A Day With Daddy

Here in the South grown men call their fathers “Daddy.” That’s what I called my father from the time I was old enough to call him that and into my adulthood.

My Daddy was an easy-going man who never knew a stranger. I loved having my own special time with him. I was “Daddy’s girl.”

We had similar personalities and interests. Many’s the time I heard the phrase, “You’re just like your father.” That could be in reference to a bad thing or a good thing.

On this particular special day with Daddy we took our mopeds out on a little spin. Let me tell you why we both had mopeds. I got mine in the 70s when they became a popular toy to have. I used it a lot where I lived in Connecticut.

It wasn’t long after I got my moped that Daddy decided that he just had to have one of his own. Mine was a yellow Puch, one of the best mopeds at the time. I don’t know what brand his was.

Connecticut didn’t require a moped to be registered, but Maine did. I’ll explain why I acquired a Maine license plate for my moped later.

In 1978 I was between semesters in grad school at Fairfield University and decided to spend some quality time in Maine with my family for a while. It was September and the folks were still at the cottage in Spruce Head. I stayed in the other cottage we owned at the top of the hill. How do I know it was 1978? No, I do not have total recall like Marilu Henner.

As mentioned, Maine required registration in order to ride a moped in the state. Therefore, when I brought my moped to Maine to ride while I was there, I had it registered. You can see by the plate that it says FEB 79. That means it would expire in February of 79. From what I can remember, I only registered it for six months, September 1978-Feb. 1979, so I wouldn’t have to pay so much insurance on it. Notice the MC on the plate. I guess that meant it was a motorcycle license and they didn’t have ones specifically for mopeds. When you come right down to it, it was a cycle with a motor, so yes, you could say it was a “motor cycle.”

You didn’t need a special license to ride a moped, however, like you did with a big Harley or something. You just needed a regular license. So my Connecticut driver’s license was perfectly fine.

So that’s how I can place this little excursion with my Dad. I was 47 at the time, he in his late 60s or early 70s. Hard to believe I am now about the same age as he was in this picture.

Here’s how these pictures came to be. One day in Spruce Head, Daddy suggested we take a little ride on our mopeds. I said, “Where?” He said, “Oh, just around. Follow me.” I said, “Great, let’s go,” like the Daddy’s girl I was.

As you can see from the lighthouse, we ended up at Marshall’s Point in Port Clyde. There were a few hills to climb with our mopeds before we got to that destination. Those motors were small, only going 35mph at the most, so some of those hills were a struggle. It was a fun day as we laughed trying to get up the hills. Thankfully, on those back roads, the traffic is not heavy. It was a wonderful excursion.

After we left the point, we continued on to the village and had some great fish chowder or clam chowder, I forget which. I believe it was in that grocery store that is quite well known there which serves food. If I am wrong as to that location, please correct me.

The three little pictures you see I cut to fit into a neat hanging chain picture frame and I have it on my office wall. I can see them from where I sit. I was not about to leave it behind in the flood mess. I still have this plate too which I stick on the bottom of a frame of a picture of the coast of Maine, also in my office.

When I moved to Georgia, I brought my moped with me. When I was between cars I used it as my main means of transportation around my town. I went to the bank, grocery store, post office, and to work, which was nearby. I eventually sold it when I moved to an area where it was not safe to drive a moped. My Dad eventually upgraded to a motor scooter which he actually drove back and forth from Spruce Head when he was still working at Bald Mountain Printing on Main Street in Rockland. I have no idea where he parked it during the day.

I tried driving that scooter once and nearly ended up on my rear end when I let the clutch out too quickly. That one summer was the only time Daddy and I got to have fun together on our mopeds. The precious times we share with our mother and father are held in our hearts all our lives. I never forgot that day and the fact that I got to hang out with my Daddy for a while.

This Sunday, June 17^th, is Father’s Day. If your “Daddy” is still living, give him a big hug and kiss. Happy Father’s Day!

Thanks for listening.

