I’M JUST CURIOUS: The mess of moving

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The chaos of moving. (photo by Debbie Walker)

by Debbie Walker

Have you seen those shows on TV about the “Little Houses” and the people are “scaling down” to fit into them? Keep that picture in your mind. It’s not real, it can’t be real! And some of them with children! No way!

Oh all right. Maybe it’s possible if, and that’s a BIG IF, no one in the tiny house has any hobbies or interests and only owns two sets of clothing for each person.

Most of you know I moved back to Florida, last year. I got rid of a lot of my things in that move, only took what would fit in a minivan and my car.

I was moving into one room of my minimalist daughter’s home. It is the home of a minimalist (doesn’t like clutter) plus my room (hoarder). Half of my things were in my bedroom and the other half in a storage trailer they have.

Yes, I am moving again. It has been my goal to live in a trailer/camper when I retired. A few weeks ago I got my 26-foot fifth wheel camper. If you are not familiar with a fifth wheel, in this one the bedroom is basically over the bed of a pickup when it is being towed. So 8 feet of the 26-foot length is over the bed of the truck. The bedroom gives me about two feet on each side of the bed. I am referring to it as my loft bedroom because there are four steps going up. And you can’t stand up in there unless you are maybe five feet tall or under, otherwise like for me, you are bending over! It’s okay, I don’t spend much time up there anyway. The rest of it, kitchen, living room and bathroom, are quite comfortable. That is, will be comfortable once I get my things organized and weed out some that I probably don’t truly need. (That will be at the least, the third time I have cleaned out what I really don’t need.)

In this move, because I lived with my daughter, I am not rushed to get out. I have been able to move a few boxes at a time, thank goodness, because there would be no place to stack the boxes. If you can see clearly in the picture, under that pile of “stuff” is actually my sofa! I will try to put all that away tonight and go get some more to work on for tomorrow night.

Needless to say, packing a camper for a vacation is a far cry from packing to live in one. My biggest problem is clothes and books. I am going to have to get creative to put those things in order. I also have to figure what to do with things like my computer, printer, my sewing machine and my craft supplies. Are you getting a picture in mind? Nana Dee says we may have to do some creative construction and build up a second story. Now that would be a sight!

I am just curious what your craziest move was? I am waiting to hear. Contact me at DebbieWalker@thetownline.org. Have a great week!

REVIEW POTPOURRI: George Szell

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George Szell

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

George Szell

YouTube has made available an hour long September 1968, interview with the great former conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell (1897-1970), who raised that Midwestern group of 100 or more players from an already good level to world class during the 24 years of his leadership from 1946 to his death, due to a combination of heart attack and bone cancer, on July 30, 1970. Back when Time magazine still covered classical music in depth, it devoted a page to Szell’s passing and another to that of Sir John Barbirolli who died the day before Szell. (Interestingly, during the 1930s, Szell had a girlfriend who abandoned him to marry Barbirolli.)

During the course of the interview, originally broadcasted on the BBC with Decca/London record producer, John Culshaw, Szell talks about his childhood as a prodigy on the piano and his concert tours between his home in Vienna, Austria, and London, England. When he was 11 years old. His most vivid memory was shopping in London’s department stores which had far greater numbers of items for sale than those in Vienna. Although he could easily have made a successful career as a pianist, he decided he was too lazy to put in the required hours of daily practicing and would become drawn to conducting. During his youth, he also composed a sizable number of works but decided his own music would never equal that of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.

When he was 13, he studied for a while with German composer Max Reger (1873-1916) whose own music is tough listening at first but well worth additional hearings. Reger was also very obese and could eat more food than 5 people at a dinner party — a factor that, combined with his alcoholism, may have led to his early death from a heart attack.

Szell remembered Reger playing piano music with astounding delicacy and beauty. He also remembered him flinging around four letter words and asking young Szell to go in the hallway while he told dirty jokes to the older students.

At 19, Szell started working with composer/conductor Richard Strauss (1864-1949) at the Dresden Opera House. He told of two tendencies whenever Strauss conducted, whether it was the latter’s own music such as Salome or Don Juan, or Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. He would give a performance that was out of this world or be totally bored, looking at his watch with one hand and conducting with the other.

