THE MONEY MINUTE: Cryptocurrencies are here to stay

/0 Comments/in /by
by Jac M. Arbour CFP®, ChFC®
President, J.M. Arbour Wealth Management

Many people have heard of Bitcoin. It is the most popular crypto on the planet. However, it is one of only many. How many may you ask? Around 7,000 as I write this. Alternative coins, also known as altcoins, such as Ripple, Litecoin, and Ethereum, are also highly popular and in strong demand.

Ethereum is one of the altcoins that is having a banner year due mostly to the hype around DeFi, a term used to describe Decentralized Finance, which has resulted in systems that are typically built on Ethereum’s blockchain technology. What is this, and why is it important? Here is my thought on that.

For years, people have been asking me about cryptocurrencies and my thoughts on Bitcoin. My answer has always been the same: do not focus only on the market value of the coins, but also on the technology that supports those coins and gives those coins life and longevity, or the lack thereof.

More specifically, pay attention, and more important, study the underlying blockchain technology that makes any specific cryptocurrency all that it is. Once you understand the power and infinite capacity of the blockchain, you will realize that the value is not only in the fluctuations of the market price of the coins or in the coins themselves, but in how the underlying technology will change the world, in every sector and every industry, within ten years. Maybe less.

Decentralized Finance is blockchain technology in motion, aimed at creating decentralized instruments and platforms that allow for trading options, lending capital, exchanging currencies, and doing it in a way where there is no third-party intermediary, it is completely anonymous and essentially, instantaneous.

Blockchain technology will change how people buy everything and anything. It will change how we buy homes and our need for attorneys, closings, title insurance, etc. It will change how we prove what we own. It will change the need for a registry of deeds, as the blockchain can instantly prove, and transfer when needed, ownership of anything: a home, a business, a vehicle, an heirloom.

It will change how we are prescribed medication, how we order it, pay for it, and how it is delivered. It will compound the effects of artificial intelligence and team up with it to create AI that becomes, and is already known, as super AI. The applications are endless.

Pay attention to some of the altcoins. As DeFi ramps us, and as bitcoin is more universally adopted, these other coins could follow suit. In all cases, do not pay attention to only the coins, but also to the universal applications of the underlying technology: blockchain. It is the lifeblood of these coins and so much more to come.

Here is what I promise: Learn more about blockchain, and you will uncover more opportunities than just cryptocurrencies.

See you all next month.

Jac Arbour CFP®, ChFC®

Jac Arbour is the President of J.M. Arbour Wealth Management. He can be reached at 207-248-6767.

Investment advisory services are offered through Foundations Investment Advisors, LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser.

John Auer joins J. M. Arbour

John Auer

J.M. Arbour welcomes John Auer to the team. John is a current student at Bowdoin College (Class of 2023) and joins the JMA team as a Relationship De­velopment Assistant. John has an in­her­ent in­terest in financial planning and private wealth management, and found alignment with JMA’s unique level of client commitment and our investment in ending childhood hunger in Maine. Welcome to the team, John. We are honored to have you.

See also: TECH TALK: Virtual Money – The next evolution in commerce

CRITTER CHATTER – Fishers: important predators of the wildlife community

/0 Comments/in /by
by Jayne Winters

Typically, one or two fishers are brought to the Wildlife Center each year for rehabilitation. I’ve only seen photos of them, so was interested in learning more after discovering one was in residence with Don Cote this past summer. And when I say “in residence,” I mean it literally as it was kept in a carrier in the living room for several weeks because there was no outside pen available. Discovered in the Bangor area without siblings or mother, the fisher wasn’t old enough to survive on its own. Don arranged transfer with the woman who found it and assumed its care on May 29.

