September and October, 2007
|
MUSE INDEX Dropdown menus LINKS Sept-Oct 2007 Photo Gallery Howlett Reunion 2007 gallery Ben's picnic 2007 gallery Previous issues What's New Who's Who Birthdays and anniversaries Muse readers' own websites Muse History Nancy's Quilts |
CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE: FLABBERGASTED! (Gene Murdock) Click SAN DIEGO UPDATE (Marjorie Hanson) Click BORN 100 YEARS AGO! (Nancy Murdock) Click FROM THE HEART-LAND AND MAINE (Charles Frost) Click FROM THE HEART-LAND 2 (Charles Frost) Click A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY (Becky Murdock) Click THE WAYSIDE INN (Priscilla Januskiewicz) Click Part 2 GENE THE SPY, Part 2 (Gene Murdock) Click GENE THE SPY, Part 3 (Gene Murdock) Click GENE THE SPY, Part 4 (Gene Murdock) Click GENE THE SPY, Part 5 (Gene Murdock) Click OLD MAGAZINES (Gene Murdock) Click TO MARKET, TO MARKET (Daniel Leskinen) Click NOTES FROM THE HOWLETT REUNION (Bob Murdock) Click BACK IN SCHOOL...(Valerie Davidson) Click Part 3 OUR NEW ENGLAND CAPER, Part 1 (Nancy Murdock) Click OUR NEW ENGLAND CAPER, Part 2 (Nancy Murdock) Click OUR NEW ENGLAND CAPER, Part 3 (Nancy Murdock) Click OUR NEW ENGLAND CAPER, Part 4 (Nancy Murdock) Click AFTER 51 YEARS (Chip Martz) Click UPDATE ON CD AND REMODELING (Missi Sargent) Click Part 4 SLOW & EASY TRAVEL (Margery Aukstikalnis) Click MORE TRAVEL (Margery Aukstikalnis) Click AND THEN (Margery Aukstikalnis) Click END OF THE TRAIL (Margery Aukstikalnis) Click ARIZONA EXPERIENCES (Margery Aukstikalnis) Click DAWN TO DUSK (Deanna Murdock) Click GOOD TO READ THE MUSE (Pam Clark) Click |
Photo by Richard
Doll Quilt Gallery photo
Doll Quilt Gallery photo Quilt index |
|
Marjorie Hanson 7/11/07: Thanks for the bulletin, and of course I loved seeing the California Murdocks in it. We had a wonderful time at the Coronado Yacht Club BBQ with dancing and fireworks. Little Robert sat in my lap and loved and followed the lights with his eyes. Riley had a nice nap earlier despite the noisy band. The whole family came; it was a great time. You'll have to come some 4th. Robert and Caroline actually had some time without all the kids. Carol and Don took all but the baby to the parade, and Don’s 3 girls, Robert, and Caroline followed a little later. I watched it on TV for the first time. I am usually there, though one time I was judging in Sweden on the 4th, and I sure missed it. Demetrus got his art picked to be in the San Diego art museum, and he got presented with an award, a big to-do! He was so proud and excited. He also graduates 5th grade next week with straight A's. Anthony also gets straight A's and is off to Bible camp on July 23rd with the church Robert and Caroline and kids attend (The Rock). Payton is doing karate and is looking forward to cheerleading for Anthony and Demetrus’s football team. Caroline is cheer coach and Robert is one of the football coaches. |
|
Nancy Murdock My mother, Edna Augusta (Mawhinnie) Howlett, was born 100 years ago, on August 5, 1907. Unfortunately, she didn’t celebrate all that many birthdays, as she died at age 52, the same as my father had, eight years previously. There have been many points in my life when I would have loved to be able to ask Mom some questions about changes I encountered along the way to age 75. Fortunately I do remember my Grandma Howlett, who lived to age 92, so I have one close female relative as a good example. But now I think it’s time to honor Mom and set up a nice memorial page. So, if you knew Edna Howlett, Bob and I would appreciate even a few lines about your memories of her. Email us at murmuse@comcast.net. Bob has set up a “page” for her along with our other memorial pages. Click here to see Edna's Memorial Page. To view other memorial pages, click on "dropdown menus" under Muse Index, at the top left on the Muse Home page. |
|
Charles Frost The computer was down while I drove it to Maine -- started Saturday morning and arrived early afternoon yesterday. Rainy most of the way, often very heavy rain. The windshield wipers got a good workout! Seemed that the closer I got to Maine, the heavier the rain. Janice had packed a coolbox of sandwiches, potato-and-egg salad, and delicious fruit -- great survival kit! Our greyhound Serena was a perfect traveler, now rediscovering her Maine haunts. Janice lingers in Kirksville until the end of the month to keep her Korean math and neighborhood road projects afloat. Snows of Kilimanjaro: The first day of John and Gregg's African safari went like this, thanks to a report from Gregg. "Sitting here at essentially the base of Kilimanjaro with John admiring the beauty and rarity of the sight. We