When Szell was negotiating with the Cleveland Orchestra board for his working terms as music director, he demanded autonomy with the hiring and firing of players and longer working seasons. Interviewer Culshaw, who had already been a friend of several years standing, jokingly commented of working with the conductor for the first time in a recording session in 1948 and of Szell’s reputation as a holy terror. Szell laughed in commenting that it was partially exaggerated. However, he did concede that players in Cleveland who were thinking they were set for life experienced a rude awakening when he demanded high standards because a conductor can’t have the nicest personality and build a world class orchestra at the same time.

Many Szell recordings and broadcasts can be heard via internet sources such as YouTube and Spotify. For beginning collectors, I would recommend the 1964 Mahler 4th Symphony, a recording of which I have worn out at least two copies, and the late ‘60s Brahms 2 Piano Concertos with Rudolf Serkin, both available inexpensively on compact disc.

SOLON & BEYOND: The day we had to abandon our homes in the name of progress

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Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percyby Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Good morning, dear friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

It has been awhile since I sat down at this computer (I had threatened to trash it from all the problems it had given me )….. But thanks to Peter it is up and running again!

As those of you know who read this column, I am very against the CMP Corridor……. and I have managed to get a few printed to the editor of the daily paper. A lot of that is due to the fact that I can remember when we had to sell our homes and move from Flagstaff (it was a very upsetting time for many of us). But……I can also remember how happy I was when Roland and I did the four part series called The Burial of Flagstaff. The following is from the first one in the series: “Like all progress, it will not be accompanied without some heartaches, for the waters to be backed up by the dam will cover the land on which is now located the little community of Flagstaff.”

Twenty-two years ago, I asked John Alden, editor of the Somerset Reporter, if he would print a story about Flagstaff. He had never heard of the place, but he did print the article which included parts of newspaper clippings of the building of the dam that flooded the area – 1949 was the year many of us headed out to a new adventure after living in Flagstaff and Dead River our entire lives.

I wonder what my life would have been like if 35 years ago we hadn’t been ordered from our homes in Flagstaff and Dead River by Central Maine Power Co. Did you ever stop to think what it would be like not to be able to go back home-town?

Like all progress , it will not be accompanied without some heartaches, for the waters to be backed up by the dam will cover the land on which is now located the the little community of Flagstaff.

In the Waterville Morning Sentinel, Tues., July 5, 1949, Eva Bachelder wrote:

The Rev. Arthur R. Macdougall Jr. called what was perhaps Maine’s most solemn Independence Day a “seeming burial.”

At this seeming burial of your little village, Rev. Macdougall said, “You the people of Flagstaff, can broadcast for all to hear that you have lived in one of Maine’s small villages beside a river, surrounded by mountains…a place where there was room to live and to work and to own ones acre… that you have the dignity of everyday freedom the like of which there is no wealth or treasure to compare.”

The words above are all taken from the first week of this four part article written by Roland and myself, Marilyn Rogers, before I became a Bull.

It continues: “I finally went back to where Flagstaff used to be … and the peace and tranquility were still there; and the strength of Mt. Bigelow towering in the distance was as comforting as it had always been in my childhood years.

Would the pace of modern-day living have reached Flagstaff? Some of us didn’t have electricity or plumbing, and yet I don’t feel underprivileged because of the pleasant memories I treasure.

The skiing and sliding on Jim Eaton Hill, skating on Flagstaff Pond in winter and swimming in summer. Everyone turned out for school socials and plays. It was a wonderful place to grow up in. But all during my childhood, every so often during the grown ups conversations, mention was made of a dam being built and having to move. The thought was intolerable, and yet it did come to pass, and in the fall of 1949 the people of Flagstaff and Dead River sadly went their separate ways..

Any homeowner, deep rooted in his own community and neighborhood, with many long-time friends, can easily realize the feelings of those about to be dispossessed. It may not be much consolation to say that the flooding of Flagstaff and Dead River is part of the price of progress long paid in the history of our national growth. First it was the Indians, who were driven off their lands to make way for the white man. At intervals since others have had to sacrifice for the benefit of the majority.”

Like all progress, it will not be accompanied without some heartaches, for the waters to be backed up by the dam will cover the land on which is now located the little community of Flagstaff. (Some of the above was printed in the Lewiston Daily Sun on July 1, 1948.)

