These archival articles are presented “as is.” Except for minor corrections or clarifications, most have not been updated since they appeared in print. Thus, some details may be out of date, and some hyperlinks may no longer work.
2017: First Call For Fall
by Esther J. Perne
Misty mornings, shorter afternoons, tinges of leaf color along shore fronts and country roads. The signs have arrived: summer is advancing into the next season, fall.
Watch out for fall! Here, it’s a season for romance and dreaming and climbing mountains, a season for peace and beauty and quiet and a season for renewed energy. Here, it’s a season when it’s not too late to still catch and enjoy some of the qualities of summer.
Sure, there are changes in the fall. There are foot races on the fall agenda, fundraisers that thrive on refreshing temperatures. Biking, hiking and exploring thrive on refreshing temperatures, too. And there are team sports and school sports where the fields are fun to be on — or to watch.
Indoor activities are afoot in the fall: book groups, wonderful adult ed programs, arts and crafts classes, and beano.
There is special fall work: wood to put in, produce to preserve, plastic to swath around things stored outdoors and anywhere (whole houses) there might be a draft.
Winter recreation beckons. No, not yet, but where are those skis and skates? Do boots still fit the younger set? Is there hot chocolate in the cupboard?
But, wait, early fall is not too late for some great summer activities. Swimming when the air is brisk, the water still warm, the lake quiet is the ultimate luxury. Floating in idle watercraft on smooth waters is the pinnacle of the art of lingering — and observation.
Sitting at an outdoor café or picnic table in the fall is a winning act of defiance against cold to come. Sleeping in an unheated camp is the best sleep ever. And, venturing forth to an area downtown or village is an adventure uncrowded in finally discovering what these destinations are all about.
Fall is a reminder that some of the best summer businesses and attractions and workers and residents are seasonal; summer theater and concerts and art exhibits are, too.
It means time to check the closings, to take in activities and historic sites before Labor Day, to attend that last public supper, to wait no longer for an item to go on sale.
The mornings are misty, the afternoons shorter, the sun lower, and the foliage advancing across the fields and woods.
Watch out for fall! It’s a season to fall in love with.
With summer in the Belgrades there are few "goodbyes" and many "so longs until we meet again."
The summer of 2017 is no different. As we complete the final Summertime in the Belgrades publication of the season, there remain great memories to sort through, a full file of carryover projects and many promises of new story items and ideas to share with you when we meet again.
Until then, we say thank you. We thank our incredible, incomparable readers who buoy us up with their dedication to tracking us down on our delivery route, who save every issue of Summertime, who assure us that the first stop they make before going to camp is to get a copy of our newspaper and who appreciate our role in uniting the region, in being its voice and, quite simply, in being the best source of all that’s good that’s going on.
We thank our advertisers who support Summertime both financially and with amazing compliments and friendliness, who are glad to see us every week, and who applaud the quality of our publication.
We thank our small staff who pull it off week after week, year after year: to Mike, Director of Layout and Design and delivery assistant, and to Gregor, Webmaster, editorial contributor and delivery assistant.
And, we thank our regular contributors: Pete Kallin who truly lives the life and walks the walk — and takes a grandkid with him; Rod Johnson, who was lucky to grow up in the grand '50s and is lucky to be able to share those tales so well; to Dale Finseth, whose professional conservation overview of the area provides excellent explanations and advise; and to Martha Barkley for her review of books that touch meaningfully on this region.
Finally, but not least, we thank Ethan and Corey who carried on the Summertime legacy of hands-on, enthusiastic marketing this summer as "paperboys."
And so, for 2017 it is not goodbye but so long until next summer season!
As I sit here this damp morning looking out at the dripping pines, I see that we have been blessed with a couple of heavy rain showers during the night. It makes me realize that our area had a darn good balance of weather over the last couple of months. Our lakes have been kept near the full level most of the time and the forest fire danger has been kept low. In pondering all this, the sense occurs to me that summer is fleeting — and its time here in the Belgrades is in the final phases.
After we’ve patiently waited through winter and spring, it seems unfair that summer should slip away so quickly. It seems that we just got started with family picnics, company coming from afar, boating and swimming on the lakes, then POOF — summer slips on by. Perhaps the short duration of summer is part of why we cherish it so.
Just a couple of days ago, a red leaf or two appeared in one of the old maples down the Lakes village. Yes, it was an early fluke, but just letting us know that fall is not far off. So enjoy your last swims, your last boat rides, and take note that the sun is setting a little further south on the western horizons over Long Pond.
The Luckiest Boy will be shutting down the story writing shop for now. Thanks to you all who picked up the Summertime News and made it part of your weekly summer perusals. Hats off to Erle and Esther, Mike and Gregor for all their hard work in putting out the paper, and all the contributors who supplied articles of interest and information.
Have a great fall and winter, see you in the spring of 2018. Before you know it, it will be time to open camp!
It is late August as I begin this report. The days, here in Maine, are noticeably shorter, and lovely summer slips through the hand like Edna Millay’s silver fish. The swamp maple flashes in red danger signal, and it’s time now for the gardener to make his plans for the house plants that will bring the garden indoors this winter and to order bulbs that must go into the ground in October and November if the outdoor garden is to come to life again next spring.
