Walk down memory lane...
I got out of work early today since I had so much overtime.
When I got home, I immediately changed into my walking clothes to take a nice, long walk, because I hadn't been able to go much this week because of the rain.
I was going to do my route up State St., walk around the capital building and up Capital St. and back down Sewall St. home. But, instead, I decided to walk on the rail trail. However, when I got to the sewage plant, I decided to take the path up through Capital Park and I thought I would go to Green St. and hook up with Sewall there.
I did do that. It was weird, because I hadn't been in that part of the park since I was twelve or so. The public pool and swingsets/playground were gone. I was trying to figure out where they were. I remember they were right near the riverbank and railroad tracks, because we used to walk down the bank and dig out green clay, and we used to climb down to the tracks (which were, and still are, active. It's weird to think of how much we used to play on the railroad tracks--not only there, but downtown. We used to put coins and other stuff on the rails so they'd get squished.)
There was also a football field back then where the high school played. There still is a field there, but it's in a different area. I remember there was this wood structure, about 25-30 feet high, with a little building on top. It had a sign from Channel 3, the local cable station. We used to climb up there and play. It was extremely dangerous. The thing was falling apart! It was pretty old and decrepit way back then--30 years ago.
There was also a running track, which seems to be gone. There is either a parking lot there now or the football field is where the running track was. There is a huge YMCA building were the crappy public pool and playground were, and I think the football field.
The police station is down there, now, too.
Some of the state buildings down there are the same. And there were some houses I don't remember, but they are from the 1800s so they were there. I think there were more trees and less parking lots back then.
I walked into the park proper, and it hasn't changed much, except the trees are now mature. When I was a kid, the elm trees that lined the sidewalks had all died a few years before (Dutch elm disease) and had been taken down, and new trees had been planted. The park looked very sparse back then. Now, the trees are starting to look a lot better.
I walked along the back path, toward the railroad tracks and Gage St. I have had several nightmares in the past few years involving the memorial that's back there. I hadn't seen in in 30 years, so I walked back to look at it and see exactly what it looked like. I didn't remember much except it was a granite structure.
What it is is a crypt with a little obelisk on top. I couldn't get very close to the obelisk to read it, because the shrubs around it have grown so high. But I was able to read the name, E. Lincoln, governor of Maine. I knew he wasn't the first one, because I remember enough Maine history to know that the first one's name was King (I've even seen his house--it was near G's camp--very close to the road).
But he was one of the first, and very active in the politics of the young state. The crypt is creepy looking, so I'm not surprised it figured in nightmares, even though before the first nightmare I'd forgotten it was there! In my dreams, it was much bigger, but it was granite, and it did have a obelisk.
Then, I walked back up through the park to exit at Capital St. I walked by the Vietnam memorial, which isn't that great because it's kind of derivative of the one in D.C. It doesn't have any names on it, though. I remembered there was another memorial near the rotary, too. I cut through a parking lot (that used to be a house) and came out on State St.
I walked towards the rotary. I used to ride my bike all over this area. A lot of the houses are the same, but some are missing. State St. News is gone. The building is cut up into offices and for rent. The Canal Bank building is now some big lawyers' office (Preti & Flaherty? I don't know). I remember when I was little and The Augusta House was still there, but empty. I remember it being a large yellow building, but I don't remember if it was brick or clapboard. (I just found this picture, and I guess it was brick. Its sister, the Worster House, is still going strong here in Hallowell. A customer told me the other day that her grandmother or some old relative used to be a waitress at the Worster House. The table my computer sits on came from there!)
Funny, Rotary Cleaners is still there. And it still looks exactly the same! I love the cool mid-century sign on the front. I hope they never change it. Duke's Barber shop is still there, too. The Mobil station that Tina's dad owned was ripped down years ago, and Capital City Motel is also gone--just recently. Now, there's just a big, landscaped and flowered lot, with a huge sign for the bank. And I remember that bank was in a tiny brick building with a big parking lot between Chapel St. and State St.. We used to skateboard there.
I walked down State St. towards Green St. There was the memorial park across the street, in the triangle next to the rotary. It looks nice, so they keep it up. There is a beautiful monument to soldiers there, probably put up after WWI (maybe earlier--or later--not sure). It's a polished granite column with a bronze statue of some warrior woman on top. They don't spend that kind of money on public art anymore.
There is also a small granite monument to Vietnam soldiers with names on it. And a larger, more modern memorial (probably post WWII) with a statue of a soldier with bowed head.
(Well, I was wrong on ALL counts! The big memorial is from the Civil War (I should have known), and the newer one--with the soldier) is WWI. Why I should have known is the money that was obviously spent on these monuments. After the beginning of the 20th century, people didn't like to shell out that kind of money for monuments. Such a shame.)