Summer Reading—Maine Writers,

Guest Blog—Sara Tavares

Sara Sylvester Tavares

I share this blog with my sister, Sara Sylvester Tavares. She has discovered a few Maine writers you may not have heard of before. I will share her comments as well as give you my own additions to the blog.

If you plan to vacation in Maine this summer and would like some suggestions for your summer reading featuring Maine writers, here are some suggestions for you.

Here is Sister Sara’s contribution along with some comments of these authors:

“Sarah Graves, of Eastport, writes a series called “The Home Repair Mysteries.” Descriptions of the area and people are great.”

Sara discovered two more book series about Maine:

“The first Vickie Doudera, author of the series called the “Darby Fair Mysteries.” The author is a real estate agent in Camden who writes these books about an agent who finds dead bodies. (She was featured in Village Soup.) Book was ok, but didn’t recognize the actual area she was writing about.”

“The second one I got free for my kindle and they are called “The Gray Whale Inn Mysteries,” by Karen Maclnerny, about a bed and breakfast on Cranberry Island. Was your basic whodunit but a fun read.”

Of course Sara mentioned a now very famous author, Tess Gerritson, a retired physician who lives in Camden, who wrote the Rizzoli and Isles series which is now a dramatic series on TNT television.

Besides the Rizzoli and Isles series, Gerritson has also written medical thrillers and romance novels. Her Rizzoli and Isles novels include:

The Silent Girl; Ice Cold; The Keepsake; The Mephisto Club; Vanish; Body Double; The Sinner; The Apprentice; and The Surgeon. Look for them wherever books are sold and at the online book sites.

Some information on Gerritson via Wikipedia includes the awards she has won for some of her books. The Surgeon, 2002 Rita Award for best Romantic Suspense Novel; Vanish, 2006 Nero Award for Best Mystery Novel.

She has received approval for her work from James Patterson and Stephen King. King says, “even better than Michael Crichton.” (By the way, King’s latest installment of the “Dark Tower” series, The Wind Through the Keyhole, is now out.)

Sara lives in Camden with her husband Jacob and their two sons.

The most recent discovery I have made is of an older author no longer with us who used to live in several Maine locations with his wife, Iris. His name is Alonzo Gibbs. I haven’t been able to find much in the way of a biography yet, but from what I’ve read of his work so far I believe he grew up in the Long Island, New York area when there were still mashes there.

The book I have read so far is called In The Weir of the Marshes, which was introduced to me by my cousin Mary Sue Weeks. At the time he wrote this small book of essays, he lived within walking distance of the farm in Bremen. One of the stories in the book is about my Aunt Freda and Uncle Carl, who ran that farm, and where I spent much of my summers as a kid. As it is a Christmas story, I’ll bring that to you in December.

He wrote several books and also some poetry as well as young adult books. A few are now out of print, but your best bet is to contact Stone Soup Books of Camden, where I got The Weir of the Marshes. There is a book called Bremen Bygones in his long list of work which I hope to read next.

He writes very poetically, in a way that will put you immediately into the scene he is writing about as the first two sentences of The Weir…will illustrate: “Evening puts a glaze of yellow behind the flimsy houses which lean on stilts at the inshore edge of the wetlands. Between the geometry of silhouetted roofs the cross-trees of telephone poles along some unseen street diminish in the distance.”

If all this is not enough to get you started, Eva Murray, our Matinicus writer, has a second book out later this summer called Island Schoolhouse, One Room for All. Eva used to teach school on the island and now resides there. She also writes articles about the island for Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors. You might want to pick up a copy of that magazine as it has some great Maine stories in it, especially if you are a “boat” person.

I might also suggest that if you haven’t already read it, my novel, The South End, which takes place in the South End of Rockland. It is available at the Reading Corner on Main Street  and at other local bookstores and also at online sites including www.buybooksontheweb.

If you are in Maine, please support your local independent book seller. Oftentimes you will find books there that you will not find at the big box stores. The Reading Corner and the Owl and Turtle in Camden, Personal Book Store in Thomaston to name a few, have many Maine writers to choose from. Stop by and check them out if you are in the area. I’m not sure if Stone Soup Books in Camden has a retail outlet, but if you’re interested their address is 35 Main St., Camden, ME 04843.

