Easter Dinner and Passover Seder

Christians share Easter Week this year with the Jewish Passover celebration. Both religious holidays share much of their symbolism as well as similar positions on the calendar. Let’s look at some of the traditions of both of these special holidays.

Easter is a “moveable feast” in that it doesn’t follow a civil calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the March equinox which is said to be March 21 ecclesiastically (not astronomically). The date therefore varies between March 22-April 25. But wait, Eastern Christians follow the Julian calendar while those in other parts of the world follow the Gregorian calendar. March 21 on the Julian calendar is April 3 on the Gregorian calendar and therefore Easter falls between April 4-May 8. Understand all that?

Note also that Easter may also be called Pasch or Pascha, which is very close to the other names for Passover, “Pesah, Pesakh and several other variations.

Passover occurs on the 15^th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar, which is March 25^th on the Julian calendar. The celebration begins at dusk and ends at dusk seven days later in Israel and eight days later in the diaspora (the rest of the world).

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ three days after he was crucified on the cross. Passover celebrates, as told in the Christian Bible’s book of Exodus, the freedom from slavery of the Children of Israel from ancient Egypt following the Ten Plagues.

The worst plague was the death of every Egyptian first-born. The Israelites were told to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb so that the Lord, upon seeing this mark, would pass their home by, thus “pass over” became the holiday of Passover.

Jewish people celebrate their first day of Passover with a ritualistic dinner called a “Seder.” Each part of the meal has a special symbolism. The matzah, symbolizes unleavened bread because the Israelites left in such a hurry that they didn’t have time to let their bread rise. Wine is also drunk and maror is also eaten. Maror may be grated horseradish, romaine lettuce, or whole horseradish root, symbolizing the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. For more information on the rituals involved with a Seder, please go to a very comprehensive report at Wikipedia.

 

Picture from Wikipedia

The Easter Christian celebrations include a church service on Easter Sunday or a sunrise service somewhere where the sun can be seen rising. Other rites are followed on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Palm Sunday, which is the Sunday before Easter. Christians give a “Happy Easter” greeting to their friends while Jewish friends say “Good Pasah.” Christians may have an Easter egg hunt or egg rolling event. The eggs symbolize the empty tomb found on Easter after Christ had risen.

Easter dinner usually includes some kind of ham and deviled or sometimes decorated hard boiled eggs. The Easter Bunny may deliver the eggs or be involved in an Easter Egg hunt. I did a story on the Easter Bunny last year if you want to look it up in the archives.

 

Picture from "Southern Living"

Whatever way you choose to celebrate the religious holidays this week I wish you both a Happy Easter and a Good Pesah.

My Interview with Paul "Gilly" Merriam

 

 

In 2009, when my book, The South End, was published, I was interviewed for Channel 7 in Rockland, by Paul Merriam, a dear family friend, member of the Rockland Historical Society, and a partner in GEM Productions.

 

The interview was done at the Historical Society at the Rockland Public Library and was filmed by Wayne Gray. I know many of you have seen it on Channel 7. I have been trying to figure out a way to add that interview to my blog space and today found the archive online where you can view it. According to that information, it has been downloaded 28 times. If you hit Ctrl/Shift a link will appear below the line, which when you hit it will go directly to the interview. I just did the ctrl/shift thing and it went directly to it, so try that too. Share with your friends if you wish and thanks for your continued support of my work.

 

 

http://archive.org/details/TheSouthEnd_923

March Madness

Call me Mad during the month of March during March Madness. Saturday I sat in front of the TV all day watching the Men’s NCAA Tournament. Yesterday, the Women’s NCAA Tournament started and I watched games from 11 am to 9 pm. Today (Sunday) after we went to get groceries, I did some cooking for the week and ended up just in time for a snack and more game watching at 12:30. So far today I’ve watched Delaware beat West Virginia and I’m now watching the DePaul/Oklahoma game. Kentucky has beat Navy today too. I think that qualifies me as a nut, right?

You’ll be lucky if you see this blog tomorrow because I’m trying to write during time outs, half time breaks and between game breaks.

I’m not as bad as I used to be though. I don’t make out my brackets anymore like the President just did. Since the inception of the WNBA, I’m in basketball heaven, because I can now watch basketball in the summer too.

