
The weather’s looking lowery.
You never know what we'll churn up in cleaning a stall

The weather’s looking lowery.

Centerpiece on our dining table by someone who doesn’t think of herself as an artist. It includes her homemade votive candles, if you were curious.
I’d love to know the story. Every time we travel to or from Bangor or beyond, we pass this well-maintained memorial along Maine Route 9, “the Airline Highway,” in Township 24. It’s just east of the Wilderness Lodge. I finally stopped to investigate but found no names or dates. Do any of you Mainers know more?

So far, I’ve found nothing solid.
One person said something about a hit-and-run that’s never been solved.
As former radio newscaster Tom McLaughlin said, “There are plenty of places around here where something happened and there’s no memorial at all.”
He added, “Jnana, there have been so many crashes and fatals on Route 9 in the time I was covering news (1992-2016). That may have been from a crash in July 2002 that killed a guy from Perry and injured his brother who may have succumbed later. Also in that general area, a dad, mom and older son from Calais died in a head-on crash on a snowy night 20 or so years ago. Guess I haven’t given you anything definitive, here. Not sure who I can ask. All the troopers I knew back then are long retired.”
The state’s fatal crashes web site turned up nothing.
So that’s where it stands for now.

Around here, this can happen well into spring.

Old wallpaper is part of an old house history. Some of it’s showing up inside old closets, not that we have many of those.

In Whiting

Finn’s in Ellsworth is bound to be getting crowded this time of year.
The last Saturday in October arrived clear and cool. We were now officially a month into the project, and Adam showed up with a crew of three for the dramatic operation of inserting a ridgepole. It was rather like laparoscopy, if you want to consider the small incision he made near the top of a street-facing gable.
Here’s how it went.




There was also the column to insert.




There was no anesthesia.

The pond’s still frozen.

Or so I’m guessing. The woods are full of surprises.