The Reading Corner has a Facebook page. Check them out and “like” them if you want to keep up on the latest news at the store.

Thanks for listening.

We’ll Always Have the Memories

Photo from the Bangor Daily News

As the new Oceanside High School seniors prepare to be the first class to graduate from the new school, our thoughts turn to the old Rockland High School, now the soon to be closed Lincoln Center on Lincoln Street.

The saga of the 144-year-old building has been of concern to residents this past month. The Lincoln Street Center, a non-profit organization, took over the building in 1998, buying the property in 2002. They recently announced, however, that they will leave the building at the end of this month. They have insurmountable debts totaling around $69,000.

According to board member John Bird, who attended the school in the 50s, keeping the old place going has been a “Herculean” task, despite generous support from donors. Efforts to find ways to pay for much needed repairs proved to be too daunting.

Closing of the Lincoln Center means that about 50 artists will need to find new studios; the Watershed School will need to find new quarters; and our beloved heritage room which displays memorabilia from the 144 years of history of both Rockland High School and Rockland District High School is in jeopardy. Board member Ben Perry overseas the room, which is sponsored by the alumni association. The association cannot afford to rent a space for the articles which contain old sports jerseys, yearbooks, and the like. The room itself has also been preserved as the way it was when we were attending classes there. What will happen to these treasures now?

The Heritage Center at the Lincoln Center,
 photo by Bangor Daily News

Enter Joseph Steinberger, a Rockland lawyer and former city councilor. The next part of this saga concerns the establishment, by Steinberger, of a non-profit organization called “The Old School.” He called for a public meeting in the old auditorium at the school for May 15 to try to figure out ways to save the old place.

Before that meeting took place, an inspection of the building was made and it was determined that “yes” it could be saved.

However, by the time the meeting took place that position had been changed. It might have had something to do with the fact that the furnace is 25 years old and has only one zone for the entire building. There are also about 100 windows that need to be replaced because they are not thermal and many are opaque, which evidently were that way to keep the students from gazing out the windows and daydreaming. Cost: a whopping $120,000. Where is a non-profit supposed to get that kind of money in this economy?

Therefore the meeting turned out just to be an announcement that “no” sorry, we can’t do what we said we could.

In a Courier Gazette survey around this time, four out of five people asked about the future of the building wanted it renovated so that it could continue to be an arts center for the community. OK, people. Do you have the deep pockets needed to do this? Is your name Farnsworth, Wyeth, or Rockefeller?

Here’s my take on the whole dilemma.

The building has seen more than one revival in its 144 years. It may be time to demolish it in the manner of the old post office. How many times can you use a chewing gum approach and pray that it sticks?

A new smaller, more efficient building may be the answer. Where the money is coming from I haven’t figured out yet. Perhaps a fund-raiser needs to be hired, and the city could help a little couldn’t they?

As for the heritage room of the Rockland High School Alumni…perhaps a time capsule could be buried somewhere on the property after said razing. In it could be a picture of the room and a sample of all the articles now displayed there. The historical society could perhaps take possession of some of it, or they could share those duties with the Rockland Public Library. What do you think?

Memories

Something that can’t be destroyed is our memories. Those of us who attended the old Rockland High School have many of the same memories. No one can take them away from us whether the building is there or not.

How many of you have these memories:

I remember the old bike rack which stood on one side of the building by the sidewalk. Before I got my license and was therefore embarrassed to ride my bike to school from the South End, I used that bike rack. I had no lock on my bike, nor did the rack provide any. How many bikes do you think were stolen from that rack in the 50s?

I remember all the hot rods and souped up cars which some of the boys owned parked up and down Lincoln Street and Grove Street.

I remember some of the boys who between classes tried to take the down staircase “up” instead, taking them two at a time before someone caught them.