One thing though, why does the Men’s Tournament get four channels to watch the games on and the Women’s Tournament only gets one? Oh yes, on my Direct TV setup I can watch other women’s games on something called ESPNu or something like that—IF I want to pay for it! What’s up with that? Title 9 should include equal TV coverage too I think. It’s only fair.

Now they switched games to the Middle Tennessee/Louisville game. I guess that’s because Tennessee is in my area. I miss Pat Summitt, the most honored, winningest coach of the college game, including the Men’s game. Her UT Volunteers team won their game yesterday. I wish them luck this year and send much love Pat’s way.

I got to see Pat in person when the Women’s National Team played here at a local college prior to the Olympics. She was co-coaching with Geno Ariamo, of Connecticut, my favorite team. Connecticut beat Idaho yesterday 105-30 I think. At 12-0 they switched to another game because I guess they figured it was all over in that game, and it was. I also got to see both Geno and Pat during the NCAA Final Four here in Atlanta a few years ago. Pat threw a chair onto the floor because she got so frustrated with the Diana Turasi-led team that year.

Commercial time so now I can continue.

 

 

 

I think all this madness began with me in high school when I played on the Girls’ Rockland High School Tiger team. It was the only sport I was any good at all in. I played guard when we still had a half court game. Later on, when a roving guard was added, I played that position. When the other team fouled me I could never get that darn foul shot though.

Basketball was naturally the most popular sport then, and probably still is. Of course that mainly has to do with the condition of the fields needed to play football, baseball, and softball. You can’t play in mud after all or six feet of snow. The season is short and I think they even tried to make split seasons out of those games, playing in spring and fall. You can’t keep up any continuity that way.

Here in the South its “Friday Night Lights” as far as football is concerned. If we’d tried to play under the lights up home we surely would have frozen to death. It was bad enough in the daytime to sit still long enough to watch a game without freezing your buns.

I don’t know what kind of teams they have at the new high school now. In the 50s we didn’t have soccer at all for either boys or girls. We tried to start a field hockey team with the girls, but it didn’t stick. I tried out for it but wasn’t impressed.

Louisville is now beating Middle Tennessee, 24-8. I wonder when they’ll switch to another game. They’re playing on Louisville’s home court and it looks like they have a good crowd. It’s not quite fair I think to let a team play on their home court during the tournament. I guess they can’t always tell what teams will be playing for sure, though, but I really think they should put them into another area somewhere if it appears they will be playing on their home court. It was fun seeing Connecticut win on their home court yesterday though, I must admit—hee hee.

Rockland had some good teams during the 50s. I think the men and women both went to some form of tournament play at the end of the season. I remember going to all the games at the Community Center (now Recreation Center) and yelling all through the game sitting with my girlfriends up over the floor in the bleachers. We would all be hoarse by the end of the game. Then it would be off to Humptey’s for fries and a coke. Good times, good memories.

Our girls’ basketball road games were a lot of fun too. We’d sing all the way there and back, even if we lost. Our best singers, Shearer Hooper and Barbara Staples always sang “Blue Moon” for us in harmony after we begged them enough. We usually stopped for a snack somewhere on the way home. Our long legs could store away quite a lot of food in those days and after playing so hard in the game, we were always starrrrrrving. Again. Good times, good memories. We lost Shearer back in 2011. We all miss her.

Is it no wonder then that basketball holds a special place in my heart; and I reminisce all the while I’m watching my favorite teams as well as those I don’t get to see too often? March Madness is something I look forward to every year. God help my friends if they suggest we do something else while the games are on. I’m not going anywhere. Sorry.

Gotta go. Half time coming up and I want to see how the rest of the teams are doing so far today. Call me sometime in April, OK?

By the way, I don’t think any women’s team in the tournament is going to get by Baylor and Brittney Griner. They will take the big prize.

Thanks for listening.

Oh the Cuteness of Our Pets

There is a show on animal planet called “Oh the Cuteness” which follows the births of several litters of dogs or cats up until the time they are adopted into new families. They warn you at the beginning of the program, in a tongue and cheek way, that the cuteness to come may not be suitable for all.