This first article was called The Price of Progress, by Roland Hallee and Marilyn Rogers. Tucked away diagonally east of both Eustis and Stratton, in Somerset County, was once a small hamlet known as Flagstaff. The tiny village was located in a low lying area which the Dead River snaked through. Off in the distance could be seen majestic Bigelow Mountain. It was a post card picturesque community.

It received its name from the fact that Benedict Arnold on his way to attack Québec City in 1775, encamped there with his forces. They chose a tall juniper tree and created a flag pole to fly the national standard on that site. Until the demise of the town in 1950, a flagstaff always marked the spot.

Legend has it, according to family records of Isaiah Taylor and wife, that “six families had cleared land and built log houses, then came the big freshet of 1831, water coming into the houses causing the families to leave their homes and going to John Berry’s on high land. One man with a broken leg lay in his bed when Isaiah Taylor paddled right into his bedside, taking him and his bed into his log boat, and carrying them to a place safely on high land.” The log boat referred to was a hollowed tree.

It ends with this remark from guess who? Marilyn’s final comment in that article was: “With the price of electricity climbing steadily, will someone please tell me how high is the price for this thing called progress?”

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Older people less likely to reminisce

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The older people get, the less likely they are to share memories, researchers say.

And when they do reminisce, older folks don’t offer as much detail as younger adults do, new study findings show.

Over four days, University of Arizona researchers used a smartphone app to record random bits of conversations as 102 mentally healthy 65- to 90-year-olds went about their daily lives.

Thirty-second snippets were recorded every six to 18 minutes. Participants didn’t know when they were being recorded.

The recordings were analyzed in order to determine how often participants shared stories about their life experiences.

“We found that the older individuals in our study shared fewer memories,” said Aubrey Wank, a graduate student in psychology who led the study.

“Additionally, we found that the level of detail also decreased with older age as people were describing these memories,” she added in a university news release.

The study was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Previous lab research has also found that memory sharing declines with age.

According to senior study author Matthew Grilli, an assistant professor of psychology, “This study really gives us one of the first glimpses of people sharing these memories in their day-to-day life.”

Grilli said it’s important for people to recall and share memories, because it can help them find meaning, connect with others, and guide planning and decision-making.

It’s not clear why older people share fewer memories, but it may be due to age-related changes in the brain, the researchers suggested.

“There are a number of regions in the brain that seem to play an important role in how often we think about our personal past or future,” Grilli said. “These brain areas tend to show change with older age, and the idea is that because of these changes, older adults might reflect less on their personal past and future when they’re talking with other people.”

SOURCE: University of Arizona, news release, June 30, 2020.

SCORES & OUTDOORS – How about something different: Let’s play a game!

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Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

I have an idea: let’s play a game! Everybody likes a game. We’ll call it – get a load of this ingenious title – Fact or Fiction!

Many of us have pets, and we also like to watch animals. Let’s ask some questions and see if you can tell if it is fact or fiction.

Here are the questions. The answers follow:

  • Bats are blind.
  • Some bees sting only once.
  • An owl is a wise bird
  • A turtle can walk out of its shell.
  • Crickets tell the temperature with their chirps.
  • Goats eat almost anything.
  • Bulls get angry when they see red.
  • Camels store water in their humps.
  • Rats desert a sinking ship.

Here are the answers:

