Sunday Morning

37.8 degrees: soggy and FOGGY!

Nothing like yesterday morning, when the sky was brilliant and I referred to an "old saying" about "Red Sky at night, sailors' delight......" etc. Well, I had no idea just how "old" it was. It isn't something that just dates back to New England fishermen, but in fact has a much earlier origin: my daughter wrote that "The 'original' old saying dates back more than 2000 years ago to Matthew 16, which starts:

Matthew 16 - The Demand for a Sign

1. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

2 He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,'

3 and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' "

Thanks, Allison!

Today, however.............

Not to be overlooked in all the activity in Waterville on Saturday -
the Boy Scouts collected 2871 items of
non-perishable food for the Food Pantry!

It was rainy yesterday afternoon and evening, but that didn't dampen anyone's spirit at the Clifford J. Fulmer Post of the American Legion on Route 20 where preparations were in full swing for the Annual Veterans' Day Dinner.

Each year, the Legion treats our local Veterans to a huge Prime Rib Dinner (free for vets, with just a small charge charge for guests!) Becky Maggio checked out the sign board on the front lawn ...

...while, in the kitchen, these gals - members of the Legion Auxiliary - were in control of all the food. Banquet tables were all set up and they were ready to serve
PRIME RIB DINNER to 153!

Everyone was waiting, especially, to see the display of scrapbooks assembled by Irene Lew that contain hundreds of pieces of correspondence sent to the Legion by service men and women over a span of sixty or seventy years!

If only there were a way to digitize aromas!

At the same time, down in the basement of St. Bernard's Catholic Church, "Jo" Tuttle's minestrone soup simmered while BAZAAR shoppers browsed;

Photo by Jean B. Davis

Photo by Jean B. Davis

.... bought tickets for a Chinese Auction of BASKETS heaped with items in themes ranging from "Bird-Watching" to "English Christmas" to "Skin Care," "Kids' Crafts" and more .....

.... or chatted with friends over Soup and Sandwich (and Brownie) LUNCH!

Meanwhile - and working up an appetite of their own -

Nancy and Aladio Ayala climbed the bell tower of the Masonic Temple and found out how an authentic 1889 nine-bell Meneely "chime" works.
(Everyone always talks about the "wheelbarrow handles, dog leashes and chains" - and here they are!

(Click to enlarge photographs!)

She who began playing the bells back in 1971 provided an excellent example of what her former chiming partner Mrs. Davis called "a Demented but Determined Woman"!

Alex Meszler was calm ............

... even with an audience standing, watching ....

but then took camera in hand and climbed even higher in the tower. Here are some of his photographs. Some are so (I was going to say "striking" but I know some of you would groan) VERY GOOD that I hope they will someday find their way into a publication or exhibition.

Thank you for letting me "blog" these, Alex!

The next room above the console room is the the "clock face" room.

And - up one more short set of stairs - are the bells!

An ancient-looking diagram explains why a bell "rings."

Before they left, the "chimers" renewed an old custom by signing their names on
a cleanly painted beam.

Somewhere, underneath that paint, are thirty or forty more names -
visitors and chimers who , in their time, climbed the stairs, looked at the view and the bells and said, "Wow! This is magnificent!"