Because you all seemed to enjoy the tribute to our Sonny and because many of my family and friends have lost a beloved pet this year, I thought I’d share some of the pets I see on Facebook every day. Let’s honor both the pets we’ve lost recently as well as honor and celebrate those we now have. I’ve come to discover that most if not all of my friends and family either love animals or love them and have one or two of their own. I believe it’s very true what this picture says.

I do love cats as you know and have had several families of them, but I also appreciate dogs and the people who have big hearts who adopt them. I’ll feature both here.

This year, my great-nephew, Nicholas, lost his beloved Noah. These pictures were taken last year as he played with the three rescued dogs that were part of their family.

 

I believe this one is Noah.

This is Nicholas’ newly adopted dog which I think came from the Underhound Railroad which rescues dogs from kill centers here in Georgia and brings them north to be adopted. His name is Latte.

 

Here's Latte with one of the other family dogs, his new buddy.

 

My friend, Pat Pendleton, up in Maine, also has an Underhound family member named Bella. Here she is enjoying a play date with her pals.

 

 

 

 

My Facebook friend, Robin Robinson, recently posted this story from “Cattabulous Cats” about the creation of cats which I enjoyed very much.

 

 

 

Robin recently lost her beloved cat, Sassy. Here’s some pictures of her family cats.

 

 

Here’s Sweet Pea and Miss Kitty. Don’t know which is which.

 

 

 

Here’s the newly adopted member of the Robinson family. Don’t know the name or sex.

Robin has Clydesdale horses which are working horses. I don’t doubt that they are also family members to her. She has a carriage business for weddings and other events. She had two Clydes named Bud and Brew. Bud died this year. When you have a pair like that, like our Butch and Sundance, it’s harder to lose one of them I think.

Another Facebook friend, Becky Brobst has a female cat that just had a new litter of three kittens. Here they are.

 

 

You have to look close to see both black kittens here. Becky says she thinks the two black ones are identical twins as they keep fighting over the same milk spot. Oh, the cuteness!

My friend, Deanna Conary, from up home, sent me pictures of her cats.

 

 

This is a dark grey and white named Duckie.

 

This is, as Deanna says, “a deluded tiger” named Seeker.

Let’s not forget our boat yard dogs.

 

 

This is the Boat Yard Dog champion, Otter, a black Lab mix, from last year at the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Show. He was the only dog in the competition that would actually go into the water which was one of the tricks they had to do that day.

 

 

Meet another black Lab, Radar. He hails from Baton Rouge but spends a lot time on Clary Lake in Jefferson, Maine in the summer. He doesn’t like being “in” the water, but enjoys being “on” the water. He’s a rescue who was saved in 2004 by the girls of his family who found him wandering the neighborhood all skin and bones. Radar has a brother, Paco Taco, also a rescue who was found in the same way. Paco Taco was in the Boat Yard Dog show last year with Otter.

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget the Boat Yard Trials at the MBH&H Show this August. If you’d like to participate, go to their site to sign up.

I call the following picture “Man and his Dog.” It was taken a few summers ago down at Sandy Beach in the Southend. Looks like they were having fun on a nice sunny summer day in Maine, doesn’t it.

 

If you have a favorite picture of a family pet you’d like to share, please send it to southendstories@aol.com. If I get enough response, I may start a new monthly feature of those “Oh So Cute” pals of ours.

I’d like to share a picture my brother, Harlan, painted of three of my cats who have gone now. I still remember all of them. The tiger is Willie, Sissy, the Manx, is curled up in my shirt, and the Calico is Tiny.

 

 

Animals can add so much to your life. I encourage you to go to a shelter somewhere and take a furry one home with you. Having an animal around should be part of everyone’s life experience. They will be part of your good memories forever.

Happy Birthday to Maine

I share my birthday month with my beloved State of Maine which became 193 on March 15. Let’s give a big cheer to our home state and welcome everyone else to come and enjoy the beautiful surroundings we’ve known all our lives. From ocean to woodlands, we have a natural wonderland which has something for everyone.

Most “Maineiacs” know that we wouldn’t be independent of Massachusetts, our big brother for so long, without the passing of the Missouri Compromise. They had us by the short hairs in 1820 because the passing of the compromise meant that Missouri would be a slave state and Maine a non-slave state. We were held hostage when it came to the question of slavery. We as New Englanders were anti-slavery and it went against our beliefs to give in to the demands of the Southern slaveholders.

