I can’t believe it’s the end of August already! Those of you who know me know that the end of summer is always hard for me, what with preparing to leave camp—my favorite place in the world—and return home to a house full of projects that somehow never got done over the summer. I do like new beginnings, and I always greet September with the completely unrealistic (but unshakably optimistic) idea that this is the year I’ll sort, purge, and clean everything in the house before we move home from camp, and start a new life of tidiness and organization. But the truth is that the end of summer always makes me feel a little melancholy, and, while most people I know are celebrating the renewed energy that comes with cooler weather, I’m more likely to feel enervated than energized for a little while.
I’m writing this early on Wednesday morning, the first day of school in our district, and very soon I expect I’ll look across the lake and see a school bus rolling by on the Gore Road. When I was growing up, school never started until after Labor Day, and I had all of August before I had to think about it. My mom, an elementary school librarian, would delay leaving camp and heading home to Connecticut until the last possible minute, which meant that sometimes we’d arrive home in the dark after a long drive in Labor Day traffic, and she would get up the next morning and go to work, while I would at least have one day to settle in and reconnect with my friends before school started on Wednesday. I don’t know how she did it, but, as my brother Andy wrote in one of the “sibling sections” of my family memoir, Just Like Glass, “We never lingered in transitions…it was get up and go.”
At least the cooler weather makes for great hiking. On Sunday, Tony, Eli the Wonder Pup, and I climbed Puzzle Mountain in Newry. I had done it twice before, solo in the fall of 2017, when I’m pretty sure I didn’t make it all the way to the southwest summit (there’s a reason it’s called Puzzle Mountain, as there are numerous false summits), and most recently about five years ago with Will and Eli. But, at 7.5 miles, it was my longest, steepest hike in at least three years, and it was also by far the biggest challenge to date for my five-month-old knee, which, I’m happy to say, held up just fine. As for the old knee, it’s probably a good thing that surgery number two is only about six weeks away, and I think all of us, even Eli, were glad to see the end of the trail.
We carried plenty of extra water to share with Eli, and it’s a good thing we did, because of all the many streams along the trail, there was water in only one. We badly need some rain!
Will is preparing to present a program on the history of the Richardson Hollow neighborhood for the Greenwood Historical Society on Wednesday, September 3, at 7 p.m. at the old Town Hall on Route 26 in Locke’s Mills. GHS has just published the second book in a series on Greenwood neighborhoods, researched by the late Blaine Mills. The Richardson Hollow book, along with the previously published Patch Mountain neighborhood book, will be available for purchase at the meeting, and at the Greenwood Town Office and the Bethel and Greenwood Historical Societies after that.
Here are some more upcoming events for your calendar:
Thursday, August 28, at 1 p.m. in the Twitchell Education Building at the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society: “The Art of Paper Quilling” with Sara Hemeon, the final program in the Mill Brook Craft Series. Sara, the owner of the historic Philbrook Place on Main Street, is an artist, entrepreneur, and community builder with a lifelong passion for creativity. Programs in the Mill Brook Craft Series are free and open to the public.
Thursday, September 4, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Mason House at the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society: Annual meeting and potluck supper. If you’re a member, or you’d like to become one, or you’d just like to know more about MBHS, please bring a dish to share and join us. Following the potluck supper, Executive Director Will Chapman will present a program on the past, present, and future of the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society, including a retrospective marking his ten years with the organization. (He’s a really good speaker, even if I am a bit biased.)
Thursday, September 11, 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the West Parish Congregational Church: “Navigating the Healthcare System,” a free program hosted by To Your Health, in collaboration with Western Mountains Senior College, the Bethel Family Health Center, and MSAD#44 Continuing Education. For more information, please contact MSAD#44 at 207-824-2136, ext. 1341 or email WMSC@sad44.org.
Sunday, September 14, at 2 p.m. at the East Bethel Church, 1797 Intervale Road, Bethel: Meetinghouse and Church in Early Oxford County. Join architectural historian and director of the Hastings Homestead Museum Randall H. Bennett for a presentation about early meetinghouses and churches in Oxford County. This program celebrates the transfer of Bethel’s “Lower Meeting House” (East Bethel Church) to the care of the Hastings Homestead Museum, Inc. The lecture will begin with a brief introduction to the town’s newest museum on Broad Street in Bethel Hill village. Free (donations encouraged).
Saturday, September 20, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Whitman Memorial Library: Third Annual Vendor Fair and Free Book Event. There is no charge for vendor spaces. For more information, contact librarian Pat Little at 665-2502 or email whitmanlibrary2@gmail.com.
Tuesdays, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Whitman Memorial Library: The Village Makers meet, year-round, to enjoy crafting and community. Organizer Liz Hatch calls herself “an obsessed knitter,” but crafters of all kinds are welcome.
The Whitman Library is a happening place! If you read Rose Lincoln’s recent story in the Citizen, you know that the annual Vendor Fair and weekly craft group are just two of the many activities being offered there, all of which are free and open to all. Others include Chair Pilates on Mondays from 12 to 12:45 and Games On! (with support from the Bethel Area Age-Friendly Initiative) on Thursdays from 12 to 2 p.m.
If you have news or events you’d like included here, email me at amy.w.chapman@gmail.com or call 207-890-4812. The next print edition of the Citizen will be out on September 4, but you can read the Locke’s Mills column online every week at amywchapman.com, or subscribe for free to have it emailed to you each week.
“The old summer’s-end melancholy nips at my heels. There’s no school to go back to; no detail of my life will change come the onset of September; yet still, I feel the old trepidation.” – Sara Baume