way back when ! (Bangor, Augusta, Westbrook: live in, law, legal)

[elston]

Backward Turn Backward Oh Time In Your Flight

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!
I am so weary of toil and of tears
Toil without recompense, tears all in vain, -
Take them and give me my childhood again!"

from a poem by Elizabeth Ackers

[moughie]

This short beautiful video was put out by the happiness-project.com

:: The Years Are Short ::

Very moving and poignant- most certainly will touch a chord with all parents on the forum.
*(My eldest daughter emailed it to me!)

[happyfamily1912d]

This is such a great topic. I think there is something about having rural New England in your blood that makes you relate to these ideas in a way that maybe few others might. Sometimes I feel like a walking anachronism, and while I am too young to have remembered "living off the land" in any authentic way, I have at least acknowledged its merits vicariously through Thoreau's writings and perspective.

Having grown up in the Maine outdoors, spending much time on my grandparents farm in Prentiss, family camps in Calais, etc., and then having spent a couple decades in cities of California and Florida, the contrast between city and rural living is pretty remarkable. It certainly makes you ask yourself what you really need.

Great stories and family history being told here. Wish my family had this type recorded. I have only "emigrated from Canada in late 1800s".

[elston]

Originally Posted by happyfamily1912d

This is such a great topic. I think there is something about having rural New England in your blood that makes you relate to these ideas in a way that maybe few others might. Sometimes I feel like a walking anachronism, and while I am too young to have remembered "living off the land" in any authentic way, I have at least acknowledged its merits vicariously through Thoreau's writings and perspective.

Having grown up in the Maine outdoors, spending much time on my grandparents farm in Prentiss, family camps in Calais, etc., and then having spent a couple decades in cities of California and Florida, the contrast between city and rural living is pretty remarkable. It certainly makes you ask yourself what you really need.

Great stories and family history being told here. Wish my family had this type recorded. I have only "emigrated from Canada in late 1800s".

I wish they had chronicled their experience too.....it would be a treasure trove.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Bill Green Pond here in town was named for a local soldier who lost a leg in the Civil War. Bill lived on the shore of his pond. Bill had a friend named Fred Dingley. Fred was my friend. Fred passed away about 2 years ago. Think about that. My friend knew a Civil War veteran personally. Fred bought the first automobile in town. It was delivered to Winn on a flat car and they drove it down a pair of planks to the ground. The Ford salesman showed Fred how to drive it, gave him 5 gallons of gas and Fred drove it home.

When I was 14 I milked 83 head of Holsteins myself. I didn't do it alone every day, but I did once in a while. My cousin from the city came out for 2 weeks in the summer. I showed him the farm. When he got home his mother called and said, "What did you do to Phil?"

I had no idea what she was talking about. It seems Phil wouldn't drink milk any more. He thought milk came from bottles like Coca Cola. He really got his eyes opened. He thought that horses were the males and cows were the females of the same species! Same with sheep and goats.

I know how those old timers lived, how they harvested ice and how they friction welded iron. I had a shirt with a collar worn out. The other day I removed the collar and reversed it, by hand. I figure I'll get another couple of years out of that shirt I like and then it will be kept for painting and dirty work.

We'll get by in these times we face.

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Bill Green Pond here in town was named for a local soldier who lost a leg in the Civil War. Bill lived on the shore of his pond. Bill had a friend named Fred Dingley. Fred was my friend. Fred passed away about 2 years ago. Think about that. My friend knew a Civil War veteran personally. Fred bought the first automobile in town. It was delivered to Winn on a flat car and they drove it down a pair of planks to the ground. The Ford salesman showed Fred how to drive it, gave him 5 gallons of gas and Fred drove it home.

When I was 14 I milked 83 head of Holsteins myself. I didn't do it alone every day, but I did once in a while. My cousin from the city came out for 2 weeks in the summer. I showed him the farm. When he got home his mother called and said, "What did you do to Phil?"

I had no idea what she was talking about. It seems Phil wouldn't drink milk any more. He thought milk came from bottles like Coca Cola. He really got his eyes opened. He thought that horses were the males and cows were the females of the same species! Same with sheep and goats.