The whole story of how Maine became a state is very well documented on the Maine Memory Network site. I invite you to read the complete history of our beginnings at this wonderful online resource. I will just give you the highlights here in honor of our 193^rd brirthday.

The whole thing with Missouri began in 1818 when they could have entered the union as a pro-slave state to their “twin” anti-slave state, Maine. The northern congressmen, however, didn’t want to admit any more states with slavery as part of their constitutions and Missouri did lie north of the line known as the division between free and slave soil.

Congressman James Tallmadge of New York offered an amendment to Missouri’s statehood which would halt further introduction of slaves and would include emancipation for all slaves at age 25. The amendment didn’t pass, however, being declared unconstitutional.

John W. Taylor, also from New York, suggested a motion to fix the line between free and slave territory at parallel 36 degrees, 30 minutes, which was the southern boundary of Missouri.

Senator Jesse B. Thomas, of Illinois, pro-southern, by the way, added that slavery would be banned in territories lying north of the line, except for Missouri. He also included a provision that slaves who became fugitives could be re-enslaved when caught in free territory.

All Maine representatives were against slavery and only one Senator, John Holmes, was for the compromise. The House passed its own bill restricting slavery. However, a committee of House and Senate came up with an amended version—the Missouri Compromise—and won approval in Congress. Maine then became the 23^rd state in the union on March 15, 1820.

There are two letters on the Maine Memory Network about the compromise and Maine becoming a state that are interesting.

In a letter written on December 25, 1820, from Joshua Cushman, a Democratic-Republican U.S. Representative from Winslow, Maine, Cushman supported the vote of Congress against the Missouri Compromise. It allowed Missouri to be a slave state, and Maine a free state while at the same time forbidding the spread of slavery to the west. He said the only member of Congress from Maine for the Compromise was Senator John Holmes. The letter was intended to prevent the re-election of Holmes after Maine became a state.

Another letter announcing Maine’s statehood was written by Prentiss Mellen of Portland, a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, representing the district of Maine, who wrote to William King of Bath, a major supporter of Maine statehood. Mellen announced that the Senate had passed the amended statehood bill and the president had signed it. King became the state’s first governor and Mellen became the first chief justice of Maine’s state supreme court in 1820.

The Missouri Compromise still left a bad taste in the mouths of the anti-slavery backers. Rufus King believed that Missouri as a slave state would tip the scales so that all future presidents would hail from the South.

Others believed that allowing slavery in Missouri would spread the same number of slaves over a wider area, increasing their value and their harsh treatment to boot. The anti-slavery movement became a central issue in Maine politics between 1829-1861.

I hope this small taste of Maine’s history will whet your appetite to learn more. Besides the Maine Memory Network, check out Maine’s archives site for some great pictures of the Civil War era.

Thanks for listening.

 

Our Pets are Our Children Too

A Memorial to Sundance

 

 

You are excused from this story if you haven't ever had pets that were a part of your family. I’ve had cats ever since I was on my own. I’ve had several families. It started with a mackerel tabby named Sylvester and went on to Scamp and Scooter and Captain; then Sissy, Willie, and Tiny; then Grayson joined the gang. When we lost Willie, we added two more. They were and are Sundance, or Sonny for short, and Butch, or Butchie. Grayson left us before the big flood and as you know we had to put Sundance to sleep recently. So now Butchie is on his own.

Sonny and Butch came to Nanci and me ten years ago when we choose them from a pen up at Pet Smart when they had an adoption day from a local shelter. They were both gray, black and white tabbies. The lady said to us, “You want both of them?” We said, “How are we going to take one without the other. They are obviously brothers. We can’t separate them can we?”

She laughed and was very glad we took two kitties off her hands at once. She gave us a discount as to shots etc. because we took both of them.

As we stood holding them at Pet Smart I said, “We’ll call them Butch and Sundance.” They were very similar in looks. We decided they must be twins. Nanci was holding the lightest one and I said, “This one is lighter so we’ll call him Sundance. The one I have we’ll call Butch.” So we paid the $150, put them in a cage together and took them to their new home.

