Locke's Mills
Locke's Mills
Greenwood is getting closer to a special town meeting on the use of fireworks. Two unrelated items were also going to be included in the meeting agenda -- Johnny's Bridge repairs and the possible purchase of a fire truck. That is changing.
Johnny's Bridge has come off that agenda due to DEP delays. It will be revisited at a later date. Town Manager Kim Sparks said she is
talking with the fire department to see if they have the necessary information to be included on the special town meeting agenda. If that is not ready, she hopes the selectmen will go ahead and schedule the special town meeting date on fireworks use.
That is a good idea as the ponds still sound like war zones on the weekends with fireworks explosions.
We have entered the tax-countdown month. Property tax bills have been received by all (boo!), and we have until Nov. 2 to pay before interest gets added to them. Sparks said a number of people have been in paying their taxes.
Sympathies to the family of Willy Hathaway who died recently. Hathaway's Store, now the location of Maine Made Products on Route 26, was a longtime part of my life. Their barbecue chickens were the very best, and they were cooking them long before you could buy them anywhere.
When I was in my twenties (a long time ago), I lived in Boston and would drive up to the farm on Paradise in Bethel to spend weekends. One of the key elements of the trip was to stop at Hathaway's, pick up a barbecue chicken, say hello to the Hathaways, and tell them how much I missed living up here. I finally made it back but the chickens are long gone. And now so is Willy. He is missed.
An unusual show will take place at Artistic Endeavors this month. Instead of just one artist, there will be six. The plein air painting group (simply means they paint pictures outdoors) will be exhibiting their works there this month. The group includes Saranne Taylor, Melody Bonnema, Lucia Schwarz, Mary Isham, Linda Isham, and me. I've
focused on painting some of the operating farms in the area.
Come check this out at 171 Main Street, Bethel. The opening is Friday, Oct. 5, from 5-7 p.m. The show will be up all month. And remember, if
you don't like a painting, use the comment, “Now that is interesting.”
I made a mistake last week (won't be the last) when I stated that flickers drilled parallel rows of holes on trees in their quest for insects to eat. It really is the yellow-belied sapsucker that drills parallel rows. At least the sapsucker, like the flicker, is a member of the woodpecker family.
The grey tree frogs are still making their evening calls. You have probably heard them and thought they were some confused songbird singing in the dark. The grey tree frog has a call that sounds like a series of bird cheeps. Not at all frog-like. They are a couple inches long and wide and look like a grey toad. Look like toad; call like bird? Not sure how they came to be called frogs!
A few winters ago a grey tree frog hibernated in one of my ferns that was outside. Unbeknownst to me, I brought the fern inside and, on sunny days that winter, I would be serenaded by the tree frog. He spent that winter on the sun porch and then returned to his outdoor home when the fern went back out in the spring. Quite a treat to have him inside that winter. It has not been repeated.
Our gorgeous foliage is peaking. We look forward to it each year, knowing we will only see it for a week or so. Maybe that is part of the beauty.
News can be sent to 3taichi6@gmail.com.