Locke's Mills

It was a quiet week in Locke's Mills. About all that went on was two building permits were issued: one for a garage on the Greenwood Road; the other for an addition to a house in the Irish Neighborhood.

Absentee ballots are available from the town office for the upcoming primary and school budget votes on June 12.

SeniorsPlus will be at the Greenwood Town Office on June 13 from 9 a.m. to noon. They will answer any questions or concerns you may have about services and resources for older adults and adults with disabilities and their families. This is free and open to the public.

Norm Milliard has moved his framing shop and gallery, Artistic Endeavors, to 171 Main Street in Bethel. I stopped in recently to check it out. What a comfortable new space Norm has created. All the picture frame styles and mats are on display as well as the new "photo wrap" style of displaying photographs. It is not easy to describe the photo wrap, so you'll need to stop in and check it out. The shop is open Wednesday through Saturday from 12-4 p.m. and by appointment. Norm is also planning to display and sell local artists' work.

I was talking to John Farr and he told me his father, Junior Farr, will be 89 this week. Happy birthday to Junior who is a resident at the Maine Veterans Home.

Ran into Beryl Bonney at the West Paris Rhubarb Festival recently. She was up to camp for a few days. Milt and Elinor Inman were also at the festival as volunteers, and they have returned for the summer.

John Swinton has arrived at camp and is out fishing every morning. His wife, Cordelia, is waiting until after the bugs have died down to come up from Pennsylvania. Smart woman! So far the biting bugs have been fairly light this year.

John Gagnon, Larry, Kate, Lucy and Arundel were here for the long weekend. I stopped by to catch up on events and, once again, had an excellent Saturday night baked bean supper.

The newest additions to the ponds are baby wood ducks and hooded mergansers. Two adult female wood ducks have joined forces and herd their ducklings around together. Shared parenting. There is total of nine wood ducklings, and they are considerably smaller than black or mallard ducklings. Wood ducks are a shy duck and they keep their young well hidden.

The hooded mergansers are a diving duck. The males have a large white patch on the side of its head, and the females have spiky feathers on their heads. The little ducklings have tiny feather spikes and look rather like punk ducklings. Quite amusing.

Round Pond is warm enough to swim in without having to resort to a wet suit. Quite a few kids (of all ages) were at the rope swing over Memorial Day weekend. As June progresses, shallow Round Pond warms up and it can become too warm for swimming. Some folks are venturing into the colder waters of South Pond at the public beach. Children are the ones who get in all the way. The adults tend to stay on the beach or make it in about up to their knees.

This time of year gives us evenings, that delightful time of the day when we get to enjoy the outdoors for a bit longer. It is both warm and light enough after supper that we can go outside for a few hours and do something. Some folks go for evening walks, others watch children play softball, some simply sit on the porch and enjoy that time of day when the light is golden. It is a time to relax and enjoy being alive. The rest of the year the time after supper is either too dark or too cold to do much of anything outside. For the next few months we get to hang out and simply enjoy evening time. May we all make time to do just that.

The lupines are blossoming, the swallowtail butterflies are out, and our graduating seniors are out. Congratulations to all graduates be they from high school, college, or another program.