Dear Sun Spots: Do you know of anyone in the area who does chair caning? If anyone does, please contact me at 49 Wing St., Apt. 21, Lisbon Falls, ME 04252. – Paula Carson, Lisbon Falls.

Dear Sun Spots: I have a piece of furniture that needs to be caned. Please tell me the names or name and location of anyone who does that work. Thank you. – J.Z. Rumford.

Answer: Contact Bix Furniture Strippers, 357 Main St., Auburn (783-3459, ask for Tom); Michelle’s Caning Service (and canoe seat repair), Freeport (865-9463); Joel Lynn Ellis, Portland (775-3487); and Linda Musgrave Grippe, 5 Ridge Road, Chesterville, ME 04938 (778-6786, after 10 a.m.) with your questions about chair caning.

Dear Sun Spots: My connection here with Poland water, as a user, goes back as far as the days when the only Poland water you could buy came from the original source in Poland Spring. Growing, the company involved tapping aquifers in Hollis and Fryeburg because the rate of flow from the original source could not begin to approximate meeting demand for this bottled, world-renowned water. A reasonable assumption can be made that the chemical character will be different from source to source. Values expressed for potassium, sodium, soda, magnesium and silica are not a constant, which accounts for differences in color, odor and taste – all of which leads to my pursuit of Poland Spring water bottled from the original source in Poland Spring. Any help you can furnish in that regard will be greatly appreciated. – Loren Feldman, Sabattus.

Answer: Sun Spots contacted Jane Lazgin of Poland Spring, who says there are some springs on the property that Poland Spring uses and some springs they don’t. Lazgin says Poland Spring does collect spring water via the borehole method and states that the geological formation there in Poland is much better suited from a sanitary standpoint and collection method because they collect the water before it comes to the surface and that’s an FDA approved method of collecting spring water.

The original spring, which hasn’t been bottled or collected from since the 1960s, was once used as the tasting area for the spring; it is viewable to visitors at the Poland Spring Museum in the Poland Spring Preservation Park, 115 Preservation Way, Poland Spring, Maine, (207) 998-7143. The park is free to the public and open Tuesday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit the Poland Spring Web site at www.polandspring.com.

Dear Sun Spots: We are so fortunate to have such a column as Sun Spots. I really enjoy it.

Now this might sound a little juvenile for an old woman to ask people from anywhere to send me yo-yos. I have a collection, so I’d be so happy to receive same.

Also, handkerchiefs. I have a friend who collects them to make quilts. Please call (207) 783-3605. In fact it would be great to get some from all over the world! This old lady would appreciate anyone’s donations! – R.F.C., Lewiston.

Dear Sun Spots: Would anyone out there know if and how I could purchase tapes of the old “Youth Cavalcade” shows? I believe they were televised on Channel 6. I’m specially interested in the shows of the years 1960 and 1961. If anyone could help me with this, it would be greatly appreciated. – L. Laverdiere, Livermore.

Dear Sun Spots: I read about the lady inquiring about keeping her geraniums. We plant ours in some flower boxes. In the fall, we cut them back and put the boxes in the cellar until late April. We leave the soil right in the boxes. When the time is right, we bring them up and put them in a sunny window until it’s safe to place them outdoors. Almost all of them come back year after year. Not much gardening expertise involved for some of us lazy folks, but it works. – No Name, No Town.

This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can also be posted at www.sunjournal.com in the Advice section under Opinion on the left-hand corner of your computer screen. In addition, you can e-mail your inquiries to [email protected].