This week’s online column includes a couple of items that came in too late for inclusion in the print edition, including these first two:
The Swap Shop at the Greenwood-Woodstock Transfer Station will be closing on Sunday, November 2, for the season. All items not re-homed at that point will be disposed of at the close of business that day. The last day to drop items off for the Swap Shop is Sunday, October 26. A huge thank-you to the members of the Greenwood Conservation Commission and anyone else who volunteered to keep the Swap Shop organized and running smoothly throughout the spring, summer, and fall!
Conservation Commission member Lynn Cobb has gone above and beyond the call of duty in her attempts to find new homes for donated items in order to keep them out of the waste stream. Her latest great idea has been to establish a space in the former office area of the old Town Hall on Main Street to give away holiday items that have come into the Swap Shop over the past months. The Holiday Wonderland will be available for people to “free-shop” during the Greenwood Farmers’ Market (4-6 p.m. every other Friday, including October 17 and 31). This space is for distribution only, but if you have holiday items to donate, you can contact Lynn by email at cobblynn12@gmail.com or leave a message for her at the Greenwood Town Office, 207-875-2773.
If you’re a reader of this column online on the “off weeks,” when there’s no printed paper, you already know that I had a successful second knee replacement last Wednesday. As I write this on Sunday afternoon, my recovery is going very well so far.
Although I was disappointed that the extended nerve block in my knee only lasted about a day and a half this time, instead of the four days I got from it with my surgery last March, I really only had one day, Friday, when the pain was fairly significant. I had seen my wonderful visiting physical therapist, Holly, for a paperwork visit on Thursday, when I told her I felt great, ready to start all the post-surgery exercises and take on the world.
By the time Holly returned on Friday to put me through my paces for the first time, I was grumpy and whining about my pain level in general, and yelping with every exercise. I didn’t sleep very well on Friday night, but I woke up Saturday feeling like a whole new person, having apparently survived the worst of the pain.
I was going to stick close to home on Saturday, but when Will appeared around noon and asked if I wanted to go to the dedication of the new Trail for All in the Buck’s Ledge Community Forest with him, I said yes, and I’m so glad I went. It was nice to be out and about on a beautiful day, and to spend time with so many of the people who have helped to make the new trail, and the entire BLCF project, happen.
After a great program with MC Ed Rosenberg and some inspiring speakers, there was a ribbon-cutting for the trail and a dedication of each of the five benches along it to some of the project’s “super-volunteers.” The benches, along with four picnic tables (two of which are handicapped-accessible, were provided through a grant received by Melinda Remington of the Bethel Area Age-Friendly Community Initiative.
The Trail for All is about a half-mile of smooth, easy walking, and is also suitable for those whose mobility depends on wheelchairs or other assistive devices. I’m planning to spend a lot of time there in the next few weeks. In fact, at just three days post-op, I walked about three-quarters of a mile while attending the celebration on Saturday; I wondered if I would feel any ill effects afterward, but I seem to be fine.
Although I’ll be doing as much walking as I feel up to, as soon as I can, sadly, my total of hikes in 2025 will be frozen at 72 for at least the next several weeks. But 51 of those, along with 73 long walks and 22 long swims, came after my first knee replacement in March, a fact I was happy to tell my surgeon before they wheeled me into the operating room for the second one. I told him to make this second one just as good as the first, so that maybe I can even tackle a couple of 4,000-footers next summer or fall. Thank goodness for modern orthopedic medicine!
If you want to see time fly, just plan a family wedding and a knee surgery for the first few weeks of fall. I was a little stunned to see that this week’s calendar listings include a few events that will take place in early December, until I realized that the holiday season really is closer than I think, and that there are only three more print issues of the paper before the end of November. Not only that, but note that one of the late-October events even includes a snow date—yikes!
I’m nowhere near ready to think about snow, ice, and winter holidays, but, in any case, here is the calendar of upcoming events of which I’ve been made aware:
Wednesday, October 22, from 4-6 p.m.: The Locke Mills Union Church will celebrate the season with a Harvest Festival, including a free harvest dinner.
Wednesday, October 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the Paris Public Library, 37 Market Square, South Paris: Amy Wight Chapman (hey, that’s me!) will read from and discuss her family memoir. Published by the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society, Just Like Glass is the story of an indomitable family and how a strong matriarch, the stillness of a small pond in western Maine, and one unexpected addition set them on a path to healing from tragedy and redefining themselves as a family unit.
Friday, October 24, from 6-9 p.m. and Saturday, October 25, 9 a.m. to noon at Gould Academy’s Field House, 74 Church Street in Bethel: The Bethel Outing Club’s 45th annual Ski and Snowboard Sale. New and used gear, clothing and accessories will be on sale, all in one place, making shopping for the winter season easy. The Outing Club takes 20% of each sale, which benefits youth outdoor programing in the Bethel area. To learn how to sell your unneeded (but not obsolete) winter gear or clothing, or how to volunteer to help at the sale (with some nice benefits), go to bethelouting.org and look under Events. There is a link to SignUp for volunteers and instructions on how to tag and inventory gear you’d like to sell. Donations of non-obsolete gear are also welcome. Tags for used gear, as well as instructions and inventory sheets are available at True North Adventureware and the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce.
Thursday, October 30, at 4 p.m. at the West Parish Congregational Church, 32 Church Street, Bethel: To Your Health presents “Mental Health Conversations for Older Adults” with Tori Tracy, Manager of Community Engagement at the Maine Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI). This program is free and open to the public, and all ages are welcome. The snow date is November 6.
Friday, October 31, from 4-7 p.m. on Broad Street, Bethel: “Trick-or-Treat Broad Street.” Volunteers at the Bethel Library and the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society will be handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.
Sunday, November 2, at the First Universalist Church of West Paris: Acclaimed musician and fellow Unitarian Universalist Jim Scott will be leading the Sunday morning service at 9 a.m. Later the same day, at 2 p.m., he will present a concert at the church. His concert will be a tribute to Pete Seeger, with whom Jim collaborated in the past. A $20 donation for the concert is suggested, but the event is open to all.
Saturday, December 6, from 12-5 p.m. at the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society, 10 and 14 Broad Street, Bethel: “Christmas at the Mason House” and Holiday Open House and Bake Sale. More details to come as the date approaches.
Sunday, December 7, at 2 p.m. at the First Universalist Church of West Paris: The Oxford Hills Ukulele Group will lead a Christmas carol sing-along to get everyone into the spirit of Christmas. This is a popular event that the church has hosted in the past, and always lots of fun.
Last spring, it was announced that the Citizen would now be published only every other week, and that it would now be published on Fridays. Ever since, I’ve been wondering why, when it seems to reliably appear online, in stores, and usually even in my mailbox every other Thursday, it is always dated Friday. I guess it’s just one of the great (or minor) mysteries of life. In any case, if I receive calendar events that are taking place on Thursday, the day the paper actually appears, I include them, because I assume that many people read the paper right away and might say to themselves, “Hey, I’m glad I read about this event happening this evening; I think I’ll go!”
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 October 30 (although, of course, it will be dated October 31), but you can read the Locke’s Mills column online every week—with the added bonus of photos—at amywchapman.com, or go to the website and subscribe for free to have it emailed to you each week.
“Inclusivity makes society; accessibility is humanity.” – Abhijit Naskar, author and neuroscientist