Sail, Power & Steam Museum

I received this communication yesterday from the Museum regarding the current Bangor Savings Bank Foundation. The Foundation will give a total of $100,000 to 68 local non-profit organizations. They would like as many Maine residents as possible to vote on the organizations they would like a portion of the funds to go to.

Cast Your Vote Today

Voting ends Friday, February 28, 2015 at 11:59 pm

Go to:

http://www.bangor.com/Community-Support/Community-Matters-More.aspx

fill in, including our Maine zip and scroll down to Knox:

Knox/Lincoln/Sagadahoc/Waldo:

 

___Five Town Communities That Care

___Hospitality House, a program of Knox County Homeless Coalition

___Midcoast Habitat for Humanity

___Sandy Point Community Club

___Teen and young Parent Program

___Waldo County Search and Rescue

 

Check one of these or write in:

 

___other_________________________________

 

___other__________________________________

 

___other__________________________________

 

The museum suggests three of their programs for this Other category:

Sail Power Steam Museum

Coastal Children’s Museum

Station Maine.

Community Matters More

Please Vote Today

With your help, we will give wisely to your community.

A total of 68 grants will be awarded, including the organizations listed on the ballot and to the top 20 write-in vote recipients (at least two write-ins per region). The top vote-getting organizations in each region, including write-ins, will each receive $5,000. The remaining 60 organizations will each receive $1,000.

·         You may submit one (1) ballot - paper or online - with up to three (3) votes. Votes may be for organizations on the ballot, write-ins, or a combination of both, but cannot total more than three. Duplicate ballots will be removed.

·         Voters must be Maine residents.

·         To be eligible, write-in nominations must be for registered 501(c)(3) organizations and be open to all (nonsectarian).  Please see our write-in guidelines.

…and the snow keeps coming

The bungalow on the Hilton Homestead, winter 2009. Photo by Diane Hilton O'Connor

 “One of these days winter is going

To run out of breath, but it is the

Sun itself that marks the time

Unmistakably. It is approaching

The rim of the winter quadrant,

Rising more nearly due east day

By day, and its shadows now point

toward spring.”

--From the American naturalist, Hal Borland, 1900-1978

 

I thank Rob McCall of the Awanadjo Almanack, which he writes in my favorite magazine, Maine Boats, Homes & Harbor, for this quote.

When I run out of ideas and inspiration for this blog I always welcome the arrival of my next issue of the MBHH magazine. The spring edition I just received is no exception. I borrowed a few ideas from this issue and added some of my own thoughts about winter, especially Maine winters, and Maine in general. I hope you will enjoy my musings here.

This Winter in Maine

Maine is experiencing an especially snowy winter. My brother, Ted, told me yesterday per a phone conversation, that he hasn’t been out of the house in three days. Pipes are freezing all over the place.

Snowplowers have plowed out the same driveways about three times already. There is no more room to put the snow in. They are getting to the point where bringing in back loaders to relocate some of the snow banks is a definite option.

In case you don’t already know it up there, Farmers Almanac reports today’s temperature in the Portland area as 7 degrees Fahrenheit, which feels like -7 degrees. Humidity is 56%. Does that mean the snow is letting up? The wind is WNW at 9 mph. Their prediction for Feb 3-8 is rain, then snowy periods, very cold. Brrrrr.

February 2, Groundhog Day

Yesterday was Groundhog Dog and the famous Pennsylvania groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil came out into the light very begrudgingly I’m told. He did not see his shadow so therefore, there will be six more weeks of winter, at least in those parts.

I doubt if any Maine groundhog, even if they wanted to venture out of their nice warm winter holes, cast any shadow in the snowstorm of yesterday. Sorry, Maine, you get six more weeks too.

The Ocean in Winter

If you want to see what a winter storm looks like on the ocean off one of Maine’s islands, look at this video which I posted earlier on Facebook. It comes from Bass Harbor, on Mount Desert Island.

 

 

 

Years ago a friend and I visited Cape Cod in Massachusetts during a winter weekend. There is a whole new vibe to an ocean in winter in New England than there is in the winter. You don’t see any yachts in the water; no vivid blue sky; no sparkling water on most days. Instead you will see sea smoke; dark, rough water; and most of all the stillness.

The ocean in winter has a calming effect just the same. I enjoyed watching the active waves and foam out over the water and the peace it seemed to bring me after the hustle and bustle of the city.