I remember playing basketball with the girls’ team on the old gym floor where the sign on the wall read, “It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you played the game.” At least it goes something like that.

I remember the canteen on that same gym floor and the Kippy Karnival games that took place there every year.

Kippy Karnival time was of course the highlight of our year. It was a lot of fun to do things for the school as a class.

I can see Mrs. Viik, (sorry forgot how to spell her name), reprimanding our senior class, which she led as the teacher representative, as we sat in the auditorium practicing for our graduation walk at the Community Building.

“Now everyone please stop signing yearbooks and pay attention. I swear you all have senioritis,” she said.

I have so many more memories I can’t name them all here. Some of them can be found in another log, “Scrapbook Memories,” in the archives for May 2011.

Say Farewell and Walk Through Your Memories

Today, June 1, the Lincoln Center is giving you the opportunity to revisit your old school. Come and walk the halls, check out the heritage room, sit in the old auditorium and go down to see the old gym one more time.

You may visit from 6:30-9:30pm. Potluck snacks will be provided in the second-floor art gallery.

To celebrate the event and the spirit of our artistic community, artist Alexis Iammarino will install an art installation that will stretch from Main Street to the Lincoln Center.

The installation will consist of long-sleeved shirts sewn together at the cuff and creating a continuous line in honor of the first Friday art walk and the farewell party at the center’s gym at 9:30pm.

The shirts will be held up by long stakes, symbolizing the importance of having stakeholders in the community to uphold the importance of the arts in our society.

Come and reminisce, enjoy the night with your friends, maybe even some old classmates. Sneak up the down staircase if you dare. Celebrate and say good bye. There will be more memories to be made later on in a new place. Trust me.

Thanks for listening.

Sonny’s

Sunshine

Corner

Sonny’s corner may not be so sunshiny this month as I have a few gripes to air here. More on that later.

Another technical glitch has appeared in the past month. Evidently, my blogs are no longer posted to my South End Stories Facebook page automatically. I have, therefore, been posting them separately along with the posting on the Village Soup site. I still forward the blog to FB and it does appear there OK.

You can reach the South End Stories page without going to the blog first by using the new URL: www.facebook.com/SouthendS. I am now posting some items to that page that will not appear on the regular blog site, so check both places to keep up on all the news I have discovered I want to alert you about.

Now for the gripes. Some of the news from the old home town recently has given me cause for distress. After I wrote the blog about the history of lobstering last month, it hurt me to discover that two lobster boats owned by very young boys down Friendship way were vandalized. One of the boys was six years old when he got his lobstering license, the youngest in the state. He’s had his boat since he was 10 and was proud that he was keeping up the family tradition of lobstering. The boats were saved, but the event reminds us that the life of a lobsterman is not always easy. I wish both the boys a good lobstering season.

I noted a story about a whole neighborhood being demolished because the 100 years plus old houses are uninhabitable. The twelve houses on Philbrick Avenue, a short street off Camden Street are owned by Madeline Philbrick. Her grandfather, the late Eugene Philbrick, built them all one by one. The septic systems began to be bothersome which led to Madeline’s decision. Evidently the city has no money to install a sewer system in the area. The old established neighborhood will be missed. Hopefully we will see some new homes built in that area in the future.

Speaking of old buildings, I have been following the saga of the Lincoln Center and its closing at the end of their season. Look for a special blog on that subject. I’m afraid it may have to go the way of the Philbrick houses.

The last gripe I have is about all the flak at Lynn Archer’s restaurant, The Brass Compass, on the corner of Main and Park Streets. The mayor has said you need to read all the pros and cons about the situation. I did and I for one will agree with Lynn here. She has added a lot to the area to attract the summer tourists. She’s willing to work with the city, so why are they spending all that money to “improve” the park? If I were there, Lynn, I would be number 401 on your petition to let you use the space for seating for your restaurant.

Also this month, look for another Fish and Chips column from brother Ted; a guest column- collaboration with sister Sara about summer Maine reading; and a possible blog about Maine and New England foods. Stay tuned, I may get some more inspirations from other sources.