Among those contributing to our recent major charitable project was Neil Reny of Boothbay, who succeeded in getting the trailer onto its pad! Dan Coombs, who covered costs of hauling the trailer, Nathan Fossett on the River Road, who helped the residents move their personal belongings, and Neil Ames (Sorry, I got the name wrong last column).
The Planning Board is holding a public hearing tonight from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Edgecomb Town Hall to get residents' input into a matter of correcting and clarifying the "grandfathering" language in our present land use ordinance, particularly as it affects subdivisions. If you have put in a subdivision in the last few years, it would be well to attend this hearing and ask your questions, say your say.
Lea Wait will be signing her latest Maggie Summer books at the Bath Book Shop from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15.
Congo thrift shop donations may be left in a big basket by the vestry door. Grand Opening is planned for November 8. Watch this space!
High school Senior applying for college? You need to know what's expected of you in College Essay Writing. This is a course offered by the Union 74 Adult and Community Education program, for 3 weeks in November, Wednesdays 11/2 , 11/9 and 11/16, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., meeting at Lincoln Academy. The Instructor is Jenny Mayher. Fee, $25.00 Call 563-2811 or e-mail aded74@midcoast.com for more information, or go to www.schoolunion74.org/adulted.htm. You can print a registration form from this website and mail it with your check
Midcoast Won't Discriminate invites us all to "Singing for Our Lives: A Community Interfaith Chorus Concert and Hymn Sing for Civil Rights" on Sunday, Oct. 16 at the John Street Methodist Church in Camden on Sunday, Oct. 16, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m.. For more information, call the First Universalist Church in Rockland , 594-8750. Donations gladly accepted.
Whiffs of grapeshot! Do not be alarmed, if over the Oct. 15-16 weekend, you hear cannon fire from Chuck and Becky Benton's Route 27 vineyard! They will be celebrating the wedding of Terri Carlson of Washington ME to John Papineau of Boothbay, both ardent members of the 18th-Century re-enactment group, the 2d New Hampshires. The cannon, named Caroline T. Cannon, is small, a 4-pounder, and the only discharge will be noise! Becky asks me to warn you all, it will fire in the morning of the 15th from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m., at noon, once the nuptials have happily concluded, and again in the evening, before sunset. This is part of a 1760s style wedding encampment; the bride and groom will be in perfect period French wedding dress!
The Bentons also gleefully announce their first significant grape harvest: their Leon Millot red wine grapes have produced 275 pounds, which will yield 20 gallons of juice which will come out eventually as ten cases of wine! Perfect summer conditions, the 80-degree days of July and August, and the only serious challenge, defending the grapes from Japanese beetles! In a few weeks, the Bentons will harvest their white Cayuga grapes, the bulk of their vineyard. They are waiting for the Cayugas' brix scale to rise to the maximum degree of sweetness for good white wine. All their grapes are going to the Cellardoor Winery in Lincolnville. Bruce and I personally can vouch for the impressive quality of wines produced by this new ambitious winemaker. Let's hear it for the Maine Wine Industry! Cluck and Slurp!
For non-winos, forgive me the "technical" terms. Every enthusiasm has its language. "Brix" is a measurement of sweetness. To cluck, you take a swig of wine on the back of your tongue and flick your tongue upward so the tastebuds at the back of the tongue get an impression of the wine's flavor, which is sometimes significantly different from the taste on the front of the tongue, which you get by slurping. And no, you don't have to spit it out.
Clucking and slurping our own experimental wine at 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.