A trip to Favorite Places in Maine

We're in Bath, Maine at one of my favorite stores, Reny's Department Store. They have just about anything and good prices. I wish there was one in Brattleboro, but they are all in Maine. However, Dollar General has come to Brattleboro. It's no Reny's, but it is my second favorite chain department store. It is several cuts above the typical dollar store because it has a dependable inventory anywhere you go -- and Dollar General is expanding all over the country. It is a fairly good quality bargain department store, about as close to the old Woolworth's 5&10 of my youth as you will find in today's world. If it had a lunch counter, it would practically be a Woolworth's. We have seen them in small towns all over the midwest and west, and I think they have a totally different philosophy from Wal-Mart. They are not predatory, they build relatively small, modest stores in very small communities, yet they provide a cross section of clothing, housewares, office supply, sundries -- sort of everyday stuff at reasonable prices. For a long time I bought my bandaids there whenever I found one - a box of 60 good quality bandaids for $1.

Earlier today we had a wonderful hike at Morse Mountain, a Bates College Reserve near Phippsburg, that takes you down to a wonderfully secluded beach. A beautiful day and a wonderful hike. Yesterday we had lunch with dear friends, Phil and Deborah McKean at the Tomaston Cafe, one of our favorite cafes in the world. Phil had just finished teaching a 14-week class on The Cultures of Asia  in the Seniors College program in Tomaston. He put me on to Amir Acsel's The Jesuit and the Skull about Teihard de Chardin and Peking Man, I just ordered it. It will be worked into my blog on Creationism and Evolution (which is still in the works. Be patient!).

Tonight we're going to a concert here in Bath -- the Oratorio Chorale is performing the Durufle Requiem, and two Bach Cantatas, $80 and #23, all of which I have done with the Blanche Moyse Chorale, so that will be fun. It will be interesting to see how another chorale sounds. Speaking of the Chorale, I just wrote program notes for our upcoming concert on December 10 and 12 - notes on Britten's Ceremony of Carols, Palestrina's Missa Hodie Christus Natus Est and Vaughan Williams' Nine Carols for Male Voices. After our director, Mary Westbrook-Geha vets them, I'll post them here. 

Tomorrow we'll meet Ellen's brother Jim, his friend, Mary Cooke, and her son DJ, at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockport, ME - one of my favorite museums in the world, famous for its Wyeth collection but a lot else besides. It is Jim's birthday. We'll spend a couple of hours there and then, late in the afternoon, we'll walk out on to the jetty at Rockport and watch the full moon rise. Monday we'll visit Ellen's old friend, Nancy Carney in Brooklin, ME. We're staying at Jim's place in Woolwich, which is very cozy. Tuesday we'll stop in Kittery, ME on the way home to buy several loaves of bread at the When Pigs Fly outlet - our favorite bread in the world (and the world is full of good bread!). And we'll probably stop at Bob's Clam Hut in Kittery, our favorite fish place in the world. We'll be home in time for River Singers rehearsal.

We did it!

By golly, we've repaired the deck. I dug out the rot from two joists. The rot extended about two inches deep into a 2" x 10" joist, and for a length of about 4 feet on each joist. I don't know why there was rot just there, and only there; there was no obvious explanation. But there it was. Then I removed the nails -- most of them I could pry up and pull out from above (they were threaded nails, so not real easy to pull out) -- a few I had to work up from below before I could grab them with the claw hammer. Then I put up a sister joist on one side of the rotted joist -- a pressure-treated 2" x 8" x 8'. I shimmed that joist up tight under the decking and screwed it into the rotted joist at points where it was still solid. Then I used Bondo to fill in the gap left by digging out the rot. This was a messy job, but it creates a very hard patch. Then I put up another sister joist on the other side and repeated the process of shimming and screwing in. Just for good measure I put a carriage bolt through all three joists and tightened it up really tight so those babies are really solid. Then I put wood preservative underneath and on top of the decking. Now Ellen and I are putting back up the sheets of metal roofing that hang under the joists which makes it dry under the deck and like a car port. The metal roofing is angled so water that drips through the deck runs off to the front. It's been a big job but we've done it!! Yay!

