Twelve-year-old Maria Wright, daughter of Bruce and Cindy Wright on Englebrekt Road, is a patient at Maine Medical Center, diagnosed with a form of cancer. Her uncle Brian Wright has started a fund-raising drive to help defray her medical costs. Anything her neighbors and friends can do will be valued greatly! Send money donations to First Federal Savings, 125 Front Street, Bath ME 04530, and mark your checks "Maria Wright Family Fund." Talk to Brian Wright, or his daughter Ashley, 882.8364, about any other assistance you may be able to give the family.
Shoulder your shopping bags! It's the Cross Point Road's Five Mile Yard Sale! Saturday, August 12, starting, depends on when the vendors get up! Try 8:00 a.m. to about 4:00 p.m. So, prepare to roam up and down the Cross Point Road searching for bargains, bargains, bargains! Call Carol Colby, 882-7234, for details.
Lee Smith tells me to tell you the forms for the State's Property Tax and Rent Refund (known by its friends as the "Circuit Breaker") are now available at the Town Office. The income level for eligibility is quite high this year so anyone who pays more than 4% of their income on real estate taxes, and is a legal resident, would be wise to check it out. Town Office hours are Mondays, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. For more tax info, call Lee at 882-7018 during these hours.
Vivid week to report: Thursday, a cheese tasting at Rising Tide Food Co-Op in Damariscotta, presented by Jennifer Bettencourt of Silvery Moon Creamery in Westbrook. For extra points, spot the Edgecomb connection? Nah, I'll tell you. Jennifer is the daughter of Tom and Gail Boudin on the Cross Point Road. But I want to tell you, Maine cheeses are booming, and Silvery Moon's are among the best and most innovative. Try their Westbrook White when you get a chance; it's on the way to Feta! The Tuscan variant on cheddar curds is to die for. And to think, Jennifer and spouse started experimenting with cheeses in an apartment kitchen!
So then, Friday, we went to admire Bob Thomas' photographs at Alewives Fabrics in Damariscotta Mills. The Kelp series intriguing, colors like banners or sunsets or, er, nudes... and I told him they looked very painterly. He explained they were actually sections, blown up, of entire lengths of the kelp which grows along the Sheepscot River. The Pemaquid Sand Sculpture series are in black and white, dramatic traceries of water channeling sand like mini-deltas, and one I particularly liked, black stones from which the sand has been dragged away. His Maine Stones was the big surprise, concentrating on and computer-enhancing the colors of the lichens and algae growing on the surfaces, as well as the different minerals which occur in such stones.
What I had not realized is that Alewives Fabrics is now owned by Barbara and J.D. Neeson, Bob's and Lea's next door neighbors on the Eddy Road. Barbara, who teaches art at Lincoln Academy, said the property used to be owned by her grandparents, who once ran a general store there. She is selling not only batik and batik-inspired fabrics from SERVV and other international fair-trade crafts distributors, but also packets of fabric cut for quilting purposes, plus jewelry, gorgeous baskets, I didn't really have a chance to do a thorough inventory because Bruce was leading me out by my ear.
Recently, as I was sickling down goldenrod, of which we have an overabundance, before it seeds, I saw a hummingbird hover around a larch (aka hackmatack, tamarack) behind the house. It seemed to be very interested in the larch cones which are just forming, soft and yellowish, and exuding a kind of sap. Do hummingbirds like larch cone sap? Does anyone know?
Speculating on the diets of hummingbirds at 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.