I know how those old timers lived, how they harvested ice and how they friction welded iron. I had a shirt with a collar worn out. The other day I removed the collar and reversed it, by hand. I figure I'll get another couple of years out of that shirt I like and then it will be kept for painting and dirty work.

We'll get by in these times we face.

NMLM that is truly amazing. I cannot imagine knowing someone who knew a soldier from the Civil war. Heck I can hardly wrap my mind around knowing someone who KNEW someone who ... LOL Talk about makin' me feel old there, buddy!

I have never turned a collar, but I understand it. You know that I darn (we've had that discussion on this board) and right now, my mending basket is overflowing... so I suppose I better get on it.

Yeah, I think a lot of Mainers (born and bred and some of us who only feel like we have finally come home) will get by just fine.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Yup. You belong here.

[elston]

Originally Posted by starwalker

NMLM that is truly amazing. I cannot imagine knowing someone who knew a soldier from the Civil war. Heck I can hardly wrap my mind around knowing someone who KNEW someone who ... LOL Talk about makin' me feel old there, buddy!

I have never turned a collar, but I understand it. You know that I darn (we've had that discussion on this board) and right now, my mending basket is overflowing... so I suppose I better get on it.

Yeah, I think a lot of Mainers (born and bred and some of us who only feel like we have finally come home) will get by just fine.

My great uncle, my grandfather's eldest brother, Henry P, a sharpshooter in the 57th Mass Regiment was mortally wounded in the civil war in the battle of Petesburg, March 26, 1865 and died a few days later in hospital. It does amaze me when I think how recently all those men died whose monuments mark public squares in almost every New England village and town.

My grandfather wrote, "I was then a very small boy, having been born about the time that Fort Sumpter was assailed, and so I have no personal recollection of our brother Henry's heroic service and death; but many years later my mother once said to me, 'If the mothers who lost their sons in this war could decide the matter, there never would be another war."

[Northern Maine Land Man]

My unit lost 42 men, mostly young men in Vietnam. We have found every single family and shared photos and mementos the families had never seen. The families got to talk with men who had been in the same places and done the same things that their son, brother or Dad had done. Family members are invited to every reunion. In 1996 a grey haired lady unfolded a yellow lined paper and allowed me to read it. She asked if I thought it was appropriate to let others see it.

Yes, indeed. She let me copy what her son had written.

- - -

Look God, I have never spoken to you,
But now I want to say, "How do you do".
You see, God, they told me you didn't exist,
And like a fool, I believed all this.

Last night from a shell hole, I saw your sky.
I figured right then, they had told me a lie.
Had I taken time to see the things you made,
I'd have known they weren't calling a spade a spade.

I wonder, God, if you'd shake my hand.
Somehow I feel you will understand.
Funny, I had to come to this hellish place,
Before I had time to see your face.

Well, I guess there isn't much more to say,
But I sure am glad, God , that I met you today.
I guess the zero hour will soon be here,
But I'm not afraid since I know you're near.

The signal, well, God, I'll have to go,
I like you lots and I want you to know.
Look now, this will be a horrible fight,
Why, who knows, I may come to your house tonight.

Though I wasn't friendly to you before,
I wonder, God, if you'd wait by the door.
Look, I'm crying...Me, shedding tears,
I wish I'd have known you better, these many years.

Well, God, I'll have to go now, goodbye...
Strange, since I met you...I'm not afraid to die.

PO2 Michael Schaffernocker USN
Door Gunner, Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron Three

- - -

Both helicopters in Mike's gun team were shot down on the Cambodian border on April 28, 1969. He fell out and was hanging on his gunner's belt when the helicopter crashed on him. Mike's Mom, Dorothy Schaffernocker lives in Arlington, Texas and she comes to every Seawolf reunion.

Never forget.
Never, ever forget.

- - -

You see, we are not so far from Bill Green.

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Yup. You belong here.

if you mean me, thank you. coming from you, that means a lot.

I am off tomorrow to butcher fowl with MaineWriter. Expecting to head out from here at 4 am or so.

Wish she were closer...