As I walked toward Green St. (I don't know my directions very well, but I think I was going North), I noticed the District Court building hadn't changed. St. Paul's was the same (in the Hill Mansion) but was now Catholic Charities. I wonder if there is still an abbey there. When Uncle Jack lived with us, he became friends with the monks (since he is a monk, too). I looked toward the back yard and wondered if the little courtyard with the pond was still there. When we were little, we used to go there all the time. Children don't think about property and trespassing. We were just thrilled we found a cool place. No one ever chased us out. (Found another picture without writing on it, but a smaller picture.)
On the Green St. side, there were cages of rabbits one of the monks kept, and rosebushes and hydrangea bushes. Those are all gone, now.
I also remember Uncle Jack said a mass there once--there is a chapel in the mansion. It's a beautiful building. I think it's a John Calvin Stevens building, although it's not his normal style (editing to add--J.C.S. just remodeled it, it was built before his time). It's funny, because you can tell it was once a grand home (even though it's blond brick which isn't my favorite) but it has religious statuary on all the balconies and niches, and a granite cross on the portico above the front door. But they look as if they belong there. Maybe it's just because they've been there so long, I'm used to them.
As I walked up Green St. I remembered the building that Martha D., who was a reporter under Dad, had an apartment there, and I remember there was a fire in the top floor. The building now has a square roof. It used to have a regular, peaked roof before the fire.
The house of my third grade friend, Anne M., is now Pine Tree Legal. Her weiner dog used to always bark at me and I would be so scared I wouldn't walk by the house.
I got to the house that was next door to my childhood home, and noticed they had changed the backyard from grass to a pretty sculpture garden. There was a fence across what used to be our driveway, so I couldn't see what the backyard looked like. The house looks different, since about 20 years ago someone put vinyl siding over the clapboards and cedar shingles. Dad had painted it an ugly olive green with mustard trim. For some reason, he loved that combination. The problem was, he mixed his own colors, so every summer, the part he worked on was a slightly different shade.
The side of the house on Melville St. looked totally different. We didn't have any vegetation on that side but grass, since it was right on the street. There was a huge elm tree that that died a couple years after we moved in. There were elms on both sides that had to be cut down (disease). They were huge, beautiful trees.
I walked up to Sewall St. and turned left. I looked down the driveway that I used to cut through (and through the driveway of the house behind it). Again, I was bemused about the way kids don't think anything of cutting through someone else's property. It was a shortcut, that's all we cared about. I have had dreams about that shortcut several times, too. Weird.
I also noticed that the Barnes house still had the nameplate hanging, so I wonder if they still lived there. They had an ice-cream making place in their basement, and we used to go there after school and buy ice cream bars. They made sherbet ones covered in dark chocolate--orange and raspberry. The raspberry was my favorite. I think it was the color combination that I liked, although they tasted really good. They also had "B-Bars" which were vanilla covered in chocolate. O.K., but not as good as the shebert ones. Tom Johnson used to work there.
Then, I was passing St. Mary's, which looks the same, except now it's St. Michael's, having merged with St. Augustine's. I guess that's just a testament to the shrinking Catholic population.
The post office looks the same, Dunkin Donuts (where we used to watch the guy making the doughnuts through a window) is now a Japanese restaurant, but there is a little drive-through DD right next door.
Almost all the houses that used to be on that side of Sewall St. are gone, including Mike M's house. There were a few that all looked the same, probably built in the '20s. They were handsome homes, shingle-sided with large porches and a bay window on the front.
The parking garage where we used to skateboard is still there, and so is Nash school, although it closed when I was a child and became state offices. Then I was at the capital complex, where I usually turn around on my normal walk, a little bit over 1 1/2 miles from home.
When I left my house tonight, I saw two Morman guys walking down my street. They saw me leave, but as I reached Water St. I saw them going on my porch and knocking on my door. Please.
I saw them again when I was almost home, driving up North St. in a Toyota with NH plates. They saw me, too, but luckily they were done with their trolling for the night.
I feel better tonight. I decided I will probably cut out my cable for a while, to save money and make myself more productive. I need to work on this house and continue my plan of having my business here. That's why we bought it in the first place, and there is no excuse for just giving it up. It's not like it's going to take a lot of money, except for the bathroom. It's just effort.
It's too easy to be distracted by T.V. and internet. For over two years, I had neither here, and I was fine. Of course, I didn't live here all the time, so that made a difference. Still, it's not a necessity, and I have to cut costs somehow. It's ridiculous to keep paying for something that isn't necessary for survival. And I know it will end up being for the better as far as getting things accomplished around here if I don't have the distraction.
