I can't quite fulfill my promise, to provide the official spelling of that troublesome road. Got a call from Clarice Cossett of Wiscasset, and a message from Lee Smith, both of whom knew Eleanor and Harold Englebrekt. Says Clarice, "You want to be sure, go to St. Patrick's cemetery in Damariscotta Mills. That's where they are!" Kathy Swain, who lives on the road, also knew the family, and tells me the name is spelled Engelbrekt. Sunday, I spent an hour in the rain roaming up and down the cemetery markers, but without success, even though helped by a group of children. A kind gentleman assured me that the name should be spelled, in his native German, "Engelbrecht."

Bruce hit the internet and reports: for Engelbrecht, 72,900 hits (German and Afrikaans); for Engelbrekt, 11,700 hits (Scandinavian); for Englebrecht, 4840 hits; for Englebrekt, 36 hits.

But of course, what we need is a signature. The way Harold and Eleanor spelled their name will win. Give me another week?

"Dive Into Reading" at the Edgecomb Eddy School Book Fair! Tomorrow, April 4, 5-7 pm, is Family Night. Come browse, buy books for your children, and munch on pizza in the Cafeteria. (Come back the following week for "Breakfast and Books," Saturday morning, April 12, from 8 to 10 am.) This event is sponsored by the school's Parent-Teacher Committee.

Parents Alert! Call the Edgecomb Eddy School, 882-5525, to sign up for screening for either Kindergarten (child must turn 5 by Oct. 15) or First Grade. Kindergarten screening will be May 2; First Grade screening will be on April 29, beginning at 12:30 p.m.

Got a call from Joyce Bell Gleason. She is looking for a house or land to buy in Edgecomb, so she can keep daughter Alexis (a 3rd grader) in the Edgecomb Eddy School. If anyone knows of such, please call me so I can let her know.

The sign-up deadline for the Boothbay Region Food Pantry's Easter food baskets is also Friday, April 4. People should come to the Boothbay Harbor Congregational Church during open hours (12:30 to 2:30 pm) to sign up, or call Louise Hardina at 563-5236 or the Edgecomb Congregational Church at 882-4060. Baskets will be ready for pick-up Saturday, April 12. Edgecomb folks in need are welcome to participate in the Food Pantry service. If you have transportation difficulties, please get in touch with Louise.

The Blackford family are back from a splendid week in Costa Rica! Tom's parents celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary with a Lindblad "On the Wild Side" cruise, and invited my neighbors along. They took in the well-managed Costa Rican rainforest, the Baja Colorado nature preserve maintained by the Smithsonian Institution, and went kayaking and snorkeling in
the Caribbean. They stocked up on wonderful coffee at a plantation in San Jose, surrounded by three volcanos! They viewed howler monkeys, sloths, scarlet macaws, and even ate fried jungle termites! "Good protein source," says Suzie, who has not forgiven the White-Faced Capuchin monkey who peed on her head when she got too close to it. The grand finale was the trip through the Panama Canal! The kids were allowed up on the bridge, and in the chart rooms. They dutifully took school assignments with them – not sure how much actually got done, but son Joe is working up a slide show from the pictures they took, to present in class.

The Edgecomb Historical Society spent our March meeting pouring over pictures and memorabilia from the several older schools of Edgecomb. Thank you, Ruth Bryant, for the interior picture of the Eddy School in 1938! We have several exterior shots of that school, with various classes, and a 1967 flag ceremony, but we need help identifying the people. (This was all a great help to me, for my talk to the Twin Villages Women's Club on Monday, April 7, at 1:00 pm, in the library of the Lincoln Home, about "Edgecomb Schools, Past and Present.")

"Gift of the Heart" kit-making has started. Members of the Edgecomb Congregational Church and anyone else who wants to help, will be collecting materials, assembling Health Kits and School Kits and packing them for shipment the last week in April. These kits are distributed throughout the world to anyone in need, regardless of religion or nationality. For more information, call Bob Hardina, 563-5236 or leave a message at the church, 882-4060.

Bruce and I attended the concert at the Edgecomb Eddy School, and I want to report that the "alma mater" Martin Swinger has composed, from ideas contributed by the students, is a real rouser! The kids sitting in back of us knew it cold. Nice images of the school as seed and as boat: "We sail into tomorrow and This boat will take us there." A third verse pays tribute to the Old Eddy School. But he acknowledged that the key contribution, which really makes the song, is the line "And we care enough to know each other's names." Grand!

Martin Swinger has been supported in this residency by the Maine Alliance of Arts Educators, and he thanks them for helping him turn "having fun with kids" into a profession. We enjoyed his repertory of songs of his own composition, such as the moving tribute to his biggest "Uncle Hubert," and the succinct "Fisherman," as well as songs by other Maine schoolchildren, and some old standards, all delivered in an easy, confiding manner, with several opportunities for us to sing along. The only downside to the evening, many parents and friends had hoped to hear the students sing the songs they had created during his residency, but learned such a concert was scheduled for the following morning.

Happy Tartan Day! – April 6 is the day Queen Victoria officially restored to the Scots their right to wear kilts, speak Gaelic, and play the bagpipes! Highland Flinging at 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in The Boothbay Register, The Lincoln County News, The Wiscasset Newspaper, and at www.Edgecomb.org.