are actually looking at Mt. Meru, just in front of `Kili' as the locals call it. Gary and Eliz in the bungalow next door. Just beautiful here at Arusha, northeastern Tanzania. Heading out tomorrow across the Serengheti, hoping to see some wildlife and staying at `Treetops' for two days. Had a lovely flight in a Cessna Caravan today, but only six people, flew high and had great vista through the clouds to the landscape below. Very colorful here, lots of rain and snow in the mountains, and rain today enroute. Had brief stop in Zanzibar as well. All in all a good first day." [Thanks, Bwana Gregg.] For the Children: Can you find Tanzania and Zanzibar on the map? And can you locate Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Serengheti Plain? If John and Gregg are below the Equator, what hemisphere are they in? Growing Up with Animals on a Farm: Nanci Jo has her hands full with the animals now populating the farm they purchased in Enfield, CT. The baby goats came about ten days ago, and the baby chicks are being moved from the basement of the house out to the barn. "Samantha," she says, "is beginning to live her teen dream. We have started to look for a backyard horse. Free horses are available, but they come with a lot of baggage. For example, there is this beautiful paint horse about ten years old. He has an injury to his shoulder that requires shots from the Tufts University Veterinary School. They tell us that if we pay for the three shots he is ours. The good thing is that the shots are not expensive. The bad thing is, will he need more in the future and will this affect his older years with arthritis. I must talk with one of the docs at Tufts. Again, on the positive side, he has not been abused in any way and has been loved and cared for. Sam is going to spend a couple of days a week getting to know this animal. We'll take our time because we don't yet have a fence for the paddock. It just wouldn't be fair to keep a horse in a stall all day." Neighborhood Road Repairs: Janice conducted a meeting of neighbors in front of her garage last Tuesday evening. She inspired a number of them to volunteer to work on committees (an optomestrist, a university computer technician, an employee in the county assessor's office, a law professor, and an economics professor who served as "road king" before Jan took over). We aim to set up an improvement district under the relevant Missouri law (a) to make sure everyone pays who benefits; and (b) to get from the county some return from the road taxes we pay. Looking Ahead: More from the African safari group, a report from a relative on my father's side whom I have known only through correspondence, and more. Love from both directions. Charlie and Janice |
|
Charles Frost The Rain in Maine Was Such a Pain: As a result of two astronomically high tides (12.5 - 13 feet) and blinding torrential rain, seven houses in Saco were nearly washed out to sea. Several fell off their foundations and wallowed in sea water. Pamela reports that the Saco River crested into a backyard one block from them and was only three feet away from cresting the river bridge, also one block away. Fifteen people were killed, including two who were swept away in the raging flood. She writes, "The American flag on the Eagles Club property across from us made a brave stand against the 50-60 mile winds but was finally ripped off during the night. We have been asked to boil water until further notice." Over 126,000 people lost power during this storm, but mercifully Pam's neighborhood and Ledge View Lane in Cape Neddick were spared.” Down on the (Pet) Farm in Connecticut: Nanci Jo writes, "We have had some fun choosing the animals that will come to stay on our property. Anything that comes here will be a pet; no dinner food here. The girls and I went to the Nigerian dwarf goat farm last Thursday...we went just to look but, of course, when you see the newborns you fall instantly in love with the little critters. They are such a curious and trusting group of animals. The babies take your heart instantly. I tried calling Joe from the farm; the connection wasn't good. We had to put half down in order to hold the two we picked out...20 minutes later I was trying to reach Joe again to tell him we were up to three now. We had chosen three females .. I still couldn't get a good connection, so I put half down with the thought she might have to rip the check up...that was Thursday...Saturday morning Joe went to the farm with Sophia to check out our purchases. Needless to say, we own four baby goats now. The fourth is a little boy that Joe name Luigi. Boy goats need to be neutered because they