I'm also well into my project of sending to my granddaughter Katie annotated copies of Shirley's letters to home from college which she sent in Fall of 1950 from Wellesley to her parents. I've just done Letter # 11 -- eleven letters home in about six weeks. Shirley was amazing! She wrote to friends in addition to her parents so she wrote a lot of letters. With the annotations and pictures I've got over 50 pages of text so far. At this rate the whole 4-year project will be a 500 page book! I had a fun day going to the Wellesley College Archive and gathering background information and photos from sources there. This is like eating peanuts for me.

Maintenance Issues at home

During the past couple of months we've had to deal with (1) a water shortage and (2) deck rot. We experienced  drought during much of the summer and early fall which caused the water level in our spring to drop to a very low level. We had to haul in water for over a month -- all of September, plus -- but heavy rain in early October filled it again. Meanwhile three chipmunks managed to get in the spring and drown, and had to be pulled out. So we're not drinking from it yet, but have plenty for washing, etc. At the same time we have been aware of some soft spots in our deck. Our friend Tom Goldschmid helped us take down the metal roofing under the deck so we could get a good look at the joists. Fortunately they are basically solid! Just two spots that for some reason have rot just on the top of the joist. We can "sister" those two joists and solve the problem. Meanwhile I did a power wash of the entire deck, above and from underneath, and next week will treat everything with wood preservative. So I'm hoping to extend the life of the deck. When the deck was rebuilt ten or so years ago, I did not use pressure-treated joists because at that time, they contained arsenic and I wanted to avoid using that kind of toxic chemical. I understand that pressure-treated wood today may be more "green."

The Shirley Harris at Wellesley Project

 

 Shirley Harris in 1950

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I started a wonderful project about a month ago. It came about as the result of running across an archive of letters that Shirley (Katie's grandmother, who passed away in 1998) wrote home to her parents when she went off to college at Wellesley, fall of 1950, sixty years ago this fall. When I learned from Katie that she wished she could get more "snail mail" I got the idea of sending her annotated copies of Shirley's letters home. It's turned out to be a fascinating project for me, and I think Katie is really enjoying it too. Shirley was amazingly prolific in writing letters (or post cards) home. She wrote on average once a week, sometimes more. They are full of information about her courses, her dates, college life, her roommate, lectures and concerts, etc. I'm sending Katie a photocopy of the original letter, but in addition I am transcribing each letter and footnoting it to provide background information and explanations of allusions to people, places, things, etc. I'm sending them each at the time Shirley sent them originally. So far I've sent four and am up to October 15th. If I am given the time to complete this project I hope to turn it into a book. It should be a wonderful window into the life of an amazing woman as well as a glimpse of college life in the 1950s. Here's a sample of one of the letters:

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October 3, 1950


Dear Folks:

We’ve been enjoying the lamp and the rugs very much and the jelly from Aunt Grace too. (1) I bought some crackers and cheese and when I over-slept this morning and missed breakfast, it came in very handy.
I’ve started my fall sport and enjoy it to the utmost. It is tennis, and I feel I’m really improving my game. (2) I have it on Monday and Friday afternoon.
I checked on train schedules and I can get a train from
Framingham to Schnectedy (sic) on Friday at 2:33 which arrives in Schnectedy at 7:02 which is very convenient only it means that I must skip not only two of my Saturday classes, but also two of my Friday classes. These classes include Soc, Latin, English Lit and Botany. There is also a train leaving Framingham at 3:36 or so and arrives after 8:30. but I feel that that is too late. What is your opinion? If I am taking the 2:33 I must reserve a seat so please tell me which I should do as soon as possible. (3)
I sent my laundry bag today and I’d appreciate it if you would include anything of interest in the advance when you send it back. (4) Oh, incidentally Pop, how’s about my miraculous Giants? (5) I never dreamed that they’d end up where they were. I was overjoyed.
Let me know about any further details of the wedding. I can’t think of anything else except will you please fill out the enclosed form and send it to me.