  • Bats are Blind: Fiction – In the night sky, they seem to be blind. They fly back and forth in odd ways. Bats use their ears as well as their eyes to find their way at night, flying in different patterns as they gather insects in flight. They emit high-pitched sounds that echo back to them from objects, similar to radar.
  • Some bees sting only once: Fact – many kinds of bees can sting only once. A honeybee’s stinger has barbs on it and when they catch, they hold fast. The stinger breaks off and stays behind. The bee will die after losing its stinger. Queens, however, can sting multiple times. Its stinger has no barbs. Male bees, called drones, have no stinger and cannot sting at all.
  • An owl is a wise bird: Fiction – Some people think owls look wise because of their eyes. But for a bird its size, the owl has a tiny brain. An owl never moves its eyes to look for prey, but, instead, moves its whole head from side to side.
  • A turtle can walk out of its shell: Fiction – When people find an empty turtle shell on the ground, they may think a turtle left it behind and moved into a new one. A turtle can no more walk out of its shell than you can walk away from your ribs. The empty shells you may find on the ground are the remains of turtles that have died.
  • Crickets tell the temperature with their chirps… Fact – Crickets are animals whose body temperatures change with the temperature around them. On a hot day, crickets chirp so rapidly that it is hard to count the number of chirps. But on a cool day, crickets chirp much more slowly. You can easily count the times they chirp.
  • Dogs talk with their tails: Fact – When a dog wags its tail from side to side, the dog is happy and playful. But when a dog wags its tail up and down, it may be because it has done something wrong and expects to be punished. If a dog keeps its tail straight up, be careful, that is the signal that it may attack. Don’t run, just back away slowly.
  • Goats will eat almost anything: Fact – Goats will eat almost anything they can find. They have been accused of eating tin cans. But they are not really eating the metal; they are chewing the label to get at the glue underneath. They will eat string and paper, but would rather eat fruit, vegetables, grass and leaves of plants.
  • Bulls get angry when they see red: Fiction – A bullfighter waves a red cape before a charging bull. There are many stories which tell us that bulls become angry when they see red. The trouble with these stories is that bulls are color blind. It’s the motion of an object in front of it that angers a bull. Bulls will get angry if you wave anything in front of them.
  • Camels store water in their humps: Fiction – Camels store fat in the humps. The stored fat is used for energy when the camel doesn’t get enough to eat. But camels can go for days or even weeks without drinking water. Their woolly coats keep out the heat of the direct sunlight. The wool also keeps them from sweating and losing water too rapidly.
  • Rats desert a sinking ship: Fact – Rats will jump overboard if a ship is sinking. But that is true of any animal that can swim. Rats sometimes desert a ship even if it isn’t sinking. In the days of sailing ships, it was a common sight to see packs of rats jumping overboard. The ships were slow and would be at sea for months. By the time they returned to port, there was little food left for the rats so when the ship came close to shore, they would dive overboard and swim to land in search of food.

So, how did you do?

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Name the only three players, who played left field, consecutively, for the same team their entire career, and all are in baseball’s hall of fame. Clue: It was with the Boston Red Sox.

<strong><span style=”color: #0000ff;”>

Answer
Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice, all with the Boston Red Sox.
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Give Us Your Best Shot! for Thursday, July 23, 2020

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To submit a photo for this section, please visit our contact page or email us at townline@townline.org!

COMFY: Michael Bilinsky, of China Village, captured this red fox napping against a tree.

FOLLOW THE LEADER: Pat Clark, of Palermo, snapped these woodpeckers on a tree near some feeders.

DAZZLING: Tina Richard, of Clinton, photographed this dazzling sunset.

AARP OUTREACH: Three out of four Mainers vote for high speed internet access for all

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by Japhet Els

“We cannot compete if we are not connected.” Jim Fisher was right: how can Maine expect to compete, to grow and expand, without being better connected to more customers, clients, consumers, and the rest of the world?

The simple answer is, we can’t. And Mr. Fisher’s experience as Town Manager of Deer Isle showed him this.

We’ve been through this before. The onset of the telephone at the turn of the century was a debate about being connected. Landlines were being laid and everybody, no matter where you lived, had the opportunity to get connected. Today’s internet access is similar to telephone access one hundred years ago. The only difference is there are far more underserved, unserved, communities when it comes to affordable high-speed internet access.

The good news is on July 14 more than 75 percent of Maine voters voted for a better internet where we need it most. They are the Deer Isles, Abbots, Pattens, and Port Clydes, where affordable high-speed internet is rare and usually impossible. They are the communities where an affordable high-speed internet connection is far from guaranteed and more than likely costs an arm and leg. They are communities where everyone works two jobs to make ends meet, maybe three or four. They are communities that will capitalize on an affordable, accessible high-speed internet connection to create jobs, connect to more customers, and support families. All we have to do is get it to them.

Question 1 on the ballot jumpstarted this effort.

