Happy Holidays from Rockland

It's been a roller-coaster 10 days or so, with the nadir being the murder of 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut by someone not much more than a child himself, at least chronologically.  Well,  enough more than a child to be armed with 3 guns including an automatic rifle.  Enough of a "man" to kill his mother - who bought the gun that murdered her - and then deliberately head to the school where she had worked - and where he himself, I believe, had once been a student - to murder 6 and 7 year olds.  Babies!   I'm listening to public radio this morning - Christmas Eve - and they are reporting on the NRA's proposal that the government require every school to have an armed police officer.  Only in this country - or possibly China or Soviet Russia - could this be seen as a "good" idea by any one other than an extreme fringe element.

The nadir for me is not only the deaths of the 26 people - 27 including the shooter's mother? - but the response.  Of course this was a terrible event.  Of course the deaths of these children and their teachers and other care-givers are tragic.  Like just about everyone I know, I cried when I heard the news, and cried again and again as I learned about the victims.  But what do we expect? We have given the government of this country to big business and Big Guns are very big business and the NRA is their lie-spewing mouthpiece.  The NRA spends millions and millions of dollars to make sure that the politicians they back in Washington tow their line. I heard a story about one Republican candidate that dared to oppose some NRA-proposed law and the NRA funded and ran a different Republican candidate to get rid of her.  The Supreme Court keeps knocking down laws aimed at gun control in the name of "freedom."  Freedom - tell it to a six year old.   I have a six year old grandson.  And this is true in every realm of society, not just guns and gun violence.  And throughout the world, not just in this country.  We are reaping what we sowed over decades.  This, too, makes me cry. But will crying get me off my butt to find and join others to do something about it all?  What will do that, for me and for others?  What will it take?

But this is the season of hope and light.  Here's my Hanukkah menorah on the last night of Hanukkah, when all candles were lit, with David's crow puppet enjoying the light:

And here is Rockland's own special Christmas tree, built of something like 150 lobster traps (which will be raffled off to local lobster fisherman after the holiday):

We may get a dusting of snow tomorrow.  It won't be enough to cover all the muck and mire left from the warmer rainy days we've just passed through.  But just for a moment, the world may seem bright, hopeful and at peace.

May there be peace on earth for all.  The sooner the better.  And may I find a way to do more than just wish and pray for it.  So may we all.

To Away and Back

Last week I made my first trip away since moving from away to Maine, going back to Connecticut to attend some meetings at work. It was interesting to see how it made me feel.  The best part of the trip was seeing friends and spending some time with them.  I also liked being in the office for a couple of days; it made me feel re-connected to things there.  A friend I had dinner with asked me "do you miss Connecticut?"  I thought about it and I realized (and told her) that no, I don't miss Connecticut.  I miss certain people (including her), friends.  But that's it.

Maybe it's in part the fact that I have wanted this move to happen for a long time, but had to be patient and work over many months to achieve the goal of buying a house - even a 152 year old small "dated" house in a small Maine town - that makes the fact of my being here so meaningful.  The decision to move to Maine, to buy a house here, was not one that was possible to make and act on immediately.  It took really more than a year of planning and work.  I think it may be the first time in my life I set myself a concrete goal that had to be really worked for to be achieved - and then went for it and succeeded.  Perhaps that underlies a good deal of the happiness I feel every morning when I wake up here.  And it's true - I wake up happy every day.  It is a blessing and I am grateful.

On another level, I believe this particular town really does suit me.  Rockland just feels like I think a town should feel and it so quickly felt like "home".  I haven't seen all of it by any means (even though it is only 18 square miles, I think), but there is a real downtown, with actual stores, galleries, restaurants, taverns - that local people really seem to patronize - rather than being dominated by tourist-oriented businesses.  The harbor is a working harbor, and again, not tourist oriented.  Someone in Connecticut asked me about "walking on the beach".  One doesn't "walk on the beach" here; there is no real "beach".  It's a rough and rocky shore.  One walks TO the shore and during daylight hours, perhaps out the mile long breakwater to the lighthouse.  There one might watch lobster fishermen hauling up their traps, keeping the lobsters that are big enough, throwing the others back, re-baiting the traps and dropping them again.  In the early morning one might walk to a local boat school's dock and out it - to watch the sunrise. But no, there's no pink-painted-toenail-dragging-as-you-run-through-romantic-sandy-beaches in Rockland.   

Many people earn their livings from this harbor year round, fishing, boat building and repairing, the ferry that runs to off shore islands, the fish processing plant, and so on.  I learned at the local synagogue this past Friday night that in Rockland we have a full-time, year-round Harbor Master (and a part-time, seasonal only, Assistant Harbor Master)!  I love walking Ella just at daybreak down to the shore and seeing the crane in one of the shipyards with its lights on, men arriving in their pickup trucks, going to work right on the water's edge as the sun rises behind them.

I love the fact that the neighborhoods are made up of a wildly eclectic mix of houses - from relatively new to very (very!) old.  From tiny to very (very!) large.  Elaborate Victorians, simple New Englanders, ugly (in my view) 1950's ranches, duplexes, condominiums, apartment buildings - and many more.  Other parts of Rockland may be more homogeneous than our immediate area, but around here at least, the hoity toity seem to be living shoulder-to-shoulders with the rest of us: middle class, working class and some that may be just hanging on.

It was warm last week (almost 50 degrees some days), which was convenient for making the 5 hour drive to/from Connecticut - no worries about snow or sleet on the drive.  This week has been a little cooler but not really cold.  But tonight the checkout girl at the local grocery chain, Hannaford, said we're getting snow, possibly starting on Sunday.  The Hanukkah lights are in the window tonight and for 3 more nights.  Neighbors up and down the streets have put out Christmas lights and evergreen wreaths abound.    A little snow would be nice.   

I'll keep you posted.

December 2, 2012

With thanks to all my friends and family who have followed my blog, "Peace, Peace, Far and Near" that began in the immediate aftermath of my diagnosis with Stage IIIA uterine cancer and continued through my surgery, chemo, radiation and more chemo, and then periodically through follow up CT scans, biopsies, and oncologist visits, and finally only sporadically as I gratefully reached the 2 years' "no evidence of disease" milestone - I have decided to start a new blog.

As those friends and family likely all know, in October, I bought an old "1-3/4" house (2 stories, but not the entire house) in Rockland, Maine, and David (my significant other), Ella (our 3 year old hound-herding dog mix) and I moved from Connecticut to Maine.  And here is where we intend to spend the rest of our lives.

This blog is intended to keep friends and family updated with what this major life change has brought to our lives, mine in particular.  I don't know how often I'll write - probably about weekly, sometimes more and sometimes less often, I suspect.  I expect I'll rant about things in the wider world that "get" to me, laud people and happenings that make me laugh, cry, hope or dance, and not all of these posts will be Maine-specific or even personal.  But if you want to know what I'm thinking about from time to time - drop by.  If you have anything to say in response to my rants, my lauds, or otherwise - please leave a comment.

And in the not to likely event that anyone other than friends and family may be interested in the happenings of this blog, I'll leave it open to the public.  Everyone welcome - from here and from away.

xxxoooLaurenceAnneyourfriendinMaineoooxxx