Don Cote, of Duck Pond Wildlife Care Center, holding a baby fisher. (photo courtesy of Don Cote)

A member of the weasel family, fishers are comparable in size to house cats. They are native to North America, primarily in Canada’s boreal forests and the northern United States, although fossil evidence indicates their range used to extend farther south. Often referred to as a “fisher cat,” it’s not a cat at all, and despite its name, rarely eats fish. An agile climber and solitary hunter, it forages around fallen trees feeding on a variety of small animals (primarily snowshoe hares and porcupines), supplementing its diet with birds, insects, nuts, berries, mushrooms and road kill or carrion. I found it interesting that a Maine wildlife study documented 14 fisher-caused mortalities of Canada lynx from 1999-2011.

Fishers are active year around, most often at dawn and at night. They can become pests to farmers when they raid chicken coops and, although stories of them preying on cats and small dogs have been reported, a 1979 New Hampshire study revealed cat hairs in only one of over 1,000 stomach samples. Studies in New York and Massachusetts found no cat remains in 24 and 226 scat or stomach samples, respectively.

Adult males are usually 35-47 inches long and weigh 8-13 lbs.; adult females are 30-37 inches long and weigh 4-6 lbs. Their bodies are long, thin and low to the ground. Five toes on each foot, with unsheathed retractable claws, make it easy for them to move on top of snow. Coarse hairs between the pads of the hind paws give them traction for walking on slippery surfaces. In addition, they have highly mobile ankle joints that can rotate almost 180° allowing them to maneuver well in trees; they’re one of few mammals with the ability to descend head-first!

The reproductive cycle lasts about a year, with mating in late March/early April, but full development of the embryo is delayed 10 months before active pregnancy begins. Dens are typically in hollow trees and after about 50 days, females give birth to a litter of three or four kits. They can crawl after three weeks, but don’t open their eyes until seven weeks and are dependent on mother’s milk for two to three months. At five months, mom pushes them out of the den and within a year, they establish their own range of 3-5 square miles.

Fishers have few predators besides humans. They’ve been trapped since the 18th century and with pelts in big demand, were eradicated from several parts of the U.S. by the early 1900s. The fur varies, being denser and glossier in the winter after a summer molt, and males’ coats are coarser than females. Color ranges from deep brown to black, with patches of white or cream on the underside. Prices for pelts ranged from a high in the 1920s and 1930s of $450-$750 to a low of $27 in 1999. Habitat and species conservation measures allowed the species to rebound, but their range has been significantly reduced. Fur farmers weren’t very successful with breeding due to the long reproduction cycle and, when prices fell in the late 1940s, most farming ended.

Sadly, the young fisher in Don’s care didn’t survive. He stopped eating, likely due to blockage caused by chewing on the towel kept in the carrier as bedding. After conferring with the vet, Don administered a mineral gel used to eliminate cat hairballs, but the fisher passed only liquids. X-rays didn’t reveal any towel material, so surgery was performed. Unfortunately, strands of thread from the towel had worked their way throughout the fisher’s liver to the point it “looked like Swiss cheese.” Infection had begun and the humane decision was made to euthanize him in early August. Another example of how best efforts can sometimes be to no avail.

Donald Cote operates the Duck Pond Wildlife Care Center on Rte. 3 in Vassalboro. It is a non-profit federal and state permitted rehab facility which is supported by his own resources and outside donations. Mailing address: 1787 North Belfast Ave., Vassalboro ME 04989 TEL: (207) 445-4326. EMAIL: thewildlifecarecenter@gmail.com.

SOLON & BEYOND: Growing up working in the woods with dad

/0 Comments/in /by
Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percyby Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Can’t say good morning because it is Sunday evening as I sit here to start writing this column, but I do wish all of you the best!

Hope you enjoyed reading all about the five Generations Of Woodsmen, I did, and it was so different than it is today! The following is also from that same old 1974 paper:

“In That First Year I realized I liked horses very much. Father loved horses also. He was a very good horseman.

The next summer when I went back to work with father in the woods I was set to twitching with a horse. This was an important job and I could do near as well as a man.

I worked two summers with a little black horse named Roy. He was 28 years old, a family heirloom, but he was real willing and liked to work.

The fellows working on the job was good woodsmen, good choppers. They was highly skilled men. All could file their own saws, hang their own axes properly.