More than 75 percent of Maine voters demanded that high-speed internet be affordable and accessible no matter where you may live in Maine. Supporting question one set Maine up to connect our most rural, underserved communities to a high-speed connection. And when was the last time more 75 percent of us supported one idea? It’s rare in today’s partisan world, yet Mainers chose not to be divided, instead finding common ground around investing in our collective and connected future.

When you’re talking about high-speed internet, you’re talking about small businesses plugging into a competitive market. You’re talking about Mainers connecting with their doctors via video conference from their kitchen tables instead of driving many miles for a simple check-up. You’re talking about our kids connecting to their assignments and class resources right from their bedrooms, not from a Wal-Mart parking lot. You’re talking about connecting families and making sure, even during a pandemic, we can reach the ones we love through a modern high-speed internet connection.

Mr. Fisher reminds us that information is important to everyone these days, even fisherman. “Over 15 percent of the workforce is in lobstering, fishing – that’s a tremendously important export industry for us and they rely on the internet for pricing information, communication, particularly now,” Fisher says. “It’s been said that when a business wants to expand in Deer Isle it usually means they’re leaving…and those that stay end up going to extraordinary lengths to acquire a high-speed connection.”

There are many Jim Fishers in Maine and lobstering isn’t the only business impacted by a modern internet connection. Our rural communities require high-speed internet today and passing question one on July 14 allowed Maine to take the first step to a more connected future.

This is only the first-step. We’re on the right road, no doubt. But we have more steps to take to get more of Maine connected. To all of those who support Question One on the ballot, thank you. We have more work to do we look forward to getting to it with your help.

Born in Waterville, camp in Kents Hill, and family in Bath, Japhet Els is Outreach Director for AARP Maine working on the issues impacting the 50+ community and their families including access to affordable high-speed internet.

SOLON & BEYOND: Alumni reunion canceled for this year

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Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percyby Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Good morning, dear friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

My apologies to all of you for not having any column in for several weeks. That computer of mine got more contrary than ever and refused to work, and so some of this news should have been in several weeks ago.

Received the following letter from Linda Rogers French: Dear Alumni and Friends, Because of the Covid-19 we will not be having the reunion this year as there is no way to predict if it will be safe by then. We have to make our plans now, and right now it is not safe. This will put a big dent in our scholarship fund so we are hoping that folks will still donate to the scholarship fund as we are still going to give out the scholarship and have already picked the recipients for next year. The scholarships this year will be Lilyana Aloes and Chantel Lee Whittemore.

Last year we had 54 alumni and friends attend the reunion. We made $1,020 on the auction from sales and donations. Diane Oliver Poulin was the auctioneer.

Deaths reported were Ruth Hunnewell Fluet, class of 1947, Mary Andrews Jackson, class of 1948, Odber Andrews, class of 1949, Harriet Cross Dolan, class of 1949, Issac Davis Jr., class of 1956, Jean Quimby Wooster, class of 1969. Also Clara Greenlaw and Carroll Greenlaw.

So since we won’t be able to have an auction this year if anyone would like to make a donation to the scholarship fund it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be sent to our treasurer, Jo Rancourt Holden, 66 Parkman Hill Road, Skowhegan, ME 04976.

Please make checks payable to Solon Alumni Assn. Thank you all and let’s pray that we can all get through this that we will be able to have our reunion next year. God bless. Sincerely Linda Rogers French, Sec.

And now for some more news from the Solon School News. Please join us in saying good-bye to a special teacher, Mr. Terry Corson, who is retiring this spring.

Mr. Corson has taught 40 years, all but two of those years at Solon Elementary School. He has coached many different sports including soccer, basketball, softball, and tennis. Mr. Corson also served as lead teacher at our school for a number of years.

Mr. Corson will be remembered for his love of math, sports, teaching, and children, and his sense of humor. He always wanted students to enjoy the learning process. One of the many things that Mr. Corson will be fondly remembered is the Kitty Kats Basketball Program, which he started in 1983 at our school. This program gave all of the students who were Kitty Kats over the years a chance to develop their skills to learn team work and to have fun.

We thank Mr. Corson and wish him the best as he begins his retirement. We hope he will return to substitute or just visit with us, as he is greatly missed.

