It's 56 degrees and overcast at 7:00 a.m.
The weather forecast from WKTV: "A weak disturbance will provide us with a chance for a *brief* shower across portions of CNY on today. Otherwise, partly sunny skies will continue with highs in the upper 70s to low 80s. Clearing out tonight with lows in the 50s.
Pleasant, sunny, dry weather will continue through the remainder of the work week. Highs will climb into the mid to upper 80s.
Summer heat returns later in the week and into the weekend. Highs likely to approach 90 degrees on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The next chance for rain is Sunday and Monday, with the potential for afternoon thunderstorms."
I found Jack Brouillette watching a combine working its way across a field of wheat next to Fuess-Cleary Road. He is always patient with my questions about farming and explained that the grains of this "red wheat" would be dried just enough to keep them from sprouting and then sent to Geneva where the they would be milled, turned into flour, and - perhaps - come back to Hanover or Waterville in a box of pancake mix! The stalks returned to the ground are what is called "hay."
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"Bouncing Bet" - Soapwort - is in bloom.
Soapwort was brought to this country from Great Britain and Europe because it is an easy to grow herb that contains beneficial saponins which make a gentle and effective cleansing agent as use for laundry and as a natural source for shampoo.
Soapwort originally comes from Europe and the Middle East where its cleansing attributes have been utilized for centuries. The Latin name for soapwort is Saponaria officionalis, the Latin name saponaria is from the Latin word for soap.
All parts of the plant can be used for making a soap-like decoction: however, the roots have the highest concentration of saponin. The Syrians used it for washing wool products while the Swiss used it to bathe their sheep before shearing. Medieval fullers would use soapwort during the finishing process for cloth.
The effectiveness of soapwort for fabrics was recognized by the National Trust in Britain who for decades continued to use soapwort to clean delicate tapestries and linens because most modern detergents were too harsh.
Saponaria officionalis has a long list of common names including bouncing bet, bruisewort, farewell summer, fuller’s herb, joe run by the street, hedge pink, dog’s clove, old maid’s pink, soaproot, and of course, soapwort.
Soapwort originally comes from Europe and the Middle East where its cleansing attributes have been utilized for centuries. The Latin name for soapwort is Saponaria officionalis, the Latin name saponaria is from the Latin word for soap.
All parts of the plant can be used for making a soap-like decoction: however, the roots have the highest concentration of saponin. The Syrians used it for washing wool products while the Swiss used it to bathe their sheep before shearing. Medieval fullers would use soapwort during the finishing process for cloth.
The effectiveness of soapwort for fabrics was recognized by the National Trust in Britain who for decades continued to use soapwort to clean delicate tapestries and linens because most modern detergents were too harsh.
Saponaria officionalis has a long list of common names including bouncing bet, bruisewort, farewell summer, fuller’s herb, joe run by the street, hedge pink, dog’s clove, old maid’s pink, soaproot, and of course, soapwort.
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FOR THE RECORD
This is a wooden device that Ted Harrington brought to last Friday's meeting of the "old-timers" for "show and tell." Do you know what it is? It's made of hardwood and probably the better part of a hundred years old. I believe that it was Walt Friebel - who is far too young to have ever seen such a thing in use - who identified it as a carriage "jack." With the base firmly on the ground, one of the upper notches was placed beneath the axle and then the handle was pressed down causing the carriage to go up!
Also on display - a large framed photograph of the Waterville Fire Department, c.1920, that was brought in by George Kelley. Jack Youngs took one look at it and began identifying the men in the picture! (A list of names is being made.)
Then there was a lengthy discussion about former residents of Hooker - now East Bacon - Street with seemingly endless informative and highly amusing anecdotes recalled by the half-dozen or more "old-timers" who live or had once lived on that street. One such story led to the subject of selling peas: not that anyone on Hooker Street raised peas for that purpose, but several of the little boys knew that trucks coming from fields outside the village and loaded with pea vines headed for the canning factory (now Gale's Feed Mill) would slow down as they rounded the corner from Stafford Avenue. Centripital force would, of course, cause some of the vines to fall right off the open truck bed onto the ground, unassisted, where a young John R. Youngs (whose home was right on the corner of what is now the side lawn of the St. Bernard's rectory) would quickly offer to clean up the yard for his mother and gathered the vines just as fast as he could. Meanwhile, other child-sized handfulls of vines somehow ended up following other little boys to their own homes where the peas were shucked and placed in little "berry baskets" to be sold to neighbors for about 25 cents a basket.
One of my favorite stories is about Johnny Salvadore's still and how the hens got loose during a raid by "the big hats" and wandered thirstily through puddles of spilled "moonshine" 'til they keeled over! (The hens, that is!)
There seems to be no end to the stories that the "old-timers" have to tell. Will they end up in a book? Someday - I hope!
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Yes - I did take more pictures, yesterday - summery shots - but discovered when I looked at them on the computer that I must have taken hold of the camera by the lens opening and left a large finger- or thumb print that dominated all the views. Not the sort of "watermark" I'd intended. I'll try again, today!
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Have a good one!