See you at the wedding,
Lots of love. Shirley

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Florence and Grace Langley at about age 16

1. Aunt Grace was Shirley’s mother’s twin sister, Grace (Langley) Hall. Grace lived in Goffstown, NH, and was married to Mortimer Hall (who ran an awning business), and they had three boys – Langley, Lloyd and Leonard. None of these “boys” are still living, though Lloyd died only a year ago or so. Langley was a bachelor all his life, but Lloyd and Leonard had children (their wives are still living) which are your first cousins once removed, and their children are your second cousins (see below*).  Although Grace was a twin sister, she and Florence (Shirley was actually Florence Shirley Harris, but she was known as Shirley all her life – to avoid confusion, no doubt), were very different. In her later years (when I knew her), Grace was sort of a typical farm woman in appearance – somewhat overweight, and not at all “sophisticated” in appearance or speech. She had not gone to college, though she was, I am sure, fully as intelligent as her sister (in fact, in high school, Grace was the star pupil).  Their lives just took a different direction. Florence was interested in ideas, was active in church, community and educational organizations, dressed nicely (I don’t mean she was stylish, but she took her appearance seriously), and lived her adult life in New York City. Grace was more “homey,” lived in a small NH town, and was known in the family for sending people homey gifts like pot holders, dish towels, and jars of jelly --  things she made or bought at the local church bazaar. I am guessing that Aunt Grace had sent Shirley a jar of jelly to mark her arrival at college.  Shirley and I visited Aunt Grace and Uncle Mort in Goffstown on several occasions, and I at least met all the boys and their children, at least once.  Ellen and I visited Lloyd and his wife Betty in Piermont, NH a couple of times before Lloyd died. Many years ago, your mom met some of her first cousins in this branch of the family. I haven’t kept in touch with the cousins, I’m afraid, but will call Betty Hall and get some updated information.

2. There was a period of our lives when Shirley and I played tennis fairly regularly in the summertime. This was when we went to the A-frame, a summer camp we built in Dummerston in 1960-62, near where we live now. Our neighbors, the Baldwins, had a tennis court, and we played tennis there (and occasionally on courts in other places). Shirley had one maddening ability in tennis – she almost always managed to return the ball. Maybe not gracefully or with speed, but she just got it back over the net, again and again!

3. Since Shirley says, “see you at the wedding” at the end of this letter, this discussion of trains to Schenectady must be about her going to a wedding, and the only person whose wedding could take her away from classes, and be in Schenectady, would be her brother, Ladd. Ladd worked for the General Electric Company in Schenectady. (Shirley’s father worked for GE also, all his life, as Administrative Assistant to the President of GE. He worked for three presidents in that capacity. He worked in the corporate office in New York City).
            This wedding ended up being cancelled. I don’t know who the woman was, or why it was cancelled. I remember Shirley telling me once that Ladd was in love with a girl who was a Catholic, and that her parents “broke up” that relationship (i.e., they didn’t approve of it and I guess Ladd honored their feelings). I don’t know if this is that girl or not. It is a sad story, and I think that Shirley’s parents came to regret very much that they broke it up, because the woman Ladd ended up marrying – sort of on the rebound from this break-up, as I recall – was not the right person and they were pretty miserable. Ladd died in 1960 at the age of 39 – he was given hepatitis by an osteopathic physician who was giving him vitamin shots with an unsterilized needle, and the disease proved fatal. His three children were very young. I’ve sort of kept in touch with them. These are, again, your first cousins  once removed– Robbie, Patty Ann, and Jim. Robbie’s son, also named Ladd, was married a few years ago and I went to the wedding. Jim lives in Haddonfield, NJ and has a boy, Matthew, by his second wife (whose name is also Patty, I think).  Patty Ann is in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and Robbie is in NJ somewhere I think. Patty Ann has a son, Josh (I don’t know where he is) and Ladd, Jr. has a sister Kelly. (I remember one time we visited Rob and his wife Maureen (now divorced) and we watched a video of Kelly, who was starring in a high school production of Annie. Don’t know if she has kept up her interest in musical theater or not. These are all your second cousins.
            Shirley idolized her brother, and she grieved his untimely death all her life. Writing this inspires me to see if I can reach Jim and find out where all these folks are today.

