Alewives and weddings

What do we do here in Maine when there's no news (see previous post). In the winter we go down to the lighthouse during a good blow and watch the waves. In May and early June we go to the fish ladder and watch the alewives. Alewives, also called menhaden or (in New Brunswick) gaspereau.

These fish spend their adult life at sea in great schools. In the spring they run up the rivers to freshwater spawning grounds. The alewives that call the Damariscotta River home have a daunting 42 foot vertical climb. The fish ladder in Damariscotta Mills was first built in 1807. It is amazing to see the fish swim from pool to pool as they battle the swift current. And when they reach the mill pond they are greeted by three very large, well-fed bass.

The fishery was closed for eight years to allow the stock to recover from decades of overfishing. Alewives were once used as food for people, but they are oily and bony and in recent years have been used primarily as lobster bait. There is a provision in the town ordinances of Newcastle and Nobleboro alloting a bushel of alewives to each widow in the town. During the eight-year moritorium the "widow's bushels" were still taken. These fish were designated by the widows to fishermen that they knew.

'Tis the Season for Weddings

This is one of our favourite signs. We play a lot of weddings in the summer and a sign like this helps us stay in balance. The cool thing is - you really CAN get wedding gowns, guns, and cold beer at Husseys. You can also get garden tools, groceries, gasoline, wood stoves, plumbing supplies, and on and on. It's amazing how much stuff they have packed into a fairly modest store.

They also have some strange and wonderful things from time to time. I once saw a placard with little packs of donut seeds. The tag said "Modern Agricultural Miracle - Donut Seeds - 50¢".
In each package were six Cheerios® . I don't know how many Cheerios® are in a box, but the profit margin seems substantial.

We tried a similar scheme years ago when we lived at the beach. "Memories of Maine Simmering Potpourri - made from select fermented marine herbs". What we did was take a handful of rockweed off the beach and dry it out in the oven. A pinch of this stuff in boiling water and your house smells just like clam flats at low tide.

We have given up these schemes in recent years and have been doing only music-related work. I do build an instrument occasionally, the latest being Julia's new harp. I have three baroque guitars ready to assemble when I get a few weeks at home when it's dry enough to do my lutherie; I also have plans for an acoustic bass guitar. I really like the sound of a fretless bass with the harp, so it's high on my wish list.