It seems the Center has indeed been the center of activity in town these past few years, as old familiar buildings have come down; e.g. the Moody house next to Grampa Hall’s and the decrepit “blue house” at the Hope Road corner, while others — the general store for instance, as well as several houses — are undergoing renovation. One even went so far as to wander across the road and become the Lincolnville Community Library, leaving behind a crude shed that had done duty as an auto paint shop and storage garage. Today it’s a handsome addition to the Lincolnville Boat Club, housing an active pottery studio.

The latest head turner is the plot at the corner of Nortons Pond Road and Main Street, the future Veterans Park, in case you didn’t know. This was once the site of a busy saw mill run by the Heal brothers, David and Russell. Eventually, the town acquired it, and now, as is fitting for what’s really the entrance to the Center, a town committee (Cecil Dennison, Cindy Dunham, Rosey Gerry, Sandy Lyle, Gary Neville, Sandy Delano, Everett Fizer, Richard Glock, Jay Foster, Lesley Devoe, Mark Thurlow and me) is working to turn it into a site to honor and remember the Lincolnville men and women who served during our country’s wars.

The focal point of the Park will be the 70-year-old wooden World War II memorial which I wrote about in my March 7 Pilot article. The structure was removed in early March from its original location on Main Street to Cecil Dennison’s workshop on North Cobbtown Road where he’s been working on it ever since. Cecil has done the structural work, repairing and replacing, using as much of the original wood as possible; he’s primed and painted, and got it nearly done. Meanwhile, Walt Simmons, working down at his workshop on Ducktrap Road, has lettered all new nameplates –115 or so, painted the flags furled on either side and the wording across the top. Gold leaf was used for the three men whose lives were lost. Plans are for the original painted nameplates to be presented to the families of these men and women who served so long ago.

The fund to maintain/restore the memorial amounted to $2000, collected many years ago and kept in a bank account. That money has since been turned over to the town for that purpose. The Veterans Park Committee is currently looking for donations to complete the project, which includes setting up the memorial, installing a flagpole, and landscaping. Future plans include similar structures to commemorate the veterans of the country’s other wars, with the WW II memorial in the middle.

Last week I wrote about keeping chickens. In case you missed it, or any other article, you can search for them on the PenBay Pilot homepage and find them archived under “This Week in Lincolnville.” I intended to encourage others to keep laying hens, but as often happens, I got sidetracked. So here’s what I meant to say:

Lincolnville could use a few dozen more flocks of hens, scattered evenly around town. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was one in every neighborhood? We have 23 birds – that’s 21 girls along with Chico and Roger. (Chico’s the big, robust rooster we got from Rose Lowell a couple of years ago, and Roger’s one of the chicken sexer’s mistakes – again, read last week’s column). Anyway, Roger spends most of his time dodging and hiding from Chico, but every time Chico turns his back, Roger hops one of the girls. I don’t think Chico really minds, as it takes some of the pressure off him, but it’s not a great life for Roger. Still, if that professional chicken vent checker had done his job, Roger wouldn’t have made it out of the hatchery.

So 21 girls should equal 21 eggs a day, right? Well, not exactly. On our best day we get 19, and usually get around 15. Half our flock is entering chicken old age, which is when egg laying slacks off. Along with our neighbors, Jane and Jerry Bernier who have a somewhat larger flock than ours, we sell eggs out of our barn fridge. It’s an honor system thing; people come by in hopes of finding eggs, leave $3.50 in the money can, and take their eggs.

Our customers come from all over Lincolnville, including one from Belfast, and another from Camden. One woman is generally rushing to or from the Islesboro ferry. How much more convenient if they could get fresh eggs just down the road, they and the ten or so families who live near them.

A bonus of keeping hens and selling their eggs is your social life improves. At any time of the day a car pulls in the driveway, and we say to one another, “egg customer”. Often we’ll go to the door to say hi as they head in to the barn, or to take them out to the henhouse to collect eggs if the fridge is empty. If we’re not feeling like it, we leave them to their own devices. Sometimes in the middle of winter, our egg customers are our only human contact, other than each other, and you know how that can get.

The Lincolnville Community Library will host a free panel discussion on “Green Cemeteries and Home Funerals: Exploring the Options” on Wednesday, May 4 at 7 p.m. Panelists Nancy McAlley, Alison Rector and Chuck Lakin will discuss the financial, environmental, and other advantages of home funerals and burials and give an update on recent efforts to establish a green, or natural, cemetery in Waldo County. Audience members will be invited to participate in the discussion. Nancy McAlley is a retired nurse with extensive end-of-life care experience. Alison Rector is a volunteer with the nonprofit Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maine and among those hoping to establish a green cemetery in the area that supports burial practices that have a minimal impact on the environment. Checkout their Facebook page. Chuck Lakin is a home funeral educator who teaches people how to make their own wooden coffins, which he says are usually cheaper and can even be decorated. He plans to bring one of his homemade coffins for display during the library program.

Just last week, United Christian Church sponsored the first of three sessions titled “I Don’t Want to Talk About It”, on the subject of planning for the inevitable. Some 35 people attended to learn about the legal issues related to end-of-life. There will be two more sessions, one at the end of May and the other at the end of June, on medical issues and funeral planning.

Though few of us want to dwell on our own mortality, thinking and planning ahead is smart, and can make the whole thing easier on our loved ones who have to pick up the pieces when we depart.

Family Music Program Friday 

Jessica Day of Midcoast Music Together will offer the fifth in a series of free family music programs on Friday, May 6 at 11 a.m. at the Library. Families with children from newborn to age 5 are invited to come sing, move, shake and explore musical instruments together. These music programs held over the past several months have been extremely popular and the library is very grateful to Bangor Savings Bank for sponsoring the series.

Our Community Library provides so much, from these informative and fun programs to book ordering services to free internet access, including free Ancestry.com to thousands of volumes of current fiction and non-fiction. They’ll even get books out to shut-ins. Stop in the next time you see the Open flag flying!

Such a difference a few weeks in April make. Lincolnville Beach has been a pretty quiet place all winter, with only the Whales Tooth, Beach Store and Lincolnville Fine Art Gallery open for business. The parking lot is empty most of the time, although devoid of snow this winter. Remember how the year before, Selectmen were debating what to do about the mountains of snow that were blocking the roadsides down there.

 Now it’s May, and the Lobster Pound, along with Andy’s Pub, have opened, followed by McLaughlin’s Lobster Shack and, on May 5 th, by Chez Michel’s. Beyond the Sea, a really wonderful bookstore with eclectic offerings (as well as gifts), has opened this past week. And the Fine Art Gallery, next door to the Beach Store, has room after room displaying the work of many Maine artists; I come out of there feeling as if I’ve just strolled through a small art museum.

 Both the Whales Tooth and Andy’s have Happy Hour specials that make having dinner out more affordable. Get an ice cream cone at the Beach Store or at McLaughlin’s, sit on a bench, and watch the activity on the Bay. This is “our” time to enjoy the Beach and the restaurants that, for the rest of the season, tend to be crowded with summer visitors.

 For Wally and me, summer starts the day we begin our daily Beach pick-up. And that’s this Friday!