4. Those were the days when you sent your laundry home from college for your mom to wash, dry, fold, and send back!! Imagine that! I did the same when I was in college – at least at first. I think by the end of my freshman year I was doing my own. It was cheap – as I recall, it cost just $1 or so to mail a laundry case – they made special cases just for that purpose. When Shirley says, “send back anything of interest in the advance” she is referring, I’m sure, to the Staten Island Advance, the local newspaper. She was probably interested in news clippings about her classmates at Curtiss High School, or her church, the Brighton Heights Reformed Church, or anything of general interest about events or changes or controversies in the community.

5. The New York Giants were a major league baseball team (now based in San Francisco, a move made in 1957). One of their star hitters, Bobby Thompson, graduated from Curtis High School on Staten Island about 8 years before Shirley did, and that may have been one reason why the Giants were her favorites. I’m not sure why she is so excited about them in the Fall of 1950 – so far as I can find out, they finished in third place at the end of the regular season, and they didn’t win the pennant and certainly not the World Series. But in 1948, Leo Durocher had moved from the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the Giants manager, and by 1950, they were on the way up. They ended the season just 3 games behind the Dodgers, which was pretty good. Now the 1951 season – that’s another story (but you’ll have to wait till next year to hear about that!).


                                                                                                             

Trip to Columbia, MO

I'm in Columbia for my granddaughter, Katie's 19th birthday, which was yesterday. This is a big weekend for Ellen and me - Ellen is at her 50th High School Reunion in Swarthmore, PA and I am here in Columbia. She dropped me off at Bradley airport Friday morning and will pick me up there Monday evening when I return, so I didn't have to leave a car there. We had a lovely day yesterday. I got to hear Katie's description of her first two months at college, at Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) in Cape Girardeau. She loves her classes, she likes being at SEMO, but Cape Girardeau is both boring and conservative. That it is the home of Rush Limbaugh sort of says it all I guess. She said that if she sees another "Don't blame me, I voted for John McCain" bumper sticker, she'll scream. So I don't know what that means for her long-term survival at SEMO. Meanwhile, her schedule is Ballet, Jazz Dance, Theater Appreciation, Acting, a UI100 Seminar called "Creativity," (which she described as teaching you what the University wants you to learn), Rehearse in Product (the whole theater department gets together and has discussions), and Algebra. Philip Edgecombe is her prof for Ballet, Jazz Dance and Theater Appreciation - fortunately she likes him a lot. In her second semester she will have the opportunity to add Voice and be involved in some choral groups. She likes the people, she has friends, she likes her courses, the food is pretty good, she likes her roommate. I guess that is not too bad for a start. We'll see how things unfold.

After that we picked up Rose Shay, Rob's 92 year old mother who now lives in a nursing home nearby, and we went to an unusual event -- a Roasted Chestnut Festival! Held near Boonville, MO at the Mizzou Ag Dept. Field Station, it showcased the wine and nut growers of Missouri. There were many booths where you could sample wine, various nuts (e.g., hickory, black walnut and chestnut), and could also sit down and have a lunch of elk or bison burgers. It was pretty interesting and the roasted chestnuts dipped in olive and garlic were delicious. Rose was in a wheel chair which we managed to maneuver around the grounds. She's a trooper.

After that we regrouped at home and then went to the University Club for a delicious birthday dinner. The food and wine are excellent, Katie and her dad had a four-course lobster dinner, I had tasty crab cakes and salad and a delicious fig tart. After that we went to Rose's room and Katie opened presents. In the evening, with Katie's help, I downloaded and set up Skype. Now we can communicate by sight as well as sound. I hope we can figure out a way to do that with Paul, Jenny and Max in Wyoming. That would make the distance seem much less great.

