That female harp seal on Route 1 in Edgecomb was fortunate indeed to make it without being crushed by traffic! Someone was very alert to call in seal handler Jim Buckingham of the Northeast Marine Animal Lifeline. She was taken to the seal rescue center in Westbrook and will eventually be released off Cape Elizabeth, which seems sad, if she had been swimming in Edgecomb waters. If you should find a stranded seal, report it to the Lifeline at 773-7377. Do not attempt to handle the animal yourselves. They are powerful predators, and, so far inland, probably in a state of panic. Check www.stranding.org to track seal strandings.
SPC Stephanie Wood is currently serving in Iraq. Anyone who would like to send her a cheery word from home, her address is: 3rd Platoon, 619th Transportation Corps, WSO GAA, APO AE 09331.
I am sure we all send our condolences to the Gray family on the passing of their mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Flavilla Gray. A graveside funeral was held Friday, April 2, at the Union Cemetery. The daughter of a lighthouse keeper, she grew up in many of the lighthouses along the Maine Coast. Her writings about these experiences can be found in Coastal Ghost and Lighthouse Lore, an anthology edited by William Orville Thomson, published by Scapes Press of Kennebunk in 2001.
Congratulations, Ben Ellinwood, who married Melissa Parker of Damariscotta in December. Ben is the son of Laroy and Gail Ellinwood on the Merry Island Road, and grandson of Mildred Ellinwood on the River Road.
And welcome, Pachern Sri-Udom, known as "Berm" to the Edgecomb Eddy students he has been visiting for the last month, sharing the culture, cuisine and games of his native Thailand. Berm's stay is a part of an American Foreign Student program. From Edgecomb, he has moved on to schools in Boothbay and Southport. He will return home in June.
Sue Carlson, Roslyn Strong and Jo Cameron represented the Edgecomb Historical Society at the recent Lincoln County History Consortium meeting in Wiscasset. We came away filled with enthusiastic resolve to develop our archives scientifically, and invite anyone interested to help us with this enterprise! Call me, or Sue and Ros to find out what you can do.
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter are all lined up in this month's skies. Go out at dawn, if you want to see the whole chain. Mercury will disappear below the horizon by April 12. But the astronomers further alert us to two brand new comets, first time ever in this solar system, named in the inscrutable NASA style NEAR and LINEAR. Comet LINEAR will be visible by April 11, just about the same location and magnitude as the departing Mercury. I am enchanted that the astronomers who have found the new planet (or planetoid?) beyond Pluto have named it Sedna, after the Inuit sea goddess who is often pictured as a salmon.
Several Edgecomb Congregational Church items: Their annual meeting will be Tuesday, April 13, 7:00 p.m. One of the tenets of Congregationalism is that the governance of the church rests with its membership, so pick up a copy of the annual report the Sunday before and plan to attend.
A word of thanks to the Morris Farm for its valuable lecture series on Food Resources. The last lecture concerned "Support Local Agriculture." There is a lot of information available about assistance not only to full farms, but to small market gardens. If interested, get in touch with The Morris Farm, 882-4080 or MOFGA, 568-4142.
This just in: The Morris Farm is offering training sessions for volunteers who want to lead kids' field trips this summer. They will be held Wednesday, April 14 at 10:30 a.m. and Thursday, April 15, 1:00 p.m. Call 882-4080 to pre-register and inquire.
Public Input needed! The Sheepscot Watershed Council is presenting a management plan for the Sheepscot River on Monday, April 12 at 5:30 p.m. at the headquarters of the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association, 624 Sheepscot Road, village of Sheepscot, a part of Newcastle. SVCA is situated 3 miles north of Route 1 on Sheepscot Road, across from the Harriet Bird Playground. The management plan is for the restoration of the Sheepscot River watershed, which drains more than 320 square miles in 4 counties, to as near a naturally functioning system as possible, to protect and enhance the region for us all. Contact SRWC at 622-7847, ext. 107 or by e-mail at council@sheepscot.org
Library Alert: The nine town Lincoln County Library Consortium is being disbanded. The libraries can no longer afford the financial burden of providing so much service to the many non-resident patrons without resuming the library card charge of $40 per year. Edgecomb residents are safely included in Wiscasset Public Library's patronage, since the Town contributes annually to their operating expenses. Non-resident cards will be honored through December 31, 2004.
April is Poetry Month! Here is one of mine.
MUDFISH
Consider the ways of the mudfish,
who rides out the drought
by curling herself up tightly,
nose to tail,
in a casing of clay
to bake hard in the sun.
Later, when rains come again,
people look out at the puddles
and wonder,
"What is that crackling
out of clay balls,
flopping about,
with such joy?"
Little blue chionodoxa are up! Sailing for Sedna from 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.