stink....he didn't care that its only purpose would be a pet. I guess you would say he lost his heart to a little boy goat. Colleen in Philadelphia: During her recent college break Colleen visited her high school friend Emily, who is a student at Drexel University. She writes, "Traveling down went smoothly except that I got on the wrong train to Philly, but I ended up getting there an hour earlier. So I was able to attend Emily's pattern making class, which I think Mom would have liked very much!! Emily has a dorm room all to herself, so we were able to come and go whenever we wanted. Drexel has a lot of different options for food at the main cafeteria, and another house that has 4 or 5 different kinds of foods in different sections of the house. On Friday we got up really early and went sightseeing. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and Carpenters Hall and an 18th century garden and Christ Church and a museum all about Ben Franklin. The next day on Saturday was very low key; we went to the movies and did some window shopping and saw a bit of the city side of Philly. Then I actually ended up leaving on Sunday night at 12:45 am and traveling on the train the whole night until 7:45 am on Sunday to get to my train from Boston at 9:30. So finally after a sleepless night I got to Saco on Sunday by 11:30 am. All in all it was a good time and it makes me want to go traveling some more to another historical place!!! |
Wayside Inn
at the inn Gallery photo |
Priscilla Januskiewicz A Gift: Roy and I recently had the opportunity to spend a night at the historic Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts, so named because it is the inn that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow memorialized in his 1863 poem, Tales of a Wayside Inn. Since I had grown up in Sudbury, the inn was a familiar place. Roy and I had been there many times for lunch, dinner and for special occasions, but we had never seen the bedrooms upstairs except for those that were roped off for display. For Christmas, 2006, we received a special gift certificate from our son, Dana, which included dinner, an overnight and a country breakfast. We decided to go in April and made the reservation right away. There were ten rooms and we were given “one of the best,” the clerk said. History: To give a little history, the inn (first named The How Tavern) was opened in 1716 after David How expanded his homestead. It is situated on over 106 acres of forests and cultivated fields where much of the inn’s seasonal produce is grown. It is America’s oldest operating inn and was a place for “Food, Drink and Lodging for Man, Woman and Beast.” Early laws of the Massachusetts Bay Colony required an innkeeper to provide for a man, his horses and his cattle. It was bought by Henry Ford in 1923, and Thomas Edison supervised the installation of electric lights shaped like candles. The inn was restored in 1956 after a disastrous fire. (I was a teenager at the time of the fire and remember the day my father told us in disbelief that the Wayside Inn had almost burned to the ground the night before, right after our neighbors’ son’s wedding reception there.) Grist Mill: Near the inn is the Wayside Grist Mill, an early American reproduction whose giant water wheel provides power for the grinding stones. It was built by Henry Ford in 1929, where organically grown wheat and corn are still ground into flour and meal for use in the inn’s bake shop. Famous Schoolhouse: Also on the property is the Redstone School House, of Mary and Her Little Lamb fame. Henry Ford moved it from Sterling, Mass. to its present site in 1926, for the education of his employees’ children and other town residents. Since I went to first grade there, I know it well-the coat hooks on the wall just inside the door where my frozen fingers took forever to unbutton my winter jacket, the wood-burning stove at the front of the room, the blackboard where Miss Dolan wrote our lessons and the double desks with sunken inkwells into which a boy sitting behind me had once dipped my pigtails. There were four grades in one room with two or three pupils in each grade. (Sudbury had other elementary schools, as well.) Later, my sister, Mary, attended this school for four years. She recalls having her picture taken outdoors by the Boston Globe, holding a ball in the center of a circle of students and also being asked to chase a lamb around. The color photo appeared on the cover of the Globe’s pictorial section. She remembers that, on the days when enough tourists had gathered, the students had to leave the schoolhouse and go to the grist mill for lunch so that the visitors