In between I've been reading Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism which I first read in the 1960s in grad school and for some reason felt drawn to pick up again. It is fascinating to read again because it resonates in completely new ways now. It relates to the conversations I've been having with my son John on meditation, it relates to what I'm learning about Quaker mysticism through Ellen, and it relates in a big way to a world I know nothing about -- warrior video games -- which it turns out owe a great deal to the Qabbalah. Thus for example the ten Sefiroth of the Qabbalah, the emanations from the Divine Being that form the material and spiritual world of time and space, have been morphed into a warrior called Sephiroth who I guess is really huge in Final Fantasy 7. Who would have known?

A Tolles Family Visit to Weathersfield, VT

On Saturday, September 11, 2010, Ellen Tolles (b. November 15, 1942, Philadelphia, PA) made a return visit to Weathersfield to look further into her Tolles family roots. She was accompanied by her sister, Katie Tolles (b. May 7, 1949, Philadelphia, PA), Katie’s partner, Savanna Ouelette, and Ellen’s husband, the Rev. Larrimore Crockett. Ellen and Katie’s brother, James (b. November 21, 1944, Philadelphia, PA), who lives in Maine, was unable to be present on this occasion, but hopes to make a visit in the future. These three siblings are the children of Frederick Barnes Tolles (b. April 18, 1915, Nashua, NH; d. April 18, 1975, Wallingford, PA). F. B. Tolles was an eminent historian of colonial Quaker history and Director of the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College, PA).

Before meeting Edith Hunter (an amazing 90-year-old who is the town historian) at 2:00pm, the party visited the Plain Cemetery, which Ellen and Larrimore had visited on Sept. 3rd (but which Katie had never seen), where Henry Tolles 2nd (1783-1849), and Clark Tolles (1758-1832), Ellen and Katie’s ggg grandfather and gggg grandfather, respectively, are buried, with their wives. The main purpose of today’s visit was to go to the Tolles Cemetery to see the graves of Capt. Henry Tolles [IV] (b. August 2, 1736, New Haven, CT; died May 5, 1810, Weathersfield, VT), and his wife, Hannah Clark, their ggggg grandfather and grandmother.[1] They met Edith a little after 2pm and she led them up Goulden Ridge Road to the entrance point to the Tolles Cemetery.

The Tolles Cemetery is currently on land belonging to the Dale Gurney and Gene Limlaw family, who operate a horse farm there. Accessing the cemetery involves going under a chain onto an old road which the town of Weathersfield “threw up” decades ago, now a lovely grassy lane (an area which in olden times was a broad, open, training ground for the militia, now overgrown), and then going through a gate into a paddock, and then across the paddock to another gate, and finally through a third gate into the cemetery. Edith had made the necessary arrangements for this “trespass” with the owners. There were at least a half-dozen horses curious about this invasion of their turf, and they quickly came and surrounded the party, but they proved to be very friendly horses, and the party regretted not having picked up a few pockets full of apple drops, which they had passed on the old road, to thank the horses for their friendly greeting. Once inside the Tolles Cemetery, Edith took her ease on a convenient rock (this was perhaps her longest walking tour since her hip replacement in March), while the others searched out the headstones. The stones in the nearer end of the cemetery proved to be members of the Dart family (some of whom intermarried with the Tolles), but at the farther end, they found what they were seeking: the graves of Capt. Henry Tolles and his wife Hannah. They were saddened to discover that the headstone has split in half, with the top half now sitting in front of (and obscuring) the bottom half. Perhaps that can be repaired.

Capt. Henry Tolles was one of the earliest settlers of Weathersfield, coming with his large family in 1780. He was an extensive landowner, owning at one time over 1200 acres in Weathersfield, and was also a town leader, holding several town offices and serving on several committees, the most important of which was the one which determined the site of the first meeting house, and built that meeting house, the parsonage and settled the first pastor, the Rev. Dan Foster (all on land deeded the town by Capt. Henry Tolles). Ellen and Katie had had no previous inkling of their connection with this distinguished early citizen of Weathersfield. You can imagine their excitement in finding his grave site and learning about him from the extensive holdings at the Weathersfield Historical Society Library, which was the next stop after the Tolles Cemetery.

