Word has come to me that River Road neighbor Su Ripley has passed away, very unexpectedly, while visiting her family in California. This leaves a big empty hole in my personal list of good friends.
Let us also bow our heads in farewell to Dotty Cost. The family asks that memorial contributions be made to Community Health and Counseling Service's Hospice Program, POB 425, Bangor ME 04402.
Welcome, little Landon Dean Campbell, son of Justin Campbell and Joy Lincoln, to date, the newest addition to our town's population count!
Poetry Slam! Truck along down to the Edgecomb Congregational Church on Friday evening, March 7, 2008, starting at 6:30 p.m. in the church hall! Come armed with your own sonnets or haikus, or your pet Longfellow, e.e. cummings, John Donne, Emily Dickinson or Adrienne Rich piece! Anyone can play! With time out for refreshments! Oh, and any donations you care to make will benefit the Edgecomb Eddy School Library!
Too cold to cook? Turn to your friendly Soup Group! This month's offering is a choice of Beef or Turkey Chili. Each serving comes complete with an individual serving of corn bread and brownies. The cost will be $6.00 per serving, or enough for a family of four, $20. Additional servings for the family portion are $4.00 each. To reserve, call Debbie Boucher at 882-8402 or call the Edgecomb Congregational Church at 882-4060 and leave a message. Your reservation will be confirmed. Also, check this out! You can now email your order to ECC@gwi.net!
Please place your order by Tuesday, March 4th. It can be picked up at The Edgecomb Congregational Church on Cross Point Road in Edgecomb between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. or ECC will be happy to arrange for its delivery.
River Road artist Brady Nickerson has recently installed a large mural at the Boothbay YMCA, which was commissioned in 1997 by the Maine Arts Council. The work, which centers on a brilliant yellow flower, was a collaborative project with her teen workshop students at the time, who added ribbons dedicated to Trust, Faith, Hope, Courage, Love and Spirit.
Evelin Brown will be starting her practicum at St. Andrews' Family Care Center on Monday, March 3. She'll be graduating with her Medical Assistant degree in May! It's been a long haul, Evelin, but worth it! She says the new Family Care Center building is scheduled to open March 17.
This column benefits from some postponings: The Chewonki program, "The Rain Forest", will be shown on Friday, March 7 at 7:00 p.m. at the Boothbay Harbor Opera House. More time to sign up!! Call 633-3112 or e mail barbh@bmpl.lib.me.us .
A CLICK Community Family Read will start the first part of March and go through the month. We will be reading "The Secret Garden," by Frances Hodgson Burnett. If you and your family are interested in participating, please let the Boothbay Memorial Library know, so they can order enough books. FMI: Call 633-3112 or e mail barbh@bmpl.lib.me.us
The Hills are Alive with the Swish of Quadratic Equations! The Wiscasset Middle School Eighth Grade Math Team took First Place at the Central Maine Math League meet at Mt. Ararat Middle School on Saturday, Feb. 2. This was a double elimination tournament, requiring the team to work Base 8 logarithms and other such arcane challenges. The following weekend, at the Alpha Chapter Mathcounts competition at Kennebec Valley Technical College, sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers, first place was won by the Edgecomb-located Center for Teaching and Learning math team: Carolyn MacDonald, Sarah Jordan, Jordan Friedland, and Martin Schott. The WMS team placed second with Nat Blackford, Hunter Reid, Ryan Peters and Westport Islander Emily Whitaker advancing to the state competition to be held March 15 at Colby College. Nat won a second place in the Individual Performance challenge. The trophies are neat! Right triangles of Pythagorean triple proportions, sides 3, 4 and 5 inches respectively. Other Edgecomb WMS team members are James Brown and Ricky Cost. Thanks, Nat, for clarifying all these competitions for me! So, let us toast them all with mulled cider served in a sterling silver Klein bottle! (OK, math whizzes, what's a Klein bottle?) (Hint: What's a Möbius strip?)
Incidently, Nat Blackford is WMS Student of the Month for February. Ryan Peters was likewise for December. Congratulations, Claire Unda, who was recently inducted into the Boothbay Region High School's chapter of the National Honor Society! Any other Edgecomb honorees who have escaped me?
Yes! Christopher Casey is on the Dean's List for the Fall 2007 semester at the Maine Maritime Academy! Give three cheers and one cheer more!
More adventures by my neighbors next door: Maggie Hoyt has cut her teeth on political lobbying, one of a group to Augusta to protest the cutting of services to Maine's deaf community last week. She is also entered in an Academic Bowl sponsored by Gallaudet University to be held in Brattleboro VT late next month.
Her brother Joe Hoyt will be performing in a Hebron Academy production of The Dr. Seussical! And their mother Susie Stephenson has a one-woman show of her sizzling hooked rugs at the Maine FibreArts gallery in Topsham, running through April 25! Go on down to take a look.
Fielding flying polynomials from across the hedge at 234 River Road, 633-2978, jocam@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.