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| Everyone say 'Cheese' |
Everything was going along swimmingly until my brother Bill was born. I was twenty-two months old and had no perspective. I was not ready to share my mother with an interloper. Fortunately I have a compassionate nature and didn't kill Bill when I had the chance, but it was rough. No one thought putting Good & Plenty candy up Bill's nose was a good idea. It was a love for the Beatles that finally brought us together. We even joined the Navy together to fight communism.
After the war Bill moved to Maine and I moved to Minnesota to marry Teresa. Bill tried lobster and scallop fishing for awhile before settling on building houses. He visited Roseau for the first time to attend my wedding. In fact he was my best man. He drove his VW Beetle to visit us four years later after Matthew was born. On his way home his car died in the Red Lake Indian Reservation. We towed it back to Wannaska and he bought another junker to get back to Maine.
Visits from Bill became rare after that. His wife Wendy was the dentist in their town of Stonington and it was hard to get away for long periods. We visited Bill and Wendy with our kids several times over the years and enjoyed the beautiful Maine coast. In 2011 Teresa and I had a guesthouse (the Shêdeau) built and I think Bill was curious to see it and he and Wendy flew to Bemidji the next year for a visit.
Wendy retired this year and they bought a Winnebago to see the USA. They just drove to Boulder Colorado to visit their son who's in school there. They're on the way back to Maine so they stopped in for a visit last week. I've been wanting a workbench in the storage area of the Shêdeau and Bill agreed to take on the project. I've been trying to develop whatever carpentry genes I have and working alongside a master like Bill is the perfect way to pick up some tips. He’s a good teacher.
Building a workbench is relatively simple but there are many ways for the thing to go cattywumpus. "The thing wants to be square," Bill said. The unspoken subtext is, "You are the one preventing that squareness." Fortunately there are numerous tweaks that can be made during construction to keep the bench square. You have to pay attention. No daydreaming. Bill does admit that using various tools for thousands of hours gives him an advantage over a duffer like me. "Your bench will be 'good enough,'" Bill said. "We're doing rough carpentry, Minnesota style." I thought it turned out great.
The bench building was interspersed with visits here and there; to Mitch Johnson's boatyard in Malung, to Jerry Solom's shop during a visit with Marion, a drive to Buffalo Point Bistro north of the border with the Carstens, and so forth. Wendy seems to enjoy making meals and washing dishes. We don't have to change the sheets in the Shêdeau because they slept in their RV. They're welcome to come back anytime.
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| Philadelphia |
Philadelphia is a name composed of two Greek words: phileo, meaning “love,” and adelphos, meaning “brother.” Putting them together gives this name the meaning of “brotherly love.”
ReplyDeleteNow everyone will know what you look like without your beard and mustache. Was that your mother in the photograph? Or a Sister in her civilian clothes? Or a matron outside juvenile hall? I've heard some of the stories of the pranks you two pulled in your youth.
ReplyDeleteThat beautiful woman was Alice Keegan, our grandmother from County Meath.
DeleteMy father visited Bill in Stonington when he was scallop fishing. As the story goes, Bill made a chowder so full of scallops you could walk across it. Always a good time with your bro. Lucky you.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you included the picture. A keeper! Everybody say Blue Stilton! Or your cheese of choice. If the latter, could be a country choir.
ReplyDeletePS: Makes me miss Paul. Cherish the minutes - but you know that.
The bench is beautiful! Dawn and I would love to visit more with Bill and Wendy. Hope to see them again. Perhaps Downeast Maine with a Lake Winnipeg Yawl.
ReplyDeleteI see you didn't tell which boy was which in that photo; leaving the unsuspecting to surmise the taller lad is you, when hardly is the case. The marks on the smaller lad's face is from the younger taller brother, whose expression can be easily read: "Yeah Joey, all you have to do is talk like that again, an' I give you more of the same, you l'l tosser. Ma will box yer ears too should she get wind of it."
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