IF WALLS COULD TALK, Week of February 8, 2018

by Katie Ouilette

Well, WALLS, you sure know when to do the right thing! Surely our faithful readers were happy to receive your message, after our ice storm. The yards of our faithful readers may be cluttered with branches and all that goes with them, as our yard is. Now, those branches and green-things which they held are waiting as we are for Spring clean-up to begin! Actually, this column is being written on Ground Hog Day, as we went to Augusta yesterday. Yup, TV had the folks from Pennsylvania in their dress-up outfits, including tall hats, this morning showing us the ground hog of the day.

And, faithful readers, do you remember WALLS telling you all about finding stuff in my stuff? Well, here is a saying that was saved a while ago. “History is not a science, but a story that happened as we call up the past.” Well, that started you thinking, for sure, WALLS. Did I say that we went to Augusta yesterday? Well, actually, Lew and I went to Togus so that his hearing aid could be adjusted. I sat in the truck, as usual, but thought about Togus and all that it has meant to so many since its inception during Abraham Lincoln’s presidency.

Imagine it, faithful readers. Imagine how many have been hospitalized since the Civil War and, as I sat in our Nissan pick-up truck, I saw veterans of all ages going to what is now the outpatient offices. Some had their drivers with them, because of their conditions. Yes, Togus was a very busy place with folks walking to their office-destinations and then some walking back to their automobiles with medications in white bags that had been given to them. Y’know, faithful readers, there is so much said about the care our veterans of all ages, male and female, are given in our U.S.A., but we in Maine can be very proud that our men and women, old and young, are well taken care of in Maine.

That brings another saying that you found when you helped me sort through my stuff, WALLS. Of course, we know it already, but the saying is, “there’s a genuineness about people in Maine that is hard to find in other places.” Well, blame can be attributed to George Smith, who tells us that we are so lucky to live in Maine, but WALLS, you and I, too, know that Maine is the best place to live and do business and be neighborly.