It was a disgrace to be working with dull tools or to hang a tree so it did not come to the ground, got caught in another tree. A tree was to be properly felled without damaging a lot of other trees. This was the most important of many high standards those woodsmen lived up to. They protected the young growth.

I often wondered where father got his ideas about conservation. He never talked about it, in fact he is a rough man. Didn’t go very far in school. But father had a real desire not to cut any small trees when he was working in the woods. He saw to it the men with him understood that, but they had the same desire themselves.

After I worked with horses a couple of summers I became a chopper in my own right.

There were two mistakes which could get you into a real problem with my old man; one was to abuse a horse by putting it into a place too rough of ground.

The other mistake was cutting a lot of small trees that weren’t merchantable. If there was a small spruce, say three inches diameter, close to a big tree you was cutting and that small spruce was in your way, say you cut that spruce to make room, when the old man come around you was in bad trouble.

Dad would say, “What did you cut that tree for!?” Then you’d have to explain the tree was in the way. And he’d explain to you that it couldn’t have been that much in the way.

We had some farmland on islands in the Kennebec River and we’d have to go out there in boats and canoes to do the farming. I spent a lot of time on the river, like all the boys around Bingham, and I did a lot of hunting.

There were a few more deer around Bingham than there are now although it’s still pretty good hunting country. Father remembered when there were many more moose around Flagstaff than there were deer. He was 15 years old before he saw the first deer in the woods around Flagstaff, but he saw plenty of moose.

If horses liked to work with you, they would do more and this was a source of pride to me. I learned to care for and manage horses just by watching Dad, learning what he looked out for. Never was any formal training, but here’s an example. He’d see me hook up a team and I might make a mistake. Dad would say, “No, son, wait a minute. This isn’t right. You never hook a trace chain like this. It”s going to twist the lug. You’ve got to hook it like this. The grab has always got to be straight up. If it isn’t, when your horse pulls it’s going to twist the lug.

Then when I was harnessing the team he’d talk to me about the proper fitting of the collar. The horse has got to have room enough so that collar is bearing properly on his chest. Dad would say, ‘You’ve got to be able to put your hand between the collar and the bottom of his neck.’ You want there to be enough room when he expands and pulls against it, doesn’t choke when he’s pulling hard.”

And now for Percy’s memoir: A dream is a wish your heart makes when you ‘re fast asleep. In dreams you lose your heartaches… Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.

AARP OUTREACH: It’s Maine family caregivers month

/0 Comments/in /by
by Jane Margesson
AARP Maine, Communications Director

At AARP Maine, we know that caregiving can be one of the most important roles you will ever take on in your life. You may have become a caregiver suddenly or perhaps your role has evolved over time. No matter where you are in the continuum of caregiving—starting to plan, helping to coordinate a big move, or taking care of a family member in your home—having resources at your fingertips will make the process easier.

That is why we developed a Maine Family Caregiver Resource Guide for Maine caregivers of all ages. You can find the guide on our website or we would be happy to send a free copy by mail as well.

With many organizations offering different types of help and services, it can be a challenge to sort out the specific type of help or services best suited for your needs. Our guide can help address that. AARP Maine developed this resource guide with you, the caregiver, in mind as a starting point to help you find the services and supports you need throughout your caregiving journey.

This resource guide can assist you in several ways:

  • It can help you get the type of assistance you need. This directory lists many government and nonprofit resources, which you can access both in-person and online.

It can also help you connect with others. You’ll discover, if you have not already, that you’re a part of a community of caregivers and caregiver supporters. You are truly not alone.

In fact, a few years ago, AARP Maine worked with the state legislature to designate November as Maine Family Caregivers Month. This is important as it raises awareness about the needs and challenges of Maine’s over 180,000 family caregivers throughout the state. Especially with the holidays coming up, and even more especially during a pandemic, we need to be mindful of caregivers and their families.

Mainers, please know that you can count on AARP to be a strong and dedicated advocate on behalf of family caregivers. Many older Mainers and their families are struggling to navigate our state’s long-term care system and when you are a caregiver, the challenges of providing support to your loved one can feel overwhelming. We need to broaden the options for community and home-based services so family caregivers have the best resources available to care for their loved ones no matter where they live.