Would like to let all of you know the new shop, Simply Rustic, on the River Road, in Solon, is having an open house on July 18, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. There will be 10 percent off storewide and 20 percent off crystal jewelry.

And now for Percy’s memoir: Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. (words by Dr. David M. Burns)

Now with a fluttering heart and a great big long prayer I’m going to try to send this along to Roland!

REVIEW POTPOURRI: English writer H. E. Bates

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H. E. Bates

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

English writer H. E. Bates

The prolific English writer, H.E. Bates (1905-1974), published his novel The Purple Plain in 1947 and it was made into a 1954 film starring Gregory Peck, of which I have only the vaguest memories when it was shown on one of the Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Movies programs of Maine’s channel 8 during my youth of the very early ‘60s. The author spent some time in World War II Burma and was inspired to write this novel.

The main character Forrester is a very skilled pilot flying medical personnel and supplies around the country amidst dangerous conditions. He is also battling with his own personal demons and taking on very dangerous missions more out of a death wish.

The reasons lie mainly in losing his wife during a honeymoon dance at a London nightclub when a bomb lands on it from German warplanes. He miraculously survives but is tormented by the gamut of depression and survivor guilt since then.

He is already stationed in blisteringly hot Burma at a desert medical station, where he and a colleague Blore share a tent as their living accommodations, when the novel opens. He then meets a Burmese nurse Anna and their professional relationship starts to blossom into something special. Meanwhile a Japanese bombing raid has all hands on deck and Forrester is doing doctoring, too. But he and Anna are having joyful moments too and his will to live increases.

Halfway through the book, Forrester is flying himself, Blore and his navigator Carrington elsewhere when the plane crashes in the middle of the desert. All three men survive miraculously, but Carrington’s legs are badly burned; Blore and Forrester sustain some burns but are forced to carry the navigator while trying to walk 30 miles to safety with a thermos of water and little else for nourishment; and several chapters of survival in the desert ensue. The book concludes with triumph.

What makes the novel special was Bates’s gift with words ­– those details that kept me reading, that created sympathy for, and identification with, the characters. Examples abound but I only have room for a few:

“He felt himself to be lost in the center of a vast and dusty arena blistered by relentless sun.”

“Before he could say anything more, she turned away and began to walk back along the track. She turned and smiled for a moment and he lifted his hand, standing for a moment or two longer to watch her go.”

Now the last sentence of this 308 page novel.

“Outside, the plain was purple in the falling dusk, and the long day was over.”

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Let’s continue our journey through the world of moths

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The Polyphemus moth (left) and the Luna moth (right). (photos by Roland D. Hallee)

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

Over the last few weeks, we have had more moths show up at The Town Line office than visitors. The appearances continue. Following the moths we covered last time, this week we will cover the Polyphemus moth and the Luna moth. One other that has made its presence known more recently is the Brown-tail moth, which we covered a little while back, especially about the effects of the hairs from the caterpillar.

The hairs from the Brown-tail moth caterpillar continue to linger in the air as my wife and I have experienced several rashes (Me, 4; She 2).

The Polyphemus moth, Antheraea polyphemus, is a North American member of the giant silk moths family. It is a tan-colored moth, with an average wingspan of six inches. The most notable feature of the moth is its large, purplish eyespots on its two hindwings. The eyespots give it its name – from the Greek myth of the cyclops Polyphemus. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1776. The species is widespread in continental North America, with local populations found throughout subarctic Canada and the United States. The caterpillar can eat 86,000 times its weight at emergence in a little less than two months.

The life cycle of the moth is much like that of any other giant silk moth species. It lays flat, light-brown eggs on the leaves of a number of host plants, including birch, oak, maple, hickory, beech, honey locust, walnut, cherry, elm, plum, peach and apricot trees.

Squirrels have been known to consume the pupae of Polyphemus moths, decreasing the population greatly. Pruning of trees and leaving outdoor lights on at night can also be detrimental to the moths.