In this issue of MBHH I enjoyed reading an article Teresa L. Carey, “A Letter From Home” called “Yea Water, Yea Happy.” Carey lives aboard her Nor’sea 27, named Daphne, for her grandmother. She is a U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain. She and her husband conduct sail-training expeditions on the coast of Maine. To learn more about Carey go to www.teresacarey.com.

Carey believes we are losing our closeness to nature and to her beloved ocean because of all the technology which is focusing our attention away from what is around is. She is most happy, as I am, when I can be near a piece of water somewhere, especially the ocean. Given the choice of living next to a fresh water pond or lake or the ocean, I will always chose the ocean.

We have forgotten how to listen to nature. When was the last time you stopped what you were doing to listen to a particular bird’s song which has insinuated its way into your day? Whenever I get the chance to listen to a bird you can bet I do stop.

Are We Killing our Ocean?

I have been distressed lately to learn of all the whales who are beaching themselves on our coastlines. Why? Is the ocean no longer able to sustain them or is it too poisoned for them to tolerate? Think about the loss of many of our fish by the practice of trawling the ocean floors. What about the invasion of off-shore drilling or the loss of our coral reefs? There are many questions we need the answers to before we look out someday and see our ocean all be- mudded and dead.

Nate Levesque

Just a note. Photographer Nate Levesque’s pictures of the Maine coast at night can be seen in this edition of MBHH. I can’t show them here, but trust me, they are beautiful. He calls his night photos, “astronomical dusk.” See them in the magazine or online at the magazine site at www.maineboats.com. You will find a link here also to Levesque’s own site.

View from the Porch of Peter Bass

I would like to “borrow” one more thing from the “View from the Porch,” by Peter Bass, in the latest MBHH. A little more Maine we can all relate to in winter.

 “There is nothing that seems colder

Than a shuttered cottage

No childrens’ voices in the air

That grab and hold you hostage.

“It seems there is no life around

But spring will show you wrong

You’ll discover all’s not dead

In winter all along.

“Deep in the walls those little mice

With all the food found handy

Are having little parties and

Drinking rodent brandy.

“They’ll make their nests at will

In crevices and walls

And when you’re gone, run up

   And down

Your family’s hallowed halls.

“Those buggers will be shown

   The door

And for the summer banned

You’ll be there, feet on the rail

And binoculars in hand.”

Here’s hoping the snow won’t keep falling at such a fast rate. Stay safe and warm.

Thanks for listening.

Fish

And

Chips

 

By TED SYLVESTER

(This photo of Ted at his desk in the Bangor Daily News office in 1977 in Rockland was emailed to “Southendstories” by Andrew Carpenter of the Rockland Historical Society. Thanks, Andrew)

 

(This column appeared in the Bangor Daily News on February 2, 1975)

 

(It seems they had education problems in the area then too)

It was a real shocker this week to learn that more than half the adults in Knox County are without a high school diploma. Perhaps more disturbing was the realization that Rockland does not make its school facilities available for adults wishing to return to get a diploma.

Of course, rising unemployment and the economic situation are leading some to seek out the diploma program for the money that’s in it, but there are those who are generally interested in bettering themselves. There is no disputing the fact there are not too many good jobs available to those without a high school diploma.

The money benefits come about from a Veterans Administration Program which will pay veterans for going back to school. We reported earlier this week that a veteran could receive up to $300 for going back to high school. This was an error. The $300 figure is the minimum a veteran would receive. The maximum is something like $575 a month. Realization of these benefits is being made known to veterans from the post Korean War era to the present. We were told V.A. representatives are seeking out veterans to inform them of the program.

The result of course is that the three high schools in the area offering an adult education program are being swamped with applications. Most programs are now filled to capacity with many unable to enroll. A great percentage of those unable to find a spot are from Rockland.

It seems incredible that SAD 5 would not offer such a program for its residents. The annual appropriation for the program at SAD 50 (Thomaston) was $5,200. It seems that SAD 5 directors could manage an appropriation of this size from its budget which last year reached nearly $2 million.

One director we spoke with was even unaware that this program was unavailable here. His comment when informed of the number of undereducated persons in the county was “that’s incredible.”

But we are told there are no plans to propose any adult high school diploma program in the district’s new budget, which to this point has not been released to the public. The district does offer an abbreviated self-supporting “refresher course” for a couple of months in the fall to prepare persons to take the high school equivalency examination. This is not a diploma program, however.

