Does anyone else think Daylight Savings Time has been coming sooner in the spring and lasting longer in the fall? It’s still winter, the Spring Equinox a week away.

 I don’t like it, these late, light evenings. Not while the ground is covered in snow (with up to 18 inches more predicted for tomorrow). I’m not ready for the end of long, dark nights, when dusk falls at 5 sending the hens to roost as the last light disappears behind the treeline. I like pulling the shades, latching the door, hunkering down by the fire.

 I like gray days, rainy days. Good thing, since Maine has her share of them, and more.

 But the turn is coming, the Equinox, the turn towards spring, the moment when the earth’s equator and the disk of the sun are exactly aligned, and day and night are of equal length all over the earth.

 I heard it yesterday, walking down Ducktrap Road. After weeks of near silence in the woods, apart from the occasional gobble-gobble of the neighborhood turkey flock, other birds were making themselves heard. A distant cardinal, a mourning dove, bluejays, and the constant background chatter of birds I can’t identify.

 All those cheeps and chitters, whistles and tunes bring Margaretta Thurlow to mind. Do you remember her? She died nearly 10 years ago at the age of 97, and those who knew her will never forget that independent, opinionated, and altogether fascinating woman.  She died in the house she was born in on Fernalds Neck Road.

 When she was a small girl, growing up on her parents’ farm on the shores of Megunticook, she taught herself to identify birds by their song. She’d been given a little bird book for a gift, a book she showed me, and used it to figure out which bird was singing in the woods and fields of the Neck.

 Is there a child growing up in Lincolnville today who can do that?

 When I found a tiny nest made entirely with our pony’s tail hairs and asked, via my Camden Herald column, if anyone knew what bird might have made it, Margaretta promptly called. “A chipping sparrow”, she said, “ they’ll always use horse hair when they can get it.”

 For many years I saved the ends of the cotton warp we used in weaving our rag rugs (they’re called “thrums” in case anyone wants to know) for Margaretta. She set them out around her yard and garden for the orioles, who preferred pure cotton for their nests. I’m not sure how she knew that.

 This woman who so loved nature was also perfectly capable of ordering it to suit herself. Squirrels didn’t belong in her bird feeders; she shot them with a 22 from her front porch. At some point as she got older someone thought it not a good idea for a 90 year old to be doing that (though I doubt it was her idea), and so she resorted to a Hav-a-hart trap. When I asked where she relocated the squirrels she caught, she said, “to the bathtub”.

 If you want to read more about Margaretta Warren Thurlow her story is in Staying Put in Lincolnville, Maine: 1900-1950. If you don’t have a copy and are curious about the people who lived in these old Lincolnville houses before us, the people who managed to make their living on this rocky soil, and who lived through the long, dark Maine winters this book, which I wrote and the L’ville Historical Society published in 2004, reveals it all. It’s in the Lincolnville Library, and on sale at Western Auto, the Center General Store, Beyond the Sea, Lincolnville Fine Art Gallery, the Schoolhouse Museum, and at Sleepy Hollow Rag Rugs (aka me). How’s that for shameless promotion?

 Remembering Margaretta, especially after re-reading her story, reminds me of the ways our lives can suddenly turn around and send us off in a different direction. At least the change of the seasons is predictable. The birds know it, the bulbs underground are stirring, and the equator’s lining up with the sun.

Town

Nomination papers for the Tuesday, June 12, 2018 election of Municipal Officers are now available at the Town Office. Positions which are open include two Selectmen, two School Committee members, one Five Town CSD School Committee member, and three Budget Committee members.

 Running for these municipal positions is relatively easy. Pick up the papers at the Town Office, then get at least 25, but no more than 100, signatures of registered Lincolnville voters, and return them to the T.O. by 4:30 p.m., April 13, 2018.

School

LCS sent 31 players to the Maine State Chess Tournament this past Saturday, bringing home two first place trophies and one second. Grades K-1 were so well represented that there was a play-off between the Beach and the Center (Beach won) and then the team placed first. Grades 2-3 placed second, and grades 4-6 placed first.  Mr. Bruce, LCS’ “Chess Guru”, had specific advice for his team, instructing them to think through each move, to watch the time, to ask questions if they were uncertain. From the results it seems that he had their attention.                                                                            

 There are several options for ball players this spring from girls’ Little League Softball to Five Town Little League Baseball (these both for children living in Appleton, Camden, Hope, Lincolnville, and Rockport) and Mid Coast Cal Ripken Baseball through the Waldo County YMCA in Belfast. Information on the two Little League options can be found here. Check out the Waldo YMCA program here .

Lincolnville Community Library

Tuesday, March 13, needleworkers will gather to knit, stitch, quilt, or just sip tea and chat around the table, 4-6 p .m. All welcome to join in this lively gathering.

Then at 6 on Tuesday the book group will be discussing The Silver Star, by Jeannette Walls. Come join in even if you haven’t read the book. Bring ideas for future books to read.

 Note, that during these planned gatherings the Library is open for regular library use – browse and check out books, use the Internet, etc.

 “From Foe to Friend: German Prisoners of War in Maine,”

At the Library Wednesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. Hank Lunn will share his experience of having German Soldiers working on his family’s Aroostook County farm during WW II. In 1944, the U.S. Army Air Base in Houlton became the site of a POW internment camp for German soldiers captured in North Africa and France. The POWs were allowed to volunteer to help local farmers harvest peas, pick potatoes and cut wood in the forest. 

In the fall of 1945, Hank’s father requested prisoners to help with the potato harvest because the people he usually hired were fighting the war overseas. As a 13-year-old boy, Hank found the arrival of these German soldiers frightening. “My young mind was not too sure it was a good idea to have the ‘enemy' right here on our farm.”

Making Leprechauns

At the Library Saturday, March 17, 10 a.m. to noon, Julie Turkevich will be helping children and their parents make Leprechauns for St. Patrick’s Day out of pipe cleaners, felt, and various decorations. She provides all the materials and the program is free. Such a nice way to spend an hour or two on a quiet Saturday morning with a child. Hope to be there with a couple of mine.

Girl Scout Cookies

The Lincolnville Girl Scout troop will be out front of French and Brawn this Friday, March 16 from 4-7 p.m. with cookies for sale. If you’ve already eaten your way through the boxes you bought, or never ordered any in the first place, stop by and stock up on Thin Mints, Samoas, Caramel Delights, and more.

Lenten Taize Service

A special Lenten Taize service will be held Sunday, March 18, 4 p.m. at United Christian Church. A Taize service includes singing, meditations, selected readings, and silent prayer. Taize worship evolved from a monastic order which was a shelter for political and religious refugees in the French town of Taize in 1940.

 Sunday’s service will be led by Rev. Richard Hanks, UCC bridge minister, with accompaniment from an ensemble of organ, Celtic harp, guitar, and flutes. All welcome. Free will donations benefit the church’s music ministry. For more information contact Mary Schulien, 785-3521.