We also recommend that you visit the AARP Caregiver Online Resource Center at www.aarp.org/caregiving for a broad array of additional resources and tools for caregivers.

Warmest wishes to every one of Maine’s 180,000+ family caregivers and their loved ones. We hope you will reach out to us if you have any questions or if there is anything you need.

AARP Maine – www.aarp.org/me and follow us on Facebook (@aarpmaine) and Instagram (@aarpme).

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Van Wyck Brooks

/0 Comments/in /by

Van Wyck Brooks

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Van Wyck Brooks

In his fascinating 1936 literary history, The Flowering of New England, Van Wyck Brooks (1886-1963) astutely commented on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in an essay, justifying the importance of a poet’s profession, its nobility and necessity to life itself:

“Poetry did not enervate the mind or unfit the mind for the practical duties of life. He hoped that poets would rise to convince the nation that, properly understood, ‘utility’ embraces whatever contributes to make men happy. What had retarded American poetry? What but the want of exclusive cultivation? American poetry had been a pastime, beguiling the idle moments of merchants and lawyers. American scholarship had existed solely to satisfy the interests of theology.

“Neither had been a self-sufficient cause for self-devotion. Henceforth, let it be understood that he who, in the solitude of his chamber, quickened the inner life of his countrymen, lived not for himself or lived in vain. The hour had struck for poets. Let them be more national and more natural, but only national as they were natural. Eschew the skylark and the nightingale, birds that Audobon had never found. A national literature ought to be built, as the robin builds its nest, out of the twigs and straws of one’s native meadows. “

Between 1620, when the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and 1815, when the creative spirits were gaining firmer ground in New England, the country was fighting for survival in an untamed wilderness. Farming and the formation of a civil society under the eyes of a just, loving and wrathful God were facts of life. Art, music and literature were mostly frowned upon except during the few patches of free time.

But a few worthwhile poets did emerge – the Puritan Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672, who married her husband Simon when she was 16); the physician and pastor Edward Taylor (1642-1729, who moved to the remote settlement of Westfield, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires and wrote some very intricate verses during his spare time that were discovered 200 years after his death in the back rooms of the Yale University Library) and William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878, whose family was originally from Knox before settling in Massachusetts).

However, the Romantic period in England and Europe brought about a passionate, very subjective individuality that would inspire Longfellow, his friend Hawthorne and Emerson, Thoreau and other Transcendentalists.

For what it’s worth, English poets were writing Odes and other tributes to nightingales while Longfellow did celebrate the beauties of nature frequently and not just the twigs. I look out on the back lawn in November and see a lot of twigs and stripped branches but do look forward to the end of winter in late May.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Your Ophthalmologist Is Ready To See You

/0 Comments/in /by

If you haven’t seen an eye care professional in a while, suggests Doctor Ruth Williams, now may be a good time to do so.

(NAPSI)—When ophthalmologist Ruth Williams, MD, opened her office after shutting down early in 2020 due to the pandemic, she was surprised to see how many people had developed serious eye problems in just a few months.

Preventive care is especially important in eye care because many common eye diseases can rob you of your good vision before you notice signs of trouble.

“Far too often, we witness the consequences of patients entering the ophthalmologist’s office too late to avoid severe vision loss,” said Dr. Williams, a glaucoma specialist at the Wheaton Eye Clinic in the Chicago suburbs. “Protecting vision is such a high value thing.”

The good news is ophthalmologists—medical and surgical physicians trained to recognize all the potential threats to vision—have figured out how to safely practice medicine in the era of COVID. Dr. Williams says most eye doctors hope not to shutter their offices again.

EyeCare America Can Help

If the cost of an eye exam is a concern, the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s EyeCare America program may be able to help. This national public service program provides eyecare through thousands of volunteer ophthalmologists for eligible seniors 65 and older, and those at increased risk for eye disease, mostly at no out-of-pocket cost to the patient. As one EyeCare America patient said, “Because of your program, my vision will be saved. The doctor was professional, and the diagnosis was spot on. EyeCare America is a beautiful thing!”

