To Kill a Mockingbird (10.9.26)

Dave and I had a great time with Sam and Henry on October 9, 2026, attending a Parker Theater performance of "To Kill a Mockingbird."  The play provides a strong message about the evils of prejudice, but also thought-provoking questions about when the law should be strictly applied, and when mercy works better.  Sam and Henry are becoming connoisseurs of the theater.  I asked Sam what he liked best about the play.  He said, "The trial scenes."  I asked Henry what he liked best and he said, "How they showed the killing."  A dramatic scene in which Bo Radley kills the man attacking Scout was portrayed by dark shadows projected across a large screen.  Parker Theater is on a shoe-string budget, I think, and it is very creative in how it stages its plays! 

An important part of our theater evenings with Sam and Henry is ordering drinks and cookies at the Parker Theater cafe.  

 

Maine Trip: An Early Halloween (10.4.26)

"Halloween starts here in mid-September," our Salem, Massachusetts guide told us.  Salem was, of course, the site of the Salem witch trials in 1692, and the town is full not only of sites relating to the witch trials, but of witch shops and many people wearing witch hats and dressed in Halloween costumes. We visited on a Saturday, October 4, 2026, and there were hordes of visitors, many in costumes.

Dave and I visited the witch trial sites on other visits to Salem.  On this trip, we focused on its status as a major trading center, with ties to China and the South Pacific, as its merchants traveled around the world.  Our first activity was a trolley tour around town that paused by a picturesque lighthouse and rocky beach.

The Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem is a great regional museum, with treasures from Salem's age of exploration, as well as interesting special exhibits.  I was fascinated by its small display titled, "How do you see power?"  It showcased artifacts from different cultures showing powerful people, as defined by that culture.

I see true power as a spiritual attribute, represented by Jesus Christ.  Of the three images above, that of Buddha appealed to me most!

Other exhibits at the museum portrayed Salem's ocean traders during the  1700s and 1800s, as they sailed to Chinese to bring home Asian ceramics, ivory carvings, and other luxury items.  New England  merchants also participated in the "triangular trade" of bringing slaves from Africa to the Caribbean, trading them for molasses, and shipping rum to England.  This picture is of a wealthy Chinese merchant who traded with the Americans and gave them lavish gifts, such as carved elephant tusks and other ivory luxuries.

We also took an architecture walking tour, hosted by the Peabody-Essex Museum.  Although we visited many buildings, I was especially interested in three. The first was the John Ward House, built in 1684, near the time of the Salem witch trials.  This home was still in Renaissance style, as in Shakespeare's time.  In England, the architects had moved on to other styles.

This carved bureau was, no doubt, the treasure of the house.

The King James Bible was published in 1608, so having a copy in colonial America in the late 1600s would also have been a luxury.

The Crownshield-Bentley home was built just 125 years after the John Ward House, in 1808, but its style and furnishings are much more sophisticated.  The United States came a long way between the 1600s and 1800s!

This shield was placed between the fireplace and a woman sitting near it, to protect her heavy makeup from running and caking in the heat of the fire!

It is a challenge for an architect to add an addition to a building years later, and to try to match or complement the original style.

I quite like this modern addition to the county courthouse.

Maine Trip: North Woods (10.3.26)

After several days of walking tours in Maine's cities and boat tours to its forts, Dave and I got deep into the Maine woods.  On October 3, 2026, we drove north to the beautiful Rangley Lakes, near the borders of Canada and northern New Hampshire.

Rumford, our first stop, is at the middle bottom of the map.  The location of the Rangeley Lakes within Maine is shown in the inset at the top left of the map.

As we drove north, two things were very apparent.  First, it was clearly the peak of the "leaf peeping season" in northern Maine.  The trees were aflame.  Second, Susan Collins, who is running as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, has a top notch campaign team.  Everywhere we went, on our drive north, there were Susan Collins signs.  Of course, this rural area of Maine is no doubt a Republican stronghold.

As we neared Rumford, we passed the ND Paper plant.  Maine has lost much of its manufacturing, as we learned in visiting Lewiston earlier in the week.  However, this paper plant was going strong and even advertising for new workers.  I was interested to see that at least some U.S. manufacturing is flourishing!  The tailings ponds for the plant, though, looked pretty dirty.

  

There was a big statue of Paul Bunyan near the visitors center, and I thought, "Of course!"  A he-man with a big ax was right at home in the Maine woods.

In the city park there was a monument to Ed Muskie, whose Polish parents emigrated to this industrial town.  His unpronounceable Polish name was shortened, by the immigration clerks, to "Muskie."  Ed Muskie was a prominent Democratic senator who pushed through both the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, the foundation legislation for today's environmental laws.  

Rumford also had beautiful falls, which probably supported its manufacturing with both water and electricity.

Our next stop was Coos Canyon, where we admired the beautiful gorge and stream, and stopped for an ice cream cone--maple nut, for me.

No matter how remote the New England town, it has clapboard churches and schools that look very much alike.

As we waited for our ice cream, we admired the beautiful dog of another guest.  We noticed that the cafe menu included "doggie ice cream" for $2.

Finally, we reached the overlook over the Rangeley Lakes.  The colors of leaves, water, and sky were spectacular.

As we drove into the town of Rangeley, we could see that the area was a wonderland for outdoor sports.  There were lots of cabins and B'n'Bs, and many suppliers of boats, ATVs, and ski-doos.

As we neared Kennebunk, we found a small restaurant with great food.  My seafood pasta was filled with mussels, shrimp, and scallops.