horse again, while teams of men were hired to throw the snow on Main Street up onto the wagon. I imagine they also tried to keep the trolley line open which ran through Main Street up as far as Glen Cove. Automobiles were not yet used by every family. Most got around with horses and wagons.

Besides all the smoke from the kilns on the waterfront, the harbor itself was full of every ship imaginable, from big schooners and steam ships to pleasure boats. Steamships made regular runs between Rockland and Bangor and Rockland and Portland. The Penobscot ran from Boston to Bangor. Passengers often used the steamers instead of trying to get to someplace via a horse and buggy on an old rutted, dirt road.

There was railroad passenger service from Rockland to Bath on the Knox and Lincoln Railroad which was taken over by the Maine Central Railroad in 1901. The building used for a train station still stands on the corner of Pleasant and Union Streets. It wasn’t built till 1917 so it wasn’t in Virginia’s landscape till then. Passenger service ended in 1959 but we are seeing a resurgence with the summer trade. The building itself has been used for many purposes. At one time it held the City offices. I went there to register to vote when I was 21.

Daily life around 1910 wasn’t easy either. Most people used wood stoves to keep warm. Most also had wells and no running water inside or inside plumbing. Outhouses were used. I don’t know if the Winchenbaugh’s had electricity at the house in 1910, but they had no phone. This was the norm for families at that time. Main Street didn’t get street lights till 1905.

As for some of the other buildings and businesses that existed in 1910 we have first of all, the Poor House and the Pest House up near Dodges Mountain. The phrase, “You’re going to put me in the Poor House” really had meaning at that time. The Pest House was used to isolate people with highly communicable diseases, of which tuberculosis would be high on the list. At that time there were also blacksmiths and livery stables. In some cases stagecoach service existed like the one owned by George Lynde, who owned the Lynde Hotel and livery service at that location. He ran a stagecoach between Rockland and St. George. I don’t know if the service was still in existence in 1910 but it’s likely.

Down on Main Street, Virginia might have passed by the biggest and most important store that existed at that time, Fuller, Cobb, Davis in the Syndicate Building. That building later held the H.H. Crie Co. hardware store. The Cooper Kettle on Limerock Street, didn’t exist till 1911. The Thorndike Hotel was there as well as the Rockland Hotel, which burned in the 1952 fire. The Bay Point Hotel, was remodeled, refurbished, and reopened as The Samoset in 1902 out at Jameson’s Point.

So there you have it, Virginia’s personal landscape from 1910 on during her childhood and young adulthood. Most of the information for this piece came from two publications published by the Rockland Historical Society, Shore Village Album and Shore Village Story. For more complete information on the history of Rockland, contact the society at their office below the Rockland Public Library on Union Street, which by the way was not opened till 1903, just a mere seven years before Virginia was born.