Who Should See an Ophthalmologist?

The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends all adults have a comprehensive eye exam by age 40, and every year or two after age 65.

Other reasons to see an ophthalmologist include:

1. If you are experiencing new symptoms, including blurry, wavy or blank spots in your field of vision.
2. If you injure your eye, even if it seems minor. Damage to the eye is not always obvious and may require treatment.
3. If you get eye injections for an existing eye disease and have not done so during COVID-19, you should contact your ophthalmologist now.
4. If you’ve put off surgery, such as cataract surgery, during COVID-19, you should contact your ophthalmologist.

Safety Procedures During COVID

Ophthalmologists have taken many steps to create a safe environment during the pandemic. Your ophthalmologist is probably ready for you. Here is what you should expect to see:

  • The clinic is likely to restrict the number of people who enter. If you don’t need someone to be there with you, don’t bring anyone to your appointment.
  • The clinic may ask you to wait outside or in your car, instead of in the normal waiting room.
  • Expect to see hand sanitizer when you enter the building and in the waiting room and exam rooms.
  • Expect to be asked to wear a mask.
  • Chairs will be spaced out to accommodate social distancing.
  • Cleaning will occur more frequently throughout the clinic.
  • As usual, exam rooms and equipment will be thoroughly cleaned after every patient exits.
  • Expect to be asked a series of questions to determine your risk profile.
  • Expect someone will take your temperature.
  • Your ophthalmologist may use a special plastic breath shield on the slit lamp machine they use to look into your eyes.
  • Your eyecare professionals may ask you to wait to speak until after your eye exam is complete. Then they can talk with you and answer questions when they can be a safe distance from you.

Learn More

For more information regarding EyeCare America and to see if you or someone you care for qualify, visit www.aao.org/eyecare-america.

INside the OUTside: Winter in Maine; checking out the local ski resorts

/0 Comments/in /by
Dan Cassidyby Dan Cassidy

This has been such a whirl-wind spring, summer, fall and now we’re heading into a winter such as many of us have never seen before. All this thanks to COVID-19 that has affected lives and has changed the way we live here in Maine and around the world.

I checked out several Maine ski areas, some who held open houses while others plan and watch for the snow to cover their trails in hopes of opening soon.

Sugarloaf Mountain Homecoming

I did get the opportunity to attend the Sugarloaf Ski Homecoming this fall, however rather than greeting friends or visiting booths filled with art show, new and interesting ski gear and ideas of what’s new in the ski industry.

Things have changed. The base lodge was just about empty and the crowds were minimal to say the least.

This ski season is going to have significant changes including parking in the parking lots, social distancing, wearing masks and/or wearing goggles, boarding chairlifts with spacing on the chairs and many other things that we all took for granted in years past that have all changed including locker room spacing, restaurant or food consumption that will have new rules. Also, to take some of the waiting in line to purchase day tickets, a new kiosk has been built so transactions can be done outside with new kiosk machines to take place of personal ticket sales.

The base lodge won’t be able to accommodate gear and bag storage and the Mountain staff has many strict changes that will be enforced this season.

HOLD ON ….WORD HAS JUST BEEN RECEIVED … Sugarloaf and Sunday River are scheduled to open Monday of this week! That’s great news for skiers and snowboarders who can make it to these ski resorts over Thanksgiving!

Sugarloaf getting ready to open

The base lodge at Sugarloaf will have strict indoor capacity access, according to staff management. Capacity will be strictly limited inside the base lodge. Gear storage and changing will not be permitted and guests should come prepared to boot up in the vehicle parking lots and you should carry gear in small day packs. Minimal time indoors should be expected.

“This will be an interesting winter for sure,” Noelle Tuttle, Communications Director said. “While we still don’t know exactly what the landscape will look like, we’re fully committed to opening safely for Sugarloaf’s 70th winter season.”

