Parents of Edgecomb 6th graders! Are you wondering where your child will go to middle school? Come to a public Edgecomb School Board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Edgecomb Eddy School to hear representatives from Wiscasset, Great Salt Bay and Boothbay Region Middle Schools. Boothbay Region Superintendent Eileen King says that this special meeting will discuss the Town of Edgecomb's next secondary school contract decision and also the bussing of middle and high school students. Call the Edgecomb Eddy School, 882-5515 for more information.
A belated Christmas wreath tossed over the heads of Beth Javis' 4th graders, Robin MacCredy's 5th graders and and Terry Mulligan's 6th graders of the above-mentioned institution of learning, for the handcrafted ornaments they made for Meals on Wheels to give to their recipients with holiday meals!
And farther along the educational pathway, congratulations to Niall Janney who has earned High Honors for his fall term as a Sophomore at Phillips Exeter Academy!
Word has come of the death of Candace Sawyer, long an Edgecomb resident and benefactor. Our deepest condolences to her family. My mother was one of a number of her friends who used to meet for art classes in her studio. One of my treasures is the portrait Candy painted of my older daughter Daphne.
The Mid-Coast Co-Housing Group on Salt Marsh Cove Road off the River Road are hosting a grand February Frolics on Sunday, Feb. 12, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on and around the pond I mentioned a couple columns ago. Bring your skates, skis, sleds and toboggans! There will be inside games for those who would prefer not to display their insecurities on ice and snow! Hot chocolate and cookies will abound. If you need directions, call Grace Goldberg at 633-0417.
As long as your winter gear is out, flex up your snowshoes and bring them to the Schmid Preserve Saturday evening, 7:00 p.m. for an hour or so! Meet at the Edgecomb Town Hall, and proceed from there with the group. Wear warm waterproof clothing and footgear! Maybe a whistle or a headlamp or flashlight, in case it is cloudy. "The light of the near-full moon will reveal a host of winter sights the hiker sees differently at night – shapes of trees, animal tracks, maybe an owl or a fox tracking dinner." says Amanda Russell. "Night time sounds change, too, and often, the sense of smell is heightened." Call Bob Leone, 882-9613 or Andy Abello, 882-6634 for more about this!
Rebuilding Together has certainly helped people in Edgecomb during the past year. It is a non- profit group of local people whose only mission is to help low-income homeowners, particularly those who are elderly and/or disabled, and families with children. If you know someone like this who needs help with home repairs, suggest they go, or bring them with you to the Rebuilding Together Open House at the Boothbay Harbor Town Office on Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. The 2006 Rebuilding Day is scheduled for Saturday, May 6. To volunteer or for more information, come to the Open House or call 633-6300.
Now that Mozart's 250th birthday is come and gone, who is up for celebration? Bawdy Bill of Stratford on Avon, that's who! Let's all head out for "Complexions of . . . Love," being presented by The Theater of the Spirit tomorrow and Saturday, Feb. 3 and 4, 7:30 p.m., at the Second Congregational Church in Newcastle. Phyllis McQuaide will be among those waxing passionate in love scenes selected from the Bard's works, while Bobsie Thompson will be tootling Shakespearean music as one of a recorder ensemble.
Starting Thursday, February 9, Debby Boucher is holding an after-school program for elementary age children on Thursday afternoons after school at the Edgecomb Congregational Church. It will run from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Parental permission for their children to attend is required, so that children may be dropped off by the schoolbus, to be picked up by parents at 5:00 p.m. This program is a community service, not religious education! There is no fee. All children, of any faith or lack thereof, will be welcome! They may play games, do crafts, or find quiet space for working on studies or homework. "Perhaps in the future we can get into remedial work and mentoring," Bob Hardina tells me. "We see this as a work in progress, and will try to build a program around needs." Call Debbie for more information, 992-8402.
Going through ancient clippings, I must make an apology, both to Edgecomb author Lea Wait, and to the Wiscasset schoolchildren who created a marvelous story-telling quilt based on her first children's book, "Stopping to Home." I failed to note it in columns closer to the date the quilt was unveiled, but I hope that it will continue to be displayed or brought out for inspiring and dazzling young readers who encounter Lea's 19th-century Wiscasset books down the years.
In view of the increasingly snowy weather, a reminder: If the Edgecomb Eddy School has a snow day, then the Town offices will not be open, either.
A further wintry warning: for those who plow out their own driveways or have them plowed privately, remember, it is against state law to dump piles of private snow out on public thorofares. The reason is simple. Such piles make it even more difficult and dangerous for traffic, and risk damage to the Town's snowplow contractor's equipment. Leave your driveway snow where your lawn would be if there were no snow!
Snowman of the Year: the snow Buddha Christine Correa built, greeting visitors to the Deck House School's art studio. Long green pine spill eye lashes and gentle tree twig smile! Seeking seraphic tranquility and not finding it at 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.