Woodstock

The First Universalist Church of West Paris is having a major fundraiser to raise $50,000 to restore some of the beautiful stained glass windows which were installed when the church was built in 1906. The Board of Management is excited to announce that Judith Clements Packer is generously offering up to $8,000 to match any individual donations between now and Sept. 1. Judy is doing this in memory of her brother, Nicholas Clement, who many of you will remember was a teacher at Woodstock and Telstar High School, and also from his work at the former Andrews Funeral Home in South Woodstock.

No matter how small or large, if you can donate to help out this project, please make checks out to The First Universalist Church and mail to The First Universalist Church of West Paris, P.O. Box 36, West Paris, Maine 04289. For more information about this project, you many contact Marta Clements at 674-2143 or mclements96894@roadrunner.com, or Suzanne Dunham at 665-2967 or dunhamfarm@msn.com.

The board continues to thank all the members, friends, and businesses, that have already donated. Over $17,000 has been received, thanks to generous donations from members, friends and businesses. Other fundraisers are being worked on and grant writing is being looked into. Members will soon be selling high quality notecards featuring pictures of the windows and explaining our project. Thank you for helping out.

Today (Saturday) was the area clean-up day. I did my part today along with Kathy and Cindy McNinch. We walked out to the school and back, armed with a trash bag, grabber, and one latex glove. Even though Kathy and I had picked up quite a bit recently, there was still enough to have a bag full. The most plentiful items we picked up were nips bottles an cigarette butts. We picked up well over 100 cigarette butts on our walk. We noted that there were more in the area out near the school. I’m not sure if everyone knows that the filters are made from cellulose acetate, a plastic which only degrades under severe biological circumstances. Cigarette butts tossed on the streets and beaches do not biodegrade. If you do smoke, please consider this before throwing one out the window of the car.

Cindy McNinch visited Kathy Hodsdon for a few days. We took a trip to North Conway one day. It was a good day to get out and find a few good deals.

I have a pair of phoebes trying to narrow down their nesting site. There’s a good chance it might be in my garage. I leave my door open all the time, so it’s well protected. Every evening when I head out to the patio, I see the goose in its guard position.

It doesn’t like other geese in the area, and gets very upset when the heron stops by. A pair of ducks will swim right in front of it and there’s no reaction. It was amusing to watch a critter swimming. It looked like a young beaver, but I am not positive, and it swam around in circles in front of the goose. I don’t think it knew what to do, and certainly didn’t dare confront it. Finally it left the area.

Sarah and Colin are actually on the ship and tomorrow (Sunday) they will be going to Pompeii. She has shared a photo album online with family, so we can see what they’ve been up to.

Tonight was my grandson Ben’s prom. I got the photos that were taken before they left. He and his girlfriend Jordan looked very spiffy with their coordinating colors. I can’t believe he will be graduating next year!

A very happy (and belated) Mother’s Day to all of you out there. I have been invited to join Rachel at LeFleur’s in Jay for brunch. Tim’s mom, gram and sister will also be with us.

One thing I did this week was go to “All Shook Up” at Oxford Hills. The show was great. The acting, dancing, and singing were very well done, and it was also quite funny. One plus was seeing members of the pit band who I know.

Have a wonderful week, everyone! Send your news/events to lstowell@roadrunner.com

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