According to Tuttle, all ticket sales and guest service needs will be managed through the outdoor ticket windows at the Base Lodge and online ticket purchases will be encouraged to utilize the new online express kiosks. Online tickets will be priced lower and will be available for purchase in the next few weeks.

So, let’s say you and a few passengers drive for an hour to reach the mountain. Let’s hope that at least the driver is wearing regular boots, sneakers or the like, and NOT ski boots. That would be an accident waiting to happen if that person is behind the wheel driving.

Shuttle capacity has been reduced by 50 percent as per state recommendations and will be cleaned after each drop off. The new RFID gates at the mountain base loading area will help eliminate interactions between guests and staff members while reloading pass holders.

According to mountain personnel, face coverings are mandatory at all times in public areas, including while riding the lifts. You will not be permitted to ride the lift without appropriate face covering.

Social distancing is required for everyone to stay at least six feet apart. Indoor occupancy will be strictly limited.

Tuttle said that the centerpiece of the 2030 vision is the new West Mountain development, which will include a new lift, new alpine trails with snowmaking and a new real estate development. In addition, the development will provide mew summer opportunities with a new downhill mountain bike park and upgrades to Bullwinkle’s that will allow it to operate during the summer months.

At Bullwinkle’s, a new temporary building and bathroom facility will provide additional space for guests to warm up and use the bathroom facility. Also, an additional temporary bathroom facility will also be installed at the Base Lodge.

Sunday River Ski Resort, located in Newry, is just minutes from Bethel village in western Maine’s Mahoosuc Mountains and is a true four-season destination.

The resort has made major upgrades to its snowmaking system that will double snowmaking capacity. They have added an additional 10 percent this year. The resort also has plans to add more automated snowmaking over the next 10 years, according to Karolyn Castaldo, Director of Communications.

Sunday River is a Boyne Resort facility and is one of the largest ski areas in the Northeast. The mountain consists of 870 skiable acres, 135 trails and glades, 2,340 vertical feet and has 18 lifts to transport skiers and riders to the upper slopes.

RFID will allow direct-to-lift access for ticketed as well as season passholders. According to Castaldo, they will be implementing a new food and beverage system that allows for contactless ordering and payment of food. This will be an integral piece to the COVID-19 operational plan for the mountain’s dining outlets.

Online ticket purchasers who have not picked up an RFID card at the resort yet will be able to do so from kiosks at the base lodge and hotels. Once a guest has their card, they can reload online to skip the ticket line altogether upon arrival.

While Sunday River has not set an opening date for this ski season, they intend to open the resort as soon as there is top-to-bottom coverage on at least one trail.

Saddleback Mountain is located in the beautiful High Peaks of western Maine. It was founded in 1960 and has some of the best skiing terrain in the east. The mountain sits at 4,120 feet of elevation and 2,000 feet of vertical. It is Maine’s third biggest mountain with a base elevation of 2,100. The mountain is set to reopen in the next several weeks. As just about everywhere in Maine, access to the base lodge will be limited and skiers and riders are requested to carry a day pack and prepare to spend most of your day outdoors. Everyone will be requested to make reservations for lunch and still maintain an enjoyable time with friends and family. The Casablanca Glades have been recut and the rest of the trails are scheduled to be in top shape for this season.

Baker Mountain, located on Route 201 in Moscow, is just north of Bingham. There is one main trail and two trails of less difficult.

“We’re just waiting for snow and would like to have volunteers,” Corey Farnham, of Baker Mountain said. The hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with night skiing from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Ticket prices are $12.00 per person.

Ski lessons are available from volunteers who fit equipment, and also run the lift and work in the kitchen. Races are posted on Facebook at Baker Mt. Ski Tow Club. For additional information, call (207) 717-0404.

Quarry Road Trails is located off North Street, in Waterville, just beyond Thayer Hospital. The good news is that the facility has just made snow on the East Pine Tree trail up to the Meadow, according to a Facebook page.

The area is a year-round recreation facility where people of all ages can take part in walking trails, cross-country ski, snowshoe on several trails. A large Quonset hut is located at the end of the trails for people to warm up. Day tickets and season passes are available for skiers. No pass is necessary for snowshoe trails.

