Mother

What a strange few weeks it's been. When i returned from fabulous Italy. My Mom was failing and RI was in disaster mode so I returned to Maine instead of trying to get to Warwick with I95 closed. Planning my visit last Saturday when my brother Steve called to say she had passed away quietly and peacefully in the nursing home. So we had her funeral last Tuesday and buried her with my dad at Conn. Veteran's cemetery.

It was a lovely spring day instead of the absolute frigid arctic day when I was last there in Jan. 2000.Drove back last Wednesday when is was 91 degrees in RI and a brief walk on Narragansett Beach was a pure delight.So my trip is to Italy is forever connected to my Mom. We had lived in Naples in 1954 and I have memories of pine nuts and spaghetti suppers and going to the market to get bread. Now I have more gastronomic visions from Italy intertwined with thoughts of Sunday dinners with mashed potatoes and gravy at home.

Flo Osborne and Margaret McIntee in Boston. My Mom was living the single life, working as an X-Ray technician.

and

Karen, Mom and Steve in Naples, Italy on the balcony of our apartment. My dad was stationed there in 1954.

Mom and I at  my cousin Jeanine's wedding (1977) in Waterloo, Iowa where my mother was born and grew up.

April 2010 in Italy

My trip to Italy in April 2010 with Bucksport friends on a GoAhead Tour.
Pictures are posted in Google web albums.

Day 1 Boboli gardens

Day 2 Florence

Day 3 Lucca and Colle Verde

Day 4 San Gimignano

Day 5 Montalcino  and Siena

Day 6 Cortona and Perugia

Day 7 Spello, Assisi, Petrignano

Day 8 Orvieto and Rome

Day 9 Imperial Rome

Day 10 the Vatican

Belfast Co-op March 9

Co-op Event Reminder
Planning Your Garden
A Free Talk with Jean English



As part of the Belfast Co-op March Eat Local Challenge, a free talk on “Planning Your Garden” will take place at the Belfast Free Library on Tuesday March 9th from 6:30-8:00 pm. The snow date will be on the following day, March 10th, same time.

The talk will be presented by Jean English, editor of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener for MOFGA. Jean will include information to get brand new gardeners started as well as some techniques that experienced gardeners might want to try. Learn how to best prepare the ground, how to create a garden plan, information about intercropping & succession planting, and container gardening. There will also be a question and answer period, and time to swap garden stories.

Jean English studied plant and soil sciences at UMASS, worked for the Cooperative Extension and has taught horticulture classes at UMASS and Smith College. Now she’s an adjunct at Unity College, she edits The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener for MOFGA and writes a gardening column for The Republican Journal and the Herald Gazette. She grows fruits and vegetables in her home garden, nursery stock for Fedco Trees, and cut-your-own organic Christmas trees.

Co-sponsors of this free event and the Eat Local Challenge include The Belfast Free Library, MOFGA, WERU Community Radio, and The Green Sanctuary Committee of the UU Church of Belfast. For information about the event call the Library at 338-3884. To find out more about the March Eat Local Challenge visit the Belfast Co-op at 123 High St. in Downtown Belfast or call (207) 338-2532. You can also visit the Co-op's website at www.belfast.coop.

Merryspring talk March 9

Winter Tree and Shrub Identification with Morten Moesswilde

On Tuesday, March 9 from 12noon-2pm, Morten Moesswilde, District Forester with the Maine Forest Service, will lead a two-hour field workshop on tree and shrub identification at Merryspring Nature Center in Camden. The program will begin with a brief indoor introduction to identifying trees. Participants can then join Moesswilde on a walk through the wooded portions of Merryspring's 66-acre park to practice identifying Maine's common native trees and shrubs. Moesswilde is a Maine Forest Service District Forester for the Midcoast District, including Waldo, Knox, Lincoln, and Kennebec counties. As the District Forester he provides forest management and conservation information, education, and assistance to a wide audience, including landowners, school groups, loggers, foresters, and others interested in the diverse forests of Maine's Midcoast. Moesswilde has worked for the Maine Forest Service since 1999, previously serving as a Landowner Outreach Forester and Water Resources Forester. His background includes several years as a consulting forester in Midcoast and central Maine. Previously he held positions with the Cooperative Extension and in environmental and outdoor education. He holds a Master of Science degree in Forestry from the University of Maine in Orono, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Williams College. He also studied forestry for two years in Freiburg, Germany. This program is limited to 25 participants who should dress for the weather and wear sturdy footwear. Please call Merryspring at 236-2239 to pre-register. Merryspring members and all children attend talks free, and there is a charge of $5 for non-members. Merryspring is a member-supported, non-profit nature education center and park located at the end of Conway Road just off Rt. 1 by the Hannaford shopping plaza in Camden. For more information, call Merryspring at 236-2239 or visit the website at www.merryspring.org.