Concert at Grange hall

A large audience at the Saco River Grange hall enthusiastically received the June 10 concert by the Highland Soles. My sister, Sally Vaughan and her daughter, Debbie Vaughan, both of Buxton, and I discussed the 7:30-9:30 p.m. concert in Bar Mills, all the way back to Buxton (I’m glad to say that Debbie was our efficient driver).

The performers were a very talented family group, Laura Scott and Ed, Neil, Lilly, and young Jesse Pearlman.

The program described each member. Laura Scott is a choreographer and dancer, the Boston Globe called her one of New England’s most celebrated dancers, “a showstopper.” Ed Pearlman is one of America’s top fiddlers in the Scottish/Cape Breton style; and they are joined by their children, Neil, mandolin, piano, dance; Lilly, dance, fiddle, and piano; and young Jesse, who loves to dance and make up dances, too. He is six years old. He is learning fiddle and hopes to have a soccer uniform pretty soon. They are quite a remarkable family.

The men wore red shirts, the ladies, red skirts and black tops, and when dancing, all wore kilts and knee-length stockings.

The first number on the program was a sword dance, with Ed on fiddle and Lilly dancing, carrying a sword; her dancing was lovely to watch. A number had a quartet of fiddlers. Laura arranged the Highland folk dances. Neil played mandolin and his father played fiddle, when Laura, slim and so graceful, was dressed in a sailor suit, and danced the hornpipe. In one number, Neil, whom we had seen playing the piano, also danced. Soon he was playing a fife (I think), with the musical group, for the dancers. Laura was lovely in a solo dance; she wore a short-sleeved flowered dress, with full skirt, no kilt in that number. She made me feel very proud to be watching her perform; she is outstanding. The step-dancing number was amazing -so demanding, always involving quick motions. They never look out of breath either.

I was very surprised to read that Ed, such an accomplished fiddler, teaches at Portland’s Conservatory of Music. He has performed, taught, and judged Scottish fiddling for 25 years in the U. S., Canada, and Scotland, and writes for Scottish Life magazine. I was pleased to read that on Nov. 30, Ed and Neil will present a free Noonday concert at the first Parish UU Church, in downtown Portland. I’ll surely be in the audience.

We were charmed when young Jesse, in his kilt, joined the dancers. He threw up his hands, just at the right moment in the Scottish dance, always with a smile. He has been a quick learner.

It was an exciting evening, watching this musical family. The fiddle music had many in the audience nodding, and moving their feet, occasionally clapping to the music, too.

Ed Pearlman rightly deserved to be called one of America’s top fiddlers.

The former Grange Hall, with its wide stage and a Steinway grand piano, is ideal for plays and concerts. Pat Packard and her family have owned it for 16 years. At intermission several concertgoers went out to the side porch, overlooking the river.

An Interesting Newsletter

Joan Ashley, my friend who always alerts me when Saco’s Laurel Hill Cemetery daffodils are in bloom, sent me a newsletter last week. It was the March-April copy of “Guillemot,” by the Sorrento Scientific Society of Bar Harbor. It includes sections on insects, amphibians, mammals, and birds, with dates seen and areas in the state of Maine where they were sighted. Here are a few of the items: butterflies started being reported with the appearance of mourning cloaks, a hibernating species, on March 28 in Pownal; bumble bees were at Dixmont on April 14, and non-biting black flies were at Edgecomb on April 27, but thousands of the biting kind were at Hadley Lake in East Machias on May 15; wood frogs were first heard at South Hiram and Verona on April 1; spring peepers were first noted at Hampden on April 2, followed by reports from Topsham and Gorham on April 4; a snowshoe hare, still white, at Trescott on March 18 and on April 22, one at Bar Harbor was brown but still had white feet. Chipmunks started showing up in reports at Lamoine and Edgecomb on March 15; raccoons started raiding bird feeders at Lamoine (where one learned to open the clips holding the feeders) on March 16. Black bears were starting to raid feeders and garbage cans across eastern parts of Maine as of the last week of April.

Flocks of Canada geese with some very large v-shaped formations, were migrating along eastern coastal areas March 22 to April 24. Wood ducks were at Scarborough Marsh on March 24 and spread east to Machias by April 5. Golden eagles were seen at Rangely Plantation April 2, Holden, April 9, and Dixmont April 13. Ruffed grouse were commonly reported, especially when they started drumming, during the second week of April. An early spotted sandpiper was in Bridgton April 8, another at Old Town April 27, and they are being reported regularly in early May. Great horned owls started actively calling the last week of March and were well reported.

Who had the first ruby-throated hummingbird? It was a three-way tie, with birds at West Bethel, Porter, and Veazie on May 5. Black-capped chickadees were preparing nests with the gathering of nest material at Blue Hill on April 13, and birds excavating a nest hole at Steuben on April 28. On May 7, a golden-winged warbler was at Capisic Pond in Portland; black-throated blue warblers were at Evergreen Cemetery at Portland on May 4. The first indigo bunting was out on North Haven on May 6. A bobolink was heard at Corinna on May 5 and was the first.

The listings and comments are fascinating and it’s good news that so many Mainers are interested in reporting their sightings.

Lupines Were In Bloom – and no rain

I was so pleased when the rain let up last Saturday, allowing me to take a quick hike at Capisic Pond Park to check on the lupines. They were magnificent – lavender and purple predominated, and there were a few white blossoms. Two pink ones were starting to blossom out, too. They are a pretty sight, and the walk up to them, at the Macy Street entrance, is good exercise. The leaves are handsome, too. I hope some of you readers have discovered them there.

RECIPE

My sister Sally Vaughan made brownies, which she brought to a recent luncheon. They were delicious. I asked for the recipe, and Sal said that four other people have recently asked for it, too. It is a winner; the recipe was from Olivia Stickney McCrum, one of Sal’s friends when they were young. Olivia and her husband, “Lefty”, have passed away, but their memory lingers on.

OLIVIA’S BROWNIES

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter or margarine, melted

2 tsps. vanilla

1-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

3 squares unsweetened chocolate-melted

Beat together eggs, sugar, butter, chocolate. Add vanilla, flour, baking powder and salt, mixing after each addition. Stir in the nuts, if desired.

Use greased 9×13 pan. Bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes. Cool for 45 minutes before cutting.

Of course this makes a big recipe. You can half it for a smaller batch of brownies.