The Polyphemus moth uses defense mechanisms to protect itself from predators. One of its most distinctive mechanisms is a distraction display that serves to confuse, or simply distract, predators. This involves the large eyespots on its hindwings, which give the moth its name (from the cyclops Polyphemus in Greek mythology). Eyespots are also startle patterns, a subform of distraction patterns, used for camouflage via deceptive and blending coloration. Most startle patterns are brightly colored areas on the outer body of already camouflaged animals. (Another example of the use of startle patterns is the gray tree frog, with its bright-yellow leggings. When it leaps, a flash of bright yellow appears on its hind legs, usually startling the predator away from its prey.) Distraction patterns are believed to be a form of mimicry, meant to misdirect predators by markings on the moths’ wings. The pattern on the hindwings of the Polyphemus moth resembles that on the head of the great horned owl.

The next moth is the unmistakeble Luna moth.

The Luna moth, Actias luna, is another moth of a group commonly known as giant silk moths. It has lime-green colored wings and a white body. The larvae (caterpillars) are also green. Typically, it has a wingspan of roughly 4.5 inches, but can exceed 7 inches, making it one of the larger moths in North America. Across Canada, it has one generation per year, with the winged adults appearing in late May or early June, whereas farther south it will have two or even three generations per year, the first appearance as early as March in southern parts of the United States.

As defense mechanisms, larvae emit clicks as a warning and also regurgitate intestinal contents, confirmed as having a deterrent effect on a variety of predators. The elongated tails of the hindwings are thought to confuse the echolocation detection used by predatory bats. A parasitic fly deliberately introduced to North America to be a biological control for the invasive species gypsy moth appears to have had a negative impact on Luna moths and other native moths.

Described and named by James Petiver in 1700, this was the first North American giant silk moth to be reported in the insect literature. The initial Latin name, which roughly translates to “brilliant, feather tail”, was replaced when Carl Linnaeus described the species in 1758 in the tenth edition of Systema Naturae, and renamed it with luna derived from Luna, the Roman moon goddess. The common name became “Luna moth”. Several other North American giant silk moths were also given species names after Roman or Greek mythology.

The Luna moth is found in North America, from east of the Great Plains in the United States – Florida to Maine, and from Saskatchewan eastward through central Québec to Nova Scotia in Canada. Luna moths are also rarely found in Western Europe as vagrants.

Based on the climate in which they live, Luna moths produce different numbers of generations per year. In Canada and northern regions of the United States they are univoltine, meaning one generation per year. Life stages are approximately two weeks as eggs, 6–7 weeks as larvae, nine months as pupae, finishing with one week as winged adults appearing in late May or early June. In the mid-Atlantic states the species is bivoltine, and farther south trivoltine, meaning respectively two and three generations per year. In the central states the first generation appears in April, second in July. Even farther south, first generation appears as early as March, with second and third spaced eight to ten weeks later.

The parasitic fly, Compsilura concinnata, native to Europe was deliberately introduced to the United States throughout much of the 20th century as a biological control for gypsy moths. Due to its flexible life cycle, it can parasitize more than 150 species of butterflies and moths in North America. Researchers reported that when Luna moth larvae were placed outside for about a week and then collected and returned to the laboratory, four parasitoid species emerged, the most common being C. concinnata. The researchers concluded that this parasitic fly causes collateral damage to Luna moth populations.

The larvae of Luna moths feed on several different species of broadleaf trees. The larvae do not reach population densities sufficient to cause significant damage to their host trees. Host trees include white birch, American persimmon and American sweet gum plus several species of hickory, walnut and sumac. Other tree species have been identified as suitable are black cherry, cottonwood, quaking aspen, white willow, red oak, white oak and tulip tree, but reported very poor survival on these seven tree species even though older literature had identified them as hosts. The host plant utilization may differ regionally, so that larvae collected from one region may not tolerate host plants readily consumed in another region.

In popular culture, the Luna moth appeared on a first class United States postage stamp issued in June 1987. Although more than two dozen butterflies have been so honored, as of 2019 this is the only moth.

The American rock band R.E.M. references Luna moths in their song You off their 1994 album Monster.

The band Big Thief references the Luna moth on their song Strange from the 2019 album U.F.O.F.

The Luna moth appeared in Livingstone Mouse, by Pamela Duncan Edwards.

The Luna moth has been used previously in advertisements for the insomnia medicine Lunesta.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

The Red Sox 1967 World Series 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, Jim Lonborg was the winning pitcher in two of the games. Who was the winning pitcher in the third win?

Answer can be found here.