As it happened their personalities developed so that Sundance was aptly named. He loved the sun and was always sad on rainy days and just went in and lay down on my bed.

Because they looked so much alike and were of the same size, we put different colored collars on them for a while so that we could tell them apart. Sonny’s was pink for his rosy ways and Butch was blue. As they grew, however, the collars were no longer necessary as Sonny grew to be about twice the size of Butchie.

If you live with cats long enough you can tell when a special cat comes along. Sonny was one of those very special ones. He could very well have been a therapy cat like the ones in that nursing home that goes to sit with the very sickest patient. When I had a restless night and might not be feeling so well, Sonny would lay up by my head in bed and put his paw out and lightly pat me when I moved around too much, as if to say, “It’s OK, Mom. You’ll be all right.”

Sonny was never an aggressive cat. Although he outweighed Butchie, he would let him climb all over him and often sat back letting Butchie eat first even though they both had their own dishes. He would come to anyone and rub against you until you at least petted him; he’d bump heads with you and purr so loud you could hear him in the other room. He also snored.

His favorite toy was a small stuffed mouse. They came three to a card and we went through a bunch of those cards. We had to put the mouse to bed at night or Sonny would play with it in the middle of the night and cry to tell us he’d killed it again.

It was distressing, therefore, when Sonny got sick. At first the vet told us it was a minor infection and the medicine we gave him seemed to work and he was himself again. Then in the last week or so of his life he became increasingly aggressive towards Butchie and even towards us. We knew something was terribly wrong and the vet agreed. He said he wouldn’t be acting that way if something wasn’t medically wrong. We could have given him some expensive tests to find out if he had kidney problems or even worse, a brain tumor. Even if we could treat him at that point he probably wouldn’t have lived more than six months.

At one point we had to put them in separate rooms for Butchie’s own safety. I put his food dish and a small litter box for him to use. It was hard for him to understand why he’d been put in jail like that. It must have brought back memories of the time the two of them were closed up in one room for six weeks at our friends’ house where we stayed after the flood.

Nanci and I agree that we never want to see an animal suffer that way, so we decided to put him to sleep. Just getting him in the carrying case that day was a chore. What I regret most is that I couldn’t even give him a last kiss and hug because of his aggressiveness. Our sweet boy just wasn’t there anymore.

The rest of that day I spent cleaning up his scent from the apartment as much as possible. I scrubbed the litter box parts and the rubber rug that goes with it to catch stray litter. I threw away his dish and washed the other one out for Butch.  I cleaned up the space where Butchie had been sequestered. Then I vacuumed. Butchie was happy at least to have the run of the house again.

Of course Butchie can still smell him. Every time I open the clothes closet where Sonny always insisting on going, Butchie smells every corner of it and looks and looks for his old pal. Yesterday he broke my heart. He suddenly wants to know where I am at every minute. He lost sight of me for a minute when I went into the office to do some work. Next thing I hear is his insistent crying which didn’t stop until I called him and he came running to me.

Even as they grew older and less dependent on each other, they always wanted to know where the other one was. Many times we had to go find the missing brother and show the other one where he was so he would stop pacing and crying.

I found these photos yesterday of when they were both little. Notice the pink and blue collars. I still can’t tell in some of these pictures which is which, but I’ll try. The one at the top is obviously Sonny as he has on his pink collar. Don’t ask me what all the stuff behind him is. It’s all gone anyway. The only thing I really recognize is the two tins above his head that are the remains of Sissy and Willie.

Sonny is being cremated by the Shugarts, a family who has had after care services for animals for many years. They have cremated all of my cats to date. They pick him up at the vet’s and return him there and I will go there to pick him up. His ashes will be in a tin box which I’ll keep close to the other ones who have left us. They will all be buried with me when I am buried myself. We’ll all meet up at the Rainbow Bridge together.





Thanks for listening.

The babies sleeping on my chest. Sonny is the lighter one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sonny

Here they are all grown up and hanging out in the diner in the doublewide we lost.
 The diner will be redone in the future.
 We still have all of this furniture and decorations.
 Sonny is on the table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vote for Our Favorite South End Museum

The Bangor Savings Bank is offering a great opportunity for you to support our favorite museum in the south end which is World Famous!

