I grew up surrounded by rocky soil, harsh winds, infrequent rains. Colorado has great sunshine and grows happy tomatoes, but my mom was raised in the rich black soils of Minnesota. She gave up on a real garden and settled for growing strawberries. I was drafted into the Wonderful World of Weeding. It wasn’t an […]
Meetinghouse
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
Amanda Russell, Edgecomb: The gifts Big Willie gave me
As my seeds for the season’s gardens cover the entire kitchen table, I think of my neighbor who started it all for me. I grew up in Round Pond, and Big Willie was my neighbor. He was a farmer. When I was 10 years old, he hired me to help him with his vegetable stand, […]
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Sarah ‘Sally’ Mackenzie, Brunswick: When even your zucchini founders, cultivate acceptance
My mother grew up on a potato farm in Aroostook County. They grew vegetables for their own use. They had cows and chickens, so they sold eggs and butter. My father, also from The County, lived in town, but his family grew all kinds of vegetables in their backyard. Gardens are in my blood, but […]
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Nancye Tuttle, Wells: Renewing the spark over clippers and a cape
“Time for a haircut,” says John, running his hand across the back of his head and through the graying wisps growing over his ears. “Yes, it is – you’re getting pretty scraggly,” I reply, looking sideways at my husband from my comfy armchair nearby, as I type on my laptop and sip morning coffee. For […]
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Jody Rich, Waterville: Mom, my hair and me – working out the tangles
My hair is bird-feather thin and straight as a board. It has been parted in the middle and over to one side, but that’s about it. I had experimented with the little Pebbles Flintstone ponytail on top of my head, and the Princess Leia braids wrapped around my ears. My favorite was the Katharine Hepburn […]
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Pam Blake, Freeport: The first stop after my second shot? Someone who can cut hair
Haircuts? I’ve never liked them. Being organized enough to schedule a chunk of time to sit around losing hair? What a bother! Then, sitting still for that chunk? What a waste! So why, oh why, do I now crave one. Haircut? If only! I expect it has to do with wanting what’s out of reach. […]
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Peter Vose, Falmouth: What goes around
My mother, of course, was right. I would have looked better if I had my hair cut. This became clear to me recently when college friends from the late ’60s and early ’70s shared some old photos. Like pretty much every other guy back then, I had grown my hair long. Too long. Long hair […]
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Steven Price, Kennebunkport: The kindest (hair) cut of all
I never liked haircuts, even when I had hair. I still have some hair, but less of it resides on my head and more of it sprouts from my eyebrows, nostrils and ears. The combination of male-pattern baldness and growing old is a terrible one-two punch to one’s male ego and vanity. Especially since, as […]
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Norman Abelson, Moody: Haircuts I haven’t had
The coronavirus prohibitions haven’t had any effect at all on my haircut routine. It’s because I haven’t set foot in a barber shop and have taken care of my own hair for more than a half-century. How did this haircut habit come about? Well, during my early years I was a regular haircut-getter every few […]
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Nancy Riggs Robart, Kennebunk: Chemo took my hair, but ‘I Got Life’ in return
I wasn’t born bald. My entrance into the world was with a topknot of strawberry blond hair, quickly tied up in a blue ribbon. I was presented to my mother, who said she “always wanted a redhead!” It was to be my “best” feature all my life. When I was in first grade in Dayton, […]