Sunday, July 11, 2010

90 year birthdays


Last week, my Aunt Bette turned 90 and had a birthday party at my house here in East Boothbay. She lives in Concord, Mass., but she wanted the party to be here, with all her clan in attendance. It is not a large clan, and she is not my real aunt, but we are all bound by the common bond of being only children, and we have made our own family.

Aunt Bette's daughter Nancy, grew up with me while her mother worked, and her grandmother took care of us. Now she and her husband Cliff, live and work in the education world of Washington, DC. They have two sons, one of whom is married, with twin 3 year old daughters, who all live in Minnesota. Their other son, John, is a videographer in DC, and he brought Aunt Bette up from Concord 3 days before the others got here.

None of us had ever really lived together - ever. I really barely knew the boys, let alone Nick's wife and the twins. But we had a remarkably genteel time together, including a large party of Aunt Bette's old friends and relations from Aroostook, Lewiston, and other odd and remote parts of Maine. I am quite proud of us all. It worked quite wonderfully for all of us, and especially the 90 year old at the top of the pyramid.

I can't say exactly why it worked so well, perhaps because all that was expected was that we interact with Aunt Bette, and have a good time. So we played a lot of cribbage and Scrabble and other new games, generally ignored the important affairs of the world, went for a wonderful sail on Priscilla, and ate some good cake but forgot the birthday candles. Oh well. What was important was that we were together with her to memorialize a big day. That was enough, and it was everything.

Friday, July 9, 2010

not your California water issue

Somehow, water main issues just keep popping up. I have been on Town water that comes up behind my neighbors' two houses and barns. It was a 3/4" line and did just fine as far as I was concerned. However, since I wanted water to go into the new barn, the Water District guys - who have still not finished the new Water Main work - decided initially that the barn could be serviced by that line, but that my house needed to be serviced by the new 1" line that they had put in from the brand new water main. The trouble is that the new line was in the diagonally opposite corner of the house from where the water services emanate.
That was solved by just putting the line into the house on the corner near the water main. So they dug down into my old stone foundation, found a hole to put the water line through, and did it. But then the Water District guys came, and decided that I should have the new water line go all the way across the front lawn and down into the barn so they can turn off the old line, which was not convenient for them to service - not that it had ever needed servicing. So now, I have a trench across the front lawn and down across the driveway - just in time for my little grandaughters to come and visit. The trenches are just perfect for them to play in and/or fall in.
So I have called Eric Wood, who is doing the dirt work, and suggested that I will be VERY unhappy if the trenches are not filled in by tomorrow, Saturday, when everyone arrives.
It is a classic, summer-in-Maine issue: outdoor construction work needs to get done in a limited time frame, and when the summer people arrive, the time becomes even more limited. I have never seen so many people working at such a frantic pace in my life. Boatyards are hustling to put boats into the water; dirt movers are loading things onto barges to take them out to islands. Dumptrucks included. Landscapers are distributing huge piles of mulch here and there on lawns, and bending over to spread and plant. It is impressive, and fun to watch except when it is on your own front lawn, and the grandaughters are about to arrive!