I voted at the site below even though I am not living in Maine. Just put in a Maine zip like the one for Owls Head 04854 if you aren’t living in Maine at the present time. Be sure to scroll down till you see the Midcoast section and then write in: Sail, Power & Steam Museum. You should see a scroll down for it when you begin typing Sail etc.

A grant for the museum is the prize here. Please help out.

Voting ends March 11, so remember to vote before then. Why don’t you go there right now so you won’t forget? Please forward this to everyone you know and tell them of the need and this wonderful opportunity to take advantage of.

The site is:

http://www.bangor.com/Why-Bangor-Savings/Supporting-Our-Communities/Voting.aspx

 

Thank You All For Your Help!

A March Maine Poet

 

Robert Tristram Coffin
From Wikipedia

As tomorrow is my birthday and this is National Poetry Month, I would like to introduce or re-introduce you to a Maine poet who was born in March.

Robert Tristram Coffin was born in Brunswick, Maine on March 18, 1892 and died in 1955. While I cannot give you a complete analysis of his work or a comprehensive report on his life and works here, I would like to give you a reason to look up this important writer from Maine.

Coffin was not only a poet. If you go to Bowdoin Special Collections Library online, you can find detailed information about the 50 linear feet of manuscripts, drafts, proofs, notes, lectures, plays, poems, recordings, essays and photographs they have at Bowdoin.

Coffin was a Rhodes Scholar and a professor of English at Bowdoin. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his work “Strange Holiness,” in 1935.

Just a few of his works with Maine subjects include: “Saltwater Farm,” 1937; “Apples by Ocean,” 1945/1950; One Horse Farm: Down East Georgics”, 1949; “Maine Doings, Informal Essays,” 1950; “Mainstays of Maine,” 1944/1978 and later a republication in 1991, which was about Maine cooking.

From the Colby Quarterly, Vol. 7, Issue 4, December 1965 I found some interesting observations about Coffin’s work.

He is described as a sharp observer of nature and could be called a naturalistic but, as the Quarterly notes, “Unlike Louise Dickinson Rich, for example, who “took to the woods” and wrote impressively about that temporary experience, Coffin “emerges from” the geographical elements of the Harpswell-Casco Bay area.” They describe his outlook as more jovial rather than being morbid.

From “Island Living” from Yankee Coast we can see an example of this outlook (from the Quarterly)

“There is a religion to island weather. It has its holy iconography.

It comes out in the lines of reachboats and dories, the economies of

roof and gables on island fish-houses. It is an awareness to the intangibles

of infinity. It is the life-and-death matter of changes of wind

and tide which makes up the laws of this religion. An island man is a

worshipful man. He goes like a small boy with his hand in the hand

of a father too tall to see eye-to-eye with. He trusts and believes,

because he knows how to read his salvation in a cud of fog, in the

sound of a changed wind, the rote of distant surf on an unseen reef

in the night.”

This quote demonstrates Coffin’s belief that “Maine is a state of mind.”

Another “naturalistic” example, also found on in the Quarterly, is:

“A thrush singing in the woods . . . . It was the first bird I had ever

really heard sing. It was the last marvel in a long chain of marvels.

The first violets, like pieces of the sky, the first anemones, like drops

of snow left over into April. I had had my first trip out past all

houses, out of sight of all windows and doors. I was too tired to take

in anything more. Then, when the shadow of the earth was climbing

up the eastern sky, the bird sang among the distant trees. Three broken

little songs rising higher and higher until they faltered and failed. All

at once I knew what it was to be alone and among things so lovely

that they made your heart ache. For you could never tell how beautiful

they were even though you were to live a thousand years and have

all the best words on the end of your tongue. My father thought it

was weariness that made me burst suddenly into tears. But it was the

thrush I have to thank for that.”

It is the writers of Maine like Robert Tristram Coffin who in their passionately beautiful words continue to remind us of how much we love the Great State of Maine. It’s one of the best ways we as Maine people can introduce the rest of the world to our beloved state. I challenge you to read a work from Robert Tristram Coffin today and to pass on his legacy to others. It would be a wonderful birthday present for me.

Thanks for listening.