SOLON & BEYOND: Recalling the story on Morris Wing

/1 Comment/in /by
Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percyby Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Just read the e-mail from Roland, my editor, about the need for another column early and so as you probably know by now, that I have been going through my large stash of old papers. I picked up one of the old (February 10, 1974) Maine Sunday Telegram papers I had been reading. It started with the headline, Maine Profiles : 5 Generations OF WOODSMEN. It was written by Lynn Franklin and it starts out “with these words Morris Wing is regional manager, department of woodlands, for the International Paper Co., at Chisholm, supervising work on a million acres of land that supplies about 500,000 cords of wood for the company mill and about 100 million feet of logs to other firms.”

What I am about to write is the article from the paper when Morris Wing was interviewed by Lynn Franklin: All my relatives are engaged one way or the other in logging and always have been. We’ve been in Maine five generations that I know about.

The article reads: My father was born at Flagstaff, which is under water now because of the Flagstaff dam on Dead River. Grandfather, Warren Wing, was born in the upper Dead River country and was a logger and also a hunter and fisher. He loved it and trapped for spending money all his life. As I recall he’d rather trap than do anything. He inherited land from his father, who was Cyrus Wing, also born in the Dead River area.

My father is 93 and lives with us. His father, Warren, was a logger as was his father Cyrus.

Joseph Wing, Cyrus’ father, was born in Kingfield, Maine. He was also a logger and his father Paul, was born in Harwich, Massachusetts. Paul came to Maine at 14 with his parents. That’s five generations.

I grew up on the Kennebec River at Bingham. There were six children, four boys, and most of us have remained woodsmen.

When I come along father was logging and contracting and we lived on a small farm. We had little monetary income and lived on a few beef cattle, a couple of milk cows, We cut a lot of hay in the summer and what we didn’t need for the logging horses we could sell.

But father’s primary income was logging and the whole family worked with him.

My first year in the woods I was nine and I remember it very clearly. My older brother, Glen, was six years older. He was able to do a man’s job and he was actually chopping. They call it cutting now, but we used axes exclusively then.

We was cutting pulp wood, sap peeled. You don’t see the bark removed by hand any more. There were other people working on the job. It was a small crew, five or six men, and I remember my first instructions.

“Take a spud, Morris, said my father. “You can keep up with us all right. We’ll fell the trees and cut the limbs off. All you got to do is take the bark off.”

I thought I could keep up with them but I soon found that I couldn’t. However you just kept working. That’s the way it was, pretty tough. I chased those choppers all summer long, never did catch ’em, but I took a lot of bark off a lot of trees. (I will tell you more about logging in the old days next week.)

And now for Percy’s memoir: May you have… Enough happiness to keep you sweet, Enough trials to keep you strong, Enough sorrow to keep you human, Enough hope to keep you happy, Enough failure to keep you humble, Enough success to keep you eager, Enough friends to give you comfort, Enough wealth to meet your needs, Enough enthusiasm to look forward, Enough faith to banish depression, Enough determination to make each day better than yesterday.

I’M JUST CURIOUS: Old traditions create memories

/0 Comments/in /by
by Debbie Walker

Oh yeah, it is that time of year, the time to start preparing for the holidays. In a Woman’s Day magazine, April Franzino honored her family’s Thanksgiving tradition of serving dinner to homeless. However, her spin on it is to volunteer at a local food pantry. And, of course, either of these would work any day of any week.

An editor of Woman’s Day, Kaitlyn Pirie, focused her traditions on children. Again, hers was done for Turkey Day. Between dinner and dessert, they play games. They put butcher block paper for a tablecloth. Draw rectangles around each place setting and let them decorate.

Yet another tradition, by Lizz Schumer, of Woman’s Day, wrote that they take a walk around the neighborhood after dinner. They like to get moving and continuing conversations. Once they get back, they eat dessert.

