One cool and sunny spring morning, Captain Elliot asked me for help to sail his old 30 foot wooden power cruiser out of Blue Hill Bay to its summer home, at a mooring in Bucks Harbor. The trip of about 20 sea miles up Eggemoggin Reach should have taken only a couple of hours so […]
December 2018
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
A child brings them home
My daughter was one of those kids who said she was never going to leave home. Though she’d gone to college in Colorado and worked summers on dude ranches, Maine was home. She was born here, raised in a sturdy ship captain’s house at Porters Landing. That graceful home, with its wavy glass windows and […]
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Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
Where you go to figure out what’s going on
My father enlisted late in World War II and by the time his troopship arrived in the Philippines, the war was all but over. He spent about six months there, saw no conflict and returned home to Maine with a few souvenir Japanese swords and a bad case of malaria. Before he arrived home, my […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
A cat’s rebellion threatens homecoming
We’d flown since early morning from Seattle’s SeaTac Airport, via Detroit, then Boston and finally home to Portland. It’s late. I’m tired and hungry. You don’t get anything to eat on the later flights. Not even a peanut. Home after Christmas. Our headlights cascade down a long, winding, driveway piled three feet deep with snow. […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
‘Home’ can be delivered to your doorstep every morning
There are all kinds of home. There’s the home you enjoy without thought when you’re a kid, the first apartment you decorate alone, and the house you share later on with those you love. If you’re lucky, you’ll have more than one home at a time – a job that feels just right, and a […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
First an escape, then the long trip back
Growing up in Anson, I couldn’t wait to escape. A nearby Carnegie library proved there was a more exciting world out there. A high school so small it took five towns and two unorganized townships to exist was hardly that bigger world. Even then I was living an Eagles refrain: “I’m already gone.” College in […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
Dad and an angel, waiting for me
The Anderson Christmas angel was simple. She was not a store-bought porcelain doll. Her simple starched lace dress held the round head made of wood. Her hair, eyes and slight smile were painted on. Her halo and arms were shiny gold pipe cleaners. Her wings were of gold tin foil. The trumpet she played joyously […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
On the last lap, and heading home
There’s no denying I’m on my last lap and heading home. I’m healthy and happy, but I know I’m edging closer. I enjoy telling family stories. Mistakenly and often I think my children and grandchildren will find it interesting to hear them. My stories are met with eye rolls. Clearly I am a dinosaur. Thus, […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
A song calls a stranger home
In 1994, in the wake of major life changes, I fulfilled a dream I’d held since 1963 and volunteered for the United States Peace Corps. My deep belief in the Corps and the trust shown me in the selection process laid my path to Poland, four years after the Berlin Wall fell. After training, I […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
A familiar drive can be full of surprises
It was the winter of 1974-75 and I was a freshman at University of Maine/Farmington. I was riding home to Tewksbury, Mass., with Dave, who lived in nearby Billerica. It was snowing when we left after his last class on Friday. When I got into his Chevy, Dave muttered, “I’m not sure how good my […]