This is it! The Week of Weeks! I hope to see you all at the Town Hall tomorrow, May 16, from 1 to 7 p.m., voting for your Town officers and other matters! Then Saturday, May 17, at 10 a.m., we will all gather once again, this time in the new Edgecomb Eddy School auditorium, for our traditional expression of direct democracy, the Edgecomb Town Meeting!

After completing the Town's 2003-04 business, let us all stay to participate in the Dedication of our new school from 4 to 6 pm. While hanging around, stroll around the premises, and pay particular attention to three painted and printed quilt compositions created by Gayle Fraas and Duncan Slade, designed to be viewed collectively on the three interior walls of the entrance lobby. A commission from the Maine Arts Commission's One Percent for Art program, "Between Two Rivers – The Edgecomb Suite" presents three well-known locations within our Town: Haggett's Field within the Schmid Preserve, Cod Cove on the Sheepscot River, and a view of Goose Rock from the shores of the Kitzi Colby Nature Preserve on the Damariscotta River. The actual sites are all accessible to the public. Each quilted piece defines the landscape, its aerial view, and a pattern derived from the sense of place. Fraas and Slade are well respected artists state-wide and nationally. Currently, they are Maine Arts Commission Fellows in Fiber Arts.

In other education matters, Head Start, a program of the Coastal Economic Development Corporation, is recruiting children for next fall. Children who will be four years old on or before Oct. 15, and who meet the income and/or special needs criteria, are eligible. Children who will be three years old on or before Oct. 15 will be placed on a waiting list, as space permits. If you know a family who might be interested, please refer them to the Head Start secretary at CED/Head Start, 1-800-221-2221, or to the Head Start Center nearest to them. In our area, Boothbay Head Start, 633-3250; Salt Bay Area Head Start, 563-1412; Wiscasset Head Start, 882-7613.

A small but enthusiastic crowd gathered at the new Bob Brown Parking Lot on the Middle Road entrance to the Schmid Preserve, and some made inaugural hikes along the new network of trails from that location. The rest of us made a point of trying each of the many delectable pastries laid on for the occasion! Explanatory brochures are available in the kiosk. A wonderful place to come for contemplation or exercise (or both?) The Preserve is also accessible from Old County Road off Route 27.

The new lobster specialty automobile license plates are available at the Town Hall. They cost an extra $20.00 the first time, and $15.00 every year thereafter. For more information, call Tax Collector Lee Smith at 882-7018.

A Final Reminder: Today is the last day you can forestall real estate tax lien procedures. Any unpaid property taxes must be paid before May 15, to avoid additional charges other than interest. Call the Tax Collector at the above number for more details. Residents may want to ask about recent homestead exemption changes, as well.

Thursday, May 22, from 2:00 on, the Edgecomb Historical Society will be back on the Town Hall balcony doing inventory and housekeeping of our collections. Come join us!

Oh, how I wish I had known that the Maine Yankee reactor pressure vessel was to be barged down the Back River toward Barnwell, South Carolina, on Tuesday, May 6! We could all have watched its progress from the west side of town. Ah well, the big one that got away.

Watching the asparagus grow 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.