could be invited in by Mrs. Bennett to listen to the history of the school. The boys fed the wood stove and on Fridays the four grades marched to the inn for soup and dancing lessons. The restrooms for the school were located in the basement of the Martha Mary Chapel at the top of the hill, which was built by Henry Ford in 1940 and named for Mr. and Mrs. Ford’s mothers. Today the chapel is the setting for many weddings. By the time my youngest sister, Donna, was old enough for first grade the schoolhouse was no longer in operation. My Sister Joyce Remembers: For a year or two, my sister, Joyce, attended the one-room Southwest School (for grades 5-8) also on the grounds. “Outside was a big tree that produced small, delicious nuts,” she recalls. “Pig nuts, I think we called them, probably in the Hickory tree family. Later the school became the home of Sarah Caldwell, the Boston Opera director.” She remembers a pot-bellied stove in the room and Henry Ford coming to visit once, sitting in the balcony of the non-denominational chapel, observing the services which they had daily. When Ford died, they were given a day off. Pupils were required to attend dancing lessons at the inn under the direction of Dancing Master Albert “Hollywood” Haynes. Joyce recollects learning the Fox Trot in the upstairs ballroom. A mini-bus was used for transportation for both schools. How well I remember being on that bus the first day of school. Joyce stood up to get off at her stop, and I got up to go, too, but she told me to stay on the bus. I sat back down and had to ride without her to the big new world of first grade in the little red schoolhouse. Our Overnight: And now, in April of 2007, as the memories flooded back, Roy and I arrived at the inn once more. The date we had chosen for our overnight happened to be April 19th, which is the date (in 1775) that Colonel Ezekiel How led the Sudbury farmers to Concord for the battle which started the Revolutionary War and led to the birth of our nation. The event is re-enacted each April 19th by the Sudbury Companies of Minute and Militia and the Sudbury Ancient Fyfe and Drum Corps. As we entered the driveway of the inn that afternoon we saw a few members of these groups still lingering on the front lawn having just finished their 12-mile trek to the Old North Bridge in Concord. We parked the car behind the inn and used the nearby back entrance. At the reception desk we checked in and then found our way to the narrow, winding staircase that led to our room. It was dimly lit with an electric candle on the wall at the top of the stairway. I grabbed onto the thick rope along the wall to pull myself up the steep stairs and at the top were two dark wooden doors: #9, and, to the left, #10, our room. (The other eight bedrooms are in a newer addition.) Furnishings: We unlocked the door, lifted the latch and walked into a quaint, low-ceilinged room with a floor of wide pine boards and three electric candles on the walls. In the center of the room was a large bed with a white bedspread, huge pillows with white shams and a pretty, floral-print vintage quilt folded at the foot. The furniture consisted of a wide bureau, a small table, two night stands with lamps, an upholstered chair and another chair with a ladder-back. There was no TV set, which was a wonderful relief, but we did have a telephone and clock radio in the room. There were three closets and, next to one of them, a bathroom with a corner shower, a toilet and a small pedestal sink and mirror. There were little soaps wrapped with the special Wayside Inn label (I kept them for a souvenir and we used our own) and fluffy white towels on a rack outside the bathroom door. There were three narrow (six over nine panes) windows in the room, one of which opened onto a small roof in case of fire. Through the glass we could view the expansive front lawn and benches, the large barn and outbuildings across the private road, the garden area on the side and many stately old trees. “ Desserts were fun, too, although all I did was cut them and put them on a plate and add the whipped cream. I did have to assemble the ice cream cones and make the sundaes. The waitresses liked me to make the desserts because I was so generous in the portions and the customers liked it. Then, one day the manager watched me make an ice cream cone and told me I was giving $1.00’s worth of ice cream for a $.50 cone! After that, I had to be a little stingier in the servings.” Donna continues, “I was sometimes called on to substitute in the gift shop and one day I had to go out to the Mary Lamb School and be the docent for the day. That was lots of fun. I