Warm wishes

We spent a pleasant few hours on a cold and windy day Sunday, at a party for Pat McDermott of Falmouth, who was honore for her 80th birthday at a surprise party Nov. 22, a day late, at her daughter Claire Langlois’s lovely home on Mast Road, Falmouth.

Raymond O’Donnell of Falmouth, a Scotch bagpiper in complete costume, played his bagpipes, greeting Pat with the Happy Birthday song. He also played a farewell song at the end of the party. That was a musical treat. The dining table was filled with a variety of tasty casseroles made by the guests and the hostess, including meatballs, scalloped potatoes, ham, pasta salad, lasagna and meat loaf, and an hors d’ouevres table with vegetables, shrimp and dip. Claire had baked a large white cake with deep pink frosting and the words “Happy Birthday Pat” printed in deeper pink. Ice cream was also served, and other desserts.

The guests included Steve Parrish, Falmouth; sister-in-law Polly and Joe St. Peter of Gorham; Brian and Zack Peura, Portland; Paul McDermott of Falmouth and his children, Reed, Jordan, Molly, Elizabeth and Ruthie; sister-in-law Bonnie Kilmartin of Casco; sister and her husband Kay and Sidney Noel of Falmouth; Michael Langlois, Claire’s husband; Pat’s daughter Rose Coffin and her husband Dick of Falmouth; Pat’s cousin Michael Kilmartin of Westbrook; her aunt, Helen Kilmartin and son Joseph of Portland; Maggie Parrish, Claire’s daughter, of Falmouth; Pat’s daughter Maura McDermott and her daughter Olivia, Falmouth; and myself and Raymond. We were pleased to talk with Pat’s husband Arthur McDermott. I’m so glad that we could attend.

Even warmer

That was the title of the travelogue lecture of the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association Nov. 17. It was a tour of St. Vincent and its smaller neighboring isles, the Grenadines, in the eastern Caribean. Presenter Steve Gonser had shot the footage in June and July, during a visit with his wife Yvonne to see her mother (age 83) and brothers on her native island, St. Vincent. So it was a smartly led tour of what is one of the region’s lesser-known corners.

The islands won independence from Britain in 1979. Total population is about 150,000; 90 percent are descended from the African slaves once brought to work the plantations. St. Vincent, 18 miles by 11 miles, is the largest, and also the tallest. All are volcanic in origin, but the others are millions of years extinct and much weathered. St. Vincent’s peak erupted last in 1979, and isn’t expected to do so again until the middle of this century. But its high slopes draw the clouds and it gets enough rain to support forests, agriculture, rivers, hydro power and fresh drinking water, the only island in the group that doesn’t need cisterns to catch and hold the precious fresh water. On St. Vincent the beaches are black, with sand of volcanic glass. The other islands’ beaches are white, made up of crushed shells and decayed coral from the reefs in the shallows offshore. The capital, Kingstown, has narrow streets laid out in the late 1700s. It’s called the City of Arches for the colonnades sheltering the sidewalks from sun and rain.

A trip to the second largest town, Georgetown, was on a narrow coastal road, past coconut and banana plantations, and there are no lane markings, no speed limits even through town, and no stop signs. Georgetown has no tourism at all. North along the coast to Rabacca, thence inland up, up, up to a dirt parking lot. Then, by foot, 31?2 miles more and another 1,000 feet up, through bamboo rain forest, to the top of La Soufriere, the island’s still-active volcano. Its rim is razor sharp. You look down a steep 1,000 feet to the floor of the crater, sides and bottom covered with green growth since the last eruption, and pleasant looking pools of water. But steam vents belch sulfurous gas, which has condensed as yellow deposits of pure sulfur in places.

In a village on the mountain flanks, the people, largely of Carib Indian descent, farm arrowroot, grown for its starch. The starch is refined locally, then shipped in sacks to the parent company in Hoboken, New Jersey. Some of it goes into baby food, arrowroot biscuits, as thickener in foods and paints, and much of it as sizing to make paper smoother.

The island temperature ranges between 78 and 84 degrees in daytime. Many folks live up on the ridges, where it cools to the 60s at night, and where a steady wind blows the insects away.

At show’s end, Mrs. Gonser said her visit home, after 40-plus years away, was bittersweet. Many old friends greeted her fondly but she had a hard time recognizing some: The strong island sun, and in some cases hard labor, had much wrinkled and changed them.

This was the last Mechanic’s Lecture of the fall series; four more are planned in the spring, starting March 2, with “Inside the Tuscan Hills.” They are held in Catherine McAuley High School’s auditorium on Stevens Avenue, Portland, and new members and guests are welcomed.

At the lecture, we were pleased to talk with Cay O’Brien, Portland; Ann Dox and her husband Bill, Falmouth, and Bob Barton, Westbrook.

Sweet concert

What luck! We wrote in the Oct. 23 Ramblings about the canceling of a planned concert at the Pride’s Corner Congregational Church by the Watoto Children’s Choir; seven of the choir members had come down with chickenpox.

But luckily I heard the choir after all – Jim Cote of Westbrook kindly sent me a DVD of the Watoto Children’s Choir Live in Los Angeles. I had heard the group last year at the Central Square Baptist Church in Portland.

Watching the DVD was as if we were right with them, watching in the audience. The film told of their life on the road and gave us a close feeling with the youngsters as they sang contemporary gospel and traditional African rhythms and dances. They travel the world during their tours. We thank Jim Cote for his gift.

Even sweeter

Today’s recipe is from “A Maine Writers’ Cookbook,” 1998. It was submitted by Margy Burns Knight of Winthrop

Margy’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups of flour

A?3?4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup butter

2 eggs

A?3?4 cup white sugar

2 cups (or 3 or 4) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine dry ingredients, flour, etc. Beat butter, sugars and vanilla. Add eggs. Stir in flour mixture. “Add, add, add” chocolate chips. Put on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.