The Sprucewold lunch group met last Wednesday at noon on a beautiful day at Newagen Inn for a delightful meal with old and new friends. Attending were: Carol Ostermann, Pat Thompson, Suzanne Roche, Sherron Williamson and her sister Barbara Tobias, Karen Iliades, Wilhelmina “Minka” Neff and her grandmother Elaine Fossett Rittershaus, Kathy Moulaison, and Karen Griffin; thank you so much to Sherry LaBelle for organizing the luncheon and we hope that you are feeling better and will join us next time. Watch the Sprucewold Facebook page for the next outing.

On Monday afternoon there were a few dead pogies at the beach. They have been jumping and shining in the sun at the surface of the water for a few weeks, a sign that they are being chased by predators. According to local authorities the deaths are not due to pollution but are a natural occurrence. Dead, they get caught up on the our swim line and some wash onto the beach; they are smelly on shore and it is a bother to remove the dead fish but we are thankful that they are not turning up by the bushel full at the beach. A number of years ago they were so numerous that at low tide the inner harbor in town behind my parents' house looked like it was covered by small ice flows. You could not take a step without landing on a dead fish.

The annual Lincoln Arts Festival “Art for Art's Sake" was held Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Hodgdon Yacht Services on Southport, always an interesting visit, if you missed it please add it to your calendar for next year. After much deliberation we chose a small painting of a golden pear by Wendy Bellows and an Andersen tile with a blue crab by Christine Thalia Andersen. It is the first year that I did not attend with Elise Andersen, a sad reminder of a dear friend’s passing. We met Denny Denniston of Barters Island Bees and bought some delicious creamed Gentle Ginger honey for our morning toast. It is excellent. We ate lunch at the Southport General Store, their sandwiches are great! At the Barn we found a new boat flag with the 1820 Maine insignia of the blue star and green pine tree; then we headed down Beach Road for some sea time and late afternoon sun at Hendrick’s Head beach.

Our 47th wedding anniversary is Aug. 28. We were married in Boothbay Harbor at the Methodist Church and held our reception at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish Hall. The views from the parish hall were just beautiful and it was a gorgeous day. It was the first ecumenical service that Father Lee had performed, our minister was the Rev. Jim Smith. Elise Andersen created my wedding dress from scratch, Jessie Roberts made the beautiful wedding cake, Marilyn Sewall provided the tasty hors d'oeuvres, Ruth Brewer Adams made the lobster and crab sandwiches from the lobsters and crabs provided by both my grandfathers’ lobster traps by picking them out while watching the Red Sox on summer evenings! Uncle Gus Schopper and brother-in-law Bill Rittershaus served the champagne punch and Gareth Coffin was our photographer. We are thankful for all these people who took part in the most important day of our lives thus far and have passed on. It makes all the memories of that day so precious.

Don’t forget Friday, Sept. 1, the Boothbay Art Foundation will present “COLLECTIONS” by Kim and Phillip Villard. As you know they create white-line color woodcuts and we were so lucky to have them come to Sprucewold for our 100th year celebration and create a poster for us. The opening reception will be from 3 to 4 p.m.

And finally, the speed limit on all the roads in Sprucewold is 25 miles per hour. That even seems fast when we have so many dog walkers, runners, bicyclists, and baby strollers combined with no sidewalks and blind curves. Years ago we took friends for a drive here and they were surprised that the roads were two way because they were so narrow. Please remember to walk facing traffic and drive like your family was walking on the road.