Christy Pina, associated with the same magazine, says after dinner her mom asks everyone to write down for what they are thankful, (to me it seems we could do this on a daily basis and it wouldn’t hurt anyone). They all take turns reading them aloud and sharing.

One thing we started doing in my family years ago is called a “Memory Jar.” Because we only get together every so many years the memory jar had multiple uses. My mother and the Maine grandchildren used to enjoy reading about the memories we all had at that gathering. In later years Mom always had it handy. We took that idea and requested memories for Mom’s Celebration of Life party. No one seemed to mind. And we soooo… appreciated the words.

Don’t be afraid to add new traditions and with that thought I would like to recommend a tradition worth adding, for peace in the home:

I believe this applies mostly to the ladies. Year after year I hear women complaining about their spouses awful gifts to them for Christmas. “I don’t know what he was thinking to give me this. What am I going to do with a bread machine, I don’t bake!”

You may have been dropping hints for weeks. HE Won’t Get It. You can drop hints to your female friends, and they will understand but sad to say most men will still be without a clue!

I learned years ago to cut out a picture from a flyer. You are still leaving it to chance. You and I know very often we get to the store and “Oops” it’s gone. There were only three to begin with.

My answer to that was when I find something I want; I buy it, and much to his happiness he doesn’t have to struggle. The other option is order online with him sitting with you or you go to the store together. My history tells me he wants nothing to do with the store, shoppers, etc., so I would buy. Just a suggestion, but in my experience, it made for a peaceful holiday for all.

I’m just curious if you will share some of your traditions with me. You can, find me at DebbieWalker@townline.org. Please share. Thank you all for reading and have a great week!

REVIEW POTPOURRI – Composers: Cesar Cui, Mily Balakirev, Alexander Borodin, Modeste Mous­sorgsky and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov

/0 Comments/in /by

Cesar Cui

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Cui

Orientale; Glazunov: Arabian Melody.
Hans Kindler, cello, with orchestra. Victrola 702, ten inch acoustically recorded shellac from May 27th, 1920, and December 12th, 1921.

Cesar Cui (1835-1918), along with fellow composers Mily Balakirev (1837-1910), Alexander Borodin (1833-1887), Modeste Mous­sorgsky (1839-1881) and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), forged a bond known as the Russian five in writing music with nationalist feeling, rhythms and melodies of their country’s history, legends and folk music sources.

Moussorgsky was best known for the opera Boris Godunov, the Halloween showpiece Night on Bald Mountain and Pictures at an Exhibition. Unfortunately he drank himself into an early grave.

Borodin was a medical doctor and organic chemist and composed on a part time basis but left the justly popular opera Prince Igor with its exotic Polovetsian Dances and the delicate tone poem In the Steppes of Central Asia. He succumbed to a heart attack while attending a ball.

Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer but also taught composition to such pupils as Igor Stravinsky. His arguably most famous work is Scheherazade.

Mily Balakirev

Balakirev was a composer, pianist and conductor who left a solo piano showpiece Islamey and 1 Symphony of note and was the leader of the group as well.

Cesar Cui taught fortifications and wartime strategies at several military academies and may be the least known of the group. His Orientale for cello and orchestra was recorded two years after he died and has a plaintive melancholy and beauty rendering it worthy of popularity. Dutch-born cellist/conductor Hans Kindler (1892-1949) gave a deeply felt performance.

Alexander Glazunov was a famed teacher of composition whose most well-known student was Dimitri Shostakovich. He would unfailingly show up at concerts of his students music, no matter its quality and would sit in front row center with seemly very attentive listening. What was not noticed by many was that Glazunov stuffed his ears with paper tissue so he could be alone with his thoughts.

His very lyrical Arabian Melody also received a rapturous performance. And this old record has stood up with several hearings and can be heard via the internet.

Hans Kindler started the National Symphony Orchestra of D.C. from a small community group in 1931 and, despite the Depression, achieved extraordinary success. He recorded a batch of music on Victor 78 sets including a very exciting performance of Tchaaikovsky’s 3rd or Polish Symphony. His google images have a photo of him shaking hands with FDR.