At the Library, the party perused the large “Tolles” file, containing, inter alia a detailed narrative about Capt. Henry Tolles written by the meticulous Weathersfield historian, Raymond Beardslee (a resident Congregational minister in the earlier part of the 20th century); looked through (and ultimately purchased) copies of John L. Hurd’s 2 vol. Weathersfield Century One and Two (1978), and E.W. Butterfield’s A Record of Inhabitants (1940/1990); and peppered Edith with many questions, for which she usually had an immediate answer. Larrimore (who has himself authored a 450p. history of the Guilford (VT) Congregational Church), made photographic copies of many pages of the files, and averred that he would like to return and settle into the Library for a few days of browsing, study and research. With the coming of winter, that will probably have to wait until next spring. In gratitude for her gracious assistance, Ellen presented Edith with a copy of Frederick Barnes Tolles’ book Meeting House and Counting House, The Quaker Merchants of Colonial Philadelphia 1682-1763 (W.W. Norton & Co., 1963). The Tolles party can now look forward to weeks of assimilating all the information about their ancestors which they obtained in this brief but productive visit, and undoubtedly will return to track down new leads and hunt for an old Tolles family cellar hole or two. Many thanks to Edith Hunter and to the Weathersfield Historical Society for their excellent assistance and record-keeping.

[1] The line from Capt. Henry Tolles [IV] to Ellen, Katie and James Tolles is Henry Tolles [IV] to Clark Tolles to Henry Tolles 2nd, to Horace Clark Tolles to Henry Joel Tolles to James Ulysses Tolles to Frederick Barnes Tolles, their father.

History of the Blanche Moyse Chorale

I've just published a history of the Blanche Moyse Chorale, titled More than Thirty Years of Glorious Sound. It is essentially a survey of every concert the Chorale has given from 1976 to the present -- when, where, what and who. Introductory articles by me and Calvin Farwell, the first president of the Chorale, provide background information and an overview. Appendices include reminiscences and tributes from Chorale members, past and present; a list of all works performed; a list of venues; and a roster of all members past and present. It's 116 pages all told.

I have been a Chorale member for 35 years. In that time, under the demanding and inspired direction of Blanche Moyse, the Chorale became one of the best amateur chorales in the country. I am not alone in feeling that singing under Blanche is one of the most important experiences of my life. We regularly sang Bach Cantatas every July in the Marlboro Music Festival, from 1977-2004, and also performed all the major choral works of Bach every fall in the New England Bach Festival. We also developed an extensive a cappella repertoire, covering five centuries, usually performed in the spring. In those 30 plus years we gave over 170 performances of the works of over 66 composers in 45 venues in six states, including two concerts in Carnegie Hall. We are still performing, now under the direction of Mary Westbrook-Geha. Blanche retired in 2005, and is over 100 years old! What a wonderful legacy!

I've finished Scopes Retried and will soon post my thoughts. It has got me thinking, that's for sure.

I'm planning a film discussion series on our addiction to oil with the Dummerston Congregational Church. We'll be looking at Robert Flaherty's Louisiana Story- a 1948 film with a whole new resonance today after the Gulf oil spill, and I hope to include also an LSU documentary Revisiting Louisiana Story which recontextualizes Flaherty's film. Flaherty, of course, was a resident of Dummerston. I never knew him, but knew his wife and daughters. Stay tuned for dates.

We're experiencing a fairly severe drought here in Dummerston. Our spring is down to dangerously low levels and we have been conserving water with fairly draconian measures -- no clothes washing, infrequent showers, flushing only with waste water from doing the dishes, etc.
Not sure what we'll do if it goes down below the intake pipe.

My granddaughter, Katie, seems to be having a good start to her college career at Southeast Missouri State Univ. She is into Theater and Music and seems very enthusiastic and excited about classes and opportunities. She auditioned for a major show, Blood Wedding, and got a call-back. We're rooting for her.

I have a new grand-niece, Maeve Grace, 8 lbs 11 oz, out in Illinois. Congrats to her parents, Rachael and Brendan Costello.

Monday I sang with the Hallowell Singers at a funeral and committal service, and I got to sing as a solo a song by Pete Seeger I had not known before: To My Old Brown Earth. It's a beautiful, simple song. You can find it on YouTube.

That's all for now.