7041_CIC_March2020_Calendar_Web

Island Commons Marty’s Memories - Shoreline By Marty Trower

Since there is no choice when you have a dog, you go on at least one walk a day, whether or not you feel like going. You see a lot. You notice a lot and some of the time, you remember. It isn’t just photos, I realize, that propel you into the past and tease your thoughts into the future. My dog is an old dog now and because she is deaf and partially blind I always have her on a leash, even on the beach. Her huge nose houses a spaniel’s great sense of smell and I don’t think she sees herself as handicapped at all. Where she used to snort around Seventh Heaven and seek out those wild rabbits - she had flushed and chased on the path the first week she moved to the island - well, it’s different now. I have eased off on ambling at the water’s edge looking for sea glass in favor of being pulled up into the earthy, immediate shoreline of Hamilton beach. Here, the dog sniffs with long concentration and I examine the bank. This is an old habit that started in my childhood with my father when he told me there might be Indian arrowheads imbedded there, in the remains of their ‘middens’. We weren’t allowed to disturb the earth, just concentrate and scan. We never ever spotted even one but that didn’t matter, we always looked. Then one day, when I was a full adult, I was walking the beach with a friend and Classified Ads Top Shelf Cleaning and Services: Cleaning, moving cars to and from the Stone Pier or Chandlers Wharf, snowplowing and snowblowing, and winter house watching—daily, weekly, or monthly—lawn mowing, and light tractor work. For more information, call Cindy at 207-846-1055. Seasonal Rental at 13 Island View Rd: Fully equipped summer home with 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, and private right of way to the water; $1100 per week plus a $300 security deposit. Contact Richard Bowen at rhbowen3@gmail.com or 207-831- 6148.

saw something in the gravely sand that made me boing into the air and scream. It was a time of jumping around and saying words my companion didn’t understand, until I held out the beautiful relic, an arrowhead, nestled in my palm and we rejoiced together. This time we, the dog and I, returned home by going through the woods where the grand Hamilton Hotel used to stand. The dog pulled me much further into the woods than I normally go, and when she finally stopped and ‘glued’ her nose to the ground, I had to stay with her at the other end of the leash. In the still of the cold air, in a silence that allowed nothing in, I looked out over to the water and realized I was standing where the stairs and porch of the hotel used to be. Two of the remaining cottages were in my view and the land is now cleared so you could imagine the long lawn that stretched out down to their pier. I went home to my old photos scattered everywhere and found one of my father’s family gathered on that pier. They were formally dressed in 1920’s attire and posing with the water behind them, radiant. I can’t find that picture now. It must be in one of those piles scattered around. Maybe Donna Damon has it.

Notices

Ladies Aid: Please join us for crafty projects and camaraderie at 11:00am each Thursday. Catholic Communion Service: A regular Catholic Communion Service will be held every Saturday at 4:00pm at the church. Sew Good: Sew Good will meet March 4 th and 18 th from 1:00-5:00pm at the Parish House. For more information, please call Lola Armstrong (846-4737) or Karen Corson (846-0938).

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MARCH 2020 CHEBEAGUE ISLAND COUNCIL CALENDAR