The directors, of course, cannot be blamed entirely for the lack of such a program, when public apathy at budget hearings the past few years has been appalling. It has been our observation that at past budget hearings about the only persons attending are teachers, whose main objective is to see the budget passed to protect their own interests. And you can’t blame them for that.

With no opinions or suggestions from the public on the direction the system should take, what else can directors assume other than that they are abiding by the wishes of those they serve?

Island Friction

Residents will dispute it, but there is continued friction between North Haven and Vinalhaven. The two islands are cooperating on a joint venture to cure their electric problems, necessary because both are served from the same source.

But in other areas, it’s not so cozy, for instance a vocational education program – the first step in the region eight program – was started this week at Vinalhaven. The course is building trades with students enrolled braving the elements to start construction of a shop for themselves on school property. From this shop students will construct a two-bedroom home 24 by 32 feet which will be sold upon completion. The house will be built at the school, and then moved to a location provided by a buyer.

There are presently seven Vinalhaven boys enrolled in the vocational education program. They will receive instruction in such fields as carpentry, plumbing and electricity.

But what about North Haven students? We were told by a school official this week that North Haven was invited to send students to Vinalhaven for the course, but declined. They want an independent program started at North Haven, we were informed.

Both towns will be voting on vocational education budgets at meetings later this month. Vinalhaven’s share of the program is projected at $13,821, while North Haven will be asked to appropriate $6,530 in tax dollars for the program. Residents will not vote on these specific amounts however, but rather cast a yes or no vote for the entire region eight budget. This procedure will be repeated in all other member communities. A majority vote on the total vocational budget will bind member towns to its share whether they vote approval (or not).

Combination Lock

Rockland detective Louis Lewis went to Connecticut last weekend to bring back a fugitive wanted here to answer to cheating by false pretense charges.

Lewis borrowed a cruiser from the Knox County Sheriff’s Department for the trip. Can you imagine his surprise when the Massachusetts service station attendant informed him he could not get the gas cap off because of a combination lock? And Lewis didn’t know what the combination was.

Fortunately the detective was able to reach Sheriff Carlton Thurston by phone and get the combination.

Sunny South

If you’re chilled by the recent cold snap, and disgruntled over the recent snow, here is a bit of cheery news we received this week from former newsman Jim Moore vacationing in the Florida keys:

“It is 85 degrees. The sky is deep blue. The waters surrounding this key are turquoise. The mocking bird is singing.” Jim, writing Feb. 2, said he was writing the letter “whilst I squat in a plastic web chair which doesn’t prevent either the breeze nor the sunshine from bathing my backsides.”

He concluded by saying his wife had just brought him a cold lemonade made fresh from a giant lemon he had picked. “I toast you slaves with it,” he said.

Sonny’s Sunshine Corner

 

His Highness, Mr. Butchie got another shot this week to try to clear up his scabby face. It’s getting better and one more shot should do it. I sure hope so. My credit card can’t stand it anymore.

As for this Mommie, the foot is getting better. I continue PT and can now do more with it than before. My goal is to walk without any help from a cane or a walker. Wish me luck.

Readership is now over 60,000. Thank you, my friends, for your continued support of my efforts on this blog space. The Village Soup site also is doing well with over 1,000 views a month for the main blogs I post there. Remember to check out the ads on the blog space and help me out financially at the same time. I have seen coupons on there lately which you can download and use.

Ted’s Fish and Chips column this month features the education problems in the area in 1975. I have included two recipes to use for the big game today, February 1. I tasted the egg recipe and it is delicious. See Thomaston Library News for this month also.

Nanci and I will venture out again to Walmart to pick up our annual supply of socks and ummmm bras. I may even be able to hang onto the cart this time instead of riding in the wheelie they have for handicapped peeps like myself.

I hope you enjoyed all the storm pictures I posted online in January. I understand it is still snowing up home. Maybe you will all get dug out by Spring if you’re lucky. This part of Georgia didn’t get the ice storm that was predicted. Last year people were stranded out on the interstate for more than a day before they could get home.

Not much more to report for this month. I’ll try to give you at least one romantic-type blog for February, the Valentine month. Sister Sally’s birthday is this month. She catches up with me for a while at least until my birthday next month. Happy Birthday, Sis.

Butchie gives you all lovable head bumps (because he’s not in a grumpy mood today) and wishes you all a Happy Valentine’s Day. Bye till next time.