was always a little jealous that my sisters had actually gone to school there. Later, I was “promoted” to the front desk, but it was not nearly as much fun as the kitchen. It was fascinating, though, to experience the inn from different positions and perspectives. All kinds of people, from all over the world, visit the Wayside Inn, and it was a summer I will always remember.” Upstairs in room #10, I peered through the narrow window panes and could see the garden area where Donna had once gathered herbs. Roy and I put away our travel bags and went back down the steep stairs, through the Old Kitchen and then up the broad, main stairway, wandering through many interesting rooms filled with distinctive artifacts, old photographs and unique furnishings. Fireplaces and antiques were everywhere. Compliment?: We then went down to the main dining room to meet Roy’s brother and his wife for dinner. We had invited them to join us since they live nearby. Roy and I were given our choice of entrees and I ordered the filet mignon which was excellent, as were all of our meals. Roy happened to tell our young waitress that I had attended the one-room school there and she looked at me incredulously. “My, you look WELL for your age,” she said. We all laughed. She must have thought I was ancient. Actually the school had been used for classes up until the early 1950’s, and it didn’t seem very long ago to me. The Poem: After our meal we said goodbye to our dinner companions and I stopped at the inn’s gift shop for a Little Red Schoolhouse magnet and a small paperback about the Mary and Her Lamb poem. Thomas Edison had recited the first four lines of this poem into the first phonograph ever built (designed by him) in 1877. Secret Drawers: Back upstairs in our room, every drawer was stuffed with notes and poems written by previous guests describing their myriad thoughts. I later learned that a former innkeeper from the 1950’s had entertained children by showing them secret compartments in the antique desks in many of the guest rooms. That tradition grew into people leaving little notes for each other, and somehow got named The Secret Drawer Society. One of the letters I read mentioned a ghost, but, all in all, it was a quiet and peaceful evening, and the room was warm and comfortable. The next morning we dressed and went downstairs for our country breakfast. This meal is only served to overnight guests, so we were seated in one of the more intimate dining rooms. The menu was extensive, but we couldn’t eat more than our usual fare of cereal, eggs and toast. Grist Mill Revisited: We packed our bags, said our goodbyes and checked out of the inn. We drove by my old school but couldn’t go inside, since the tours didn’t start until May. (I had visited there with my mother and three sisters a few years earlier, however.) Roy and I decided to stop at the Grist Mill and we talked with the miller for quite a while. The miller showed us the huge grinding stones imported from France and also how the giant red water wheel worked. In a cupboard were small bags of flour and cornmeal for sale. At one time, Pepperidge Farm had used this mill for making flour for their delicious breads, and the company is now helping to fund the restoration project for preserving the building. Looking Back: We crossed the picturesque wooden foot bridge over the mill stream and walked back to the car. I looked around at all the old familiar surroundings. My father had taken many photographs here and I had even done an oil painting of the gristmill, but this was the first time I had ever seen the inside of the mill or slept at the inn. I felt that I had learned a lot more about this historic place during our short stay. Roy got in the driver’s seat and we headed home to New Hampshire, where we’ve lived for forty years. But as we drove away, although my parents’ house had long since been torn down, and they, too, were both now gone, I knew that this was where my roots were, and that, in my heart, Sudbury would always be “home” to me. |
August 2007 Gallery photo |
Becky Murdock 8/5/07 I had a really wonderful birthday. I got so many nice gifts and greetings. I attached a copy of a picture of my desk at work that my co-workers decorated for me. Also, the cake that my Romanian co-worker bought for me. He has only been here since August, but tells me I make him laugh more than anyone else he knows, so he wanted to buy me a cake. Check out the tan I have; it is from playing volleyball every day. I went to the cardiologist last week and he said I am doing well, and he has put off my stress test until December! |
| Top / Muse Home / What's New / Who's Who |