I am tempted to simply quote from this poetic, yet informative, garden book by Katharine S. White published long ago in 1958. Originally written as articles for The New Yorker, it is a compilation of this editor’s only published book. That is surprising, since she hired E.B. White as a part time staff writer. We all know how prolific Katharine’s husband was …
My friend loaned me this very special old book that was updated and edited in 1979 by E.B. White upon his wife’s death. How odd to read that she plunged into her gardens at their saltwater coastal farm (now on the market), dressed as she would be around the house working on her New Yorker editing. No dressing down for her gardens.
Some of the names to remember when you put in your summer order for tulips, narcissi, daffodils, and other spring bulbs are Max Schling Seedsmen; P. de Jager & Sons, whose head offices are in Holland; and John Scheepers, Inc., another outlet for Dutch bulbs … For lily bulbs of all kinds, Romaine B. Ware, of Canby, Oregon, issues the most attractive catalogue I have seen, and Oregon’s lilies are famous.
Travel the world with Katharine as she reviews seed and bulb catalogues. Her writing is just as mesmerizing as her well published husband, E.B. White. This special garden book was published in 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1979. Very, very popular, indeed, and read by more than gardeners!
The New Yorker serialized Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring as well, so when the book finally was published it was an immediate bestseller. Perhaps these writers are known today because they knew how to catch the eye of discerning readers who kept looking for more in the next issue of the magazine.
I understand Harriet Beecher Stowe did the same with each chapter for Uncle Tom’s Cabin published on broadsheets in Brunswick, Maine. Stowe’s husband taught at Bowdoin and evening readings of Uncle Tom’s Cabin occurred regularly for his students at their home. Uncle Tom’s Cabin became not just a national phenomena, but a world wide published work, like Carson’s Silent Spring.
"Winter Reading, Winter Dreams" may be a chapter of interest in White’s garden book, winter appearing all too soon. Enjoy August/September and those blooms until frost … perhaps reading other books by Rachel Carson and Harriet Beecher Stowe this winter as well? The Sea Around Us by Carson is my favorite. The Pearl of Orr’s Island and others about Maine are just some of Stowe’s many published works.
Her grand niece Robinson admitted to us in Charleston, SC that she refused to read her aunt’s famed (infamous) novel. When she finally did read it rather late in life, Robinson realized what a gift Uncle Tom’s Cabin was to the world at that time and even today. Good writing is good writing, no matter the subject … "The Million-Dollar Book" is another chapter in Katharine’s garden book to pique your interest.
Suddenly the days are getting a little shorter and I am beginning to notice swamp maples beginning to turn red in the wetlands and birches turn yellow high on the hillsides. It is still quite warm during the day but the nights are growing cooler. Soon it will become easier to find a parking place in the village. Like the birds and squirrels, I am double checking my summer "to do" list and trying to make sure everything gets done. I am amazed at how many things are still on the list.
Last week, my older daughter, Barb, and her family, including three of my grand dogs, came for a short visit. We hiked bit, cruised the lake, and kayaked down the Great Meadow Stream from Route 225 to Great Pond. It was a beautiful day and we saw lots of birds and wildlife as we paddled through the wetlands, which were full of beautiful pickerel weed in bloom as well as swamp milkweed, duck potato, and buttonbush beginning to bloom. We had a nice lunch on the shores of Great Pond while we watched the New England Milfoil crew working where the stream flows into North Bay. On the way back, we explored a few tributary streams and picked a couple of quarts of blueberries without even getting out of our kayaks!
Sandy picks blueberries, while still seated in her kayak.
My friend Dick Greenan took Lynn and Phyllis Matson’s grandson, Alex Patricelli, out fishing while Lynn was back in MN paddling the boundary waters. Alex caught a couple of nice bass and a big yellow perch and the rest of the Matsons enjoyed a fresh caught fish fry while Grandpa Lynn was still in the woods.
Later in the week, Dick and I canoed the Kennebec River from Waterville to Sidney, paddling roughly seven miles in seven hours on the water. Again, we had perfect weather and caught and released about 100 fish, that included two stripers, a yellow perch, and a lot of feisty smallmouth bass. The river fish seem stronger and more acrobatic than their similar-sized, lake-dwelling cousins. When the water is only a couple feet deep, they can’t dive deep, so they take to the sky and jump repeatedly, making for an exciting battle on a flyrod or light spinning gear. We had eleven "doubles," where we were each playing a fish at the same time.
Alex Patricelli holds a nice Long Pond bass he just caught.
Amazingly, we only saw one other boat, a Marine Resources crew checking on sturgeon in the river, and not another human being for nearly seven hours on the river. We did see at least six eagles, eight great blue herons, and numerous cormorants, kingfishers, and other birds, as well as a big splash from a leaping sturgeon. It’s a great trip that I highly recommend.
It is hard to believe that this is the final issue of Summertime in the Belgrades for this year. I hope this column has inspired some of you to get out and explore the outdoor recreation opportunities the region has to offer and I hope you took a kid or two along. Until next year, I encourage everyone to "Take it Outside." For those of you who will be around for the winter, I encourage you to join me on the local trails on snowshoes or skis. Carpe ski-em!