Today at work was sucky, of course. But I think I need to just refocus on my original plan. It's really hard without the support (not just monetarily, but emotionally) from G, but that was the choice I made.
So, I guess I walked about five miles tonight. Near the end, I got that weepy feeling again. I've been crying every night, anyway. Whatever.
When I got home, I immediately changed into my walking clothes to take a nice, long walk, because I hadn't been able to go much this week because of the rain.
I was going to do my route up State St., walk around the capital building and up Capital St. and back down Sewall St. home. But, instead, I decided to walk on the rail trail. However, when I got to the sewage plant, I decided to take the path up through Capital Park and I thought I would go to Green St. and hook up with Sewall there.
I did do that. It was weird, because I hadn't been in that part of the park since I was twelve or so. The public pool and swingsets/playground were gone. I was trying to figure out where they were. I remember they were right near the riverbank and railroad tracks, because we used to walk down the bank and dig out green clay, and we used to climb down to the tracks (which were, and still are, active. It's weird to think of how much we used to play on the railroad tracks--not only there, but downtown. We used to put coins and other stuff on the rails so they'd get squished.)
There was also a football field back then where the high school played. There still is a field there, but it's in a different area. I remember there was this wood structure, about 25-30 feet high, with a little building on top. It had a sign from Channel 3, the local cable station. We used to climb up there and play. It was extremely dangerous. The thing was falling apart! It was pretty old and decrepit way back then--30 years ago.
There was also a running track, which seems to be gone. There is either a parking lot there now or the football field is where the running track was. There is a huge YMCA building were the crappy public pool and playground were, and I think the football field.
The police station is down there, now, too.
Some of the state buildings down there are the same. And there were some houses I don't remember, but they are from the 1800s so they were there. I think there were more trees and less parking lots back then.
I walked into the park proper, and it hasn't changed much, except the trees are now mature. When I was a kid, the elm trees that lined the sidewalks had all died a few years before (Dutch elm disease) and had been taken down, and new trees had been planted. The park looked very sparse back then. Now, the trees are starting to look a lot better.
I walked along the back path, toward the railroad tracks and Gage St. I have had several nightmares in the past few years involving the memorial that's back there. I hadn't seen in in 30 years, so I walked back to look at it and see exactly what it looked like. I didn't remember much except it was a granite structure.
What it is is a crypt with a little obelisk on top. I couldn't get very close to the obelisk to read it, because the shrubs around it have grown so high. But I was able to read the name, E. Lincoln, governor of Maine. I knew he wasn't the first one, because I remember enough Maine history to know that the first one's name was King (I've even seen his house--it was near G's camp--very close to the road).
But he was one of the first, and very active in the politics of the young state. The crypt is creepy looking, so I'm not surprised it figured in nightmares, even though before the first nightmare I'd forgotten it was there! In my dreams, it was much bigger, but it was granite, and it did have a obelisk.
Then, I walked back up through the park to exit at Capital St. I walked by the Vietnam memorial, which isn't that great because it's kind of derivative of the one in D.C. It doesn't have any names on it, though. I remembered there was another memorial near the rotary, too. I cut through a parking lot (that used to be a house) and came out on State St.
I walked towards the rotary. I used to ride my bike all over this area. A lot of the houses are the same, but some are missing. State St. News is gone. The building is cut up into offices and for rent. The Canal Bank building is now some big lawyers' office (Preti & Flaherty? I don't know). I remember when I was little and The Augusta House was still there, but empty. I remember it being a large yellow building, but I don't remember if it was brick or clapboard. (I just found this picture, and I guess it was brick. Its sister, the Worster House, is still going strong here in Hallowell. A customer told me the other day that her grandmother or some old relative used to be a waitress at the Worster House. The table my computer sits on came from there!)
Funny, Rotary Cleaners is still there. And it still looks exactly the same! I love the cool mid-century sign on the front. I hope they never change it. Duke's Barber shop is still there, too. The Mobil station that Tina's dad owned was ripped down years ago, and Capital City Motel is also gone--just recently. Now, there's just a big, landscaped and flowered lot, with a huge sign for the bank. And I remember that bank was in a tiny brick building with a big parking lot between Chapel St. and State St.. We used to skateboard there.
I walked down State St. towards Green St. There was the memorial park across the street, in the triangle next to the rotary. It looks nice, so they keep it up. There is a beautiful monument to soldiers there, probably put up after WWI (maybe earlier--or later--not sure). It's a polished granite column with a bronze statue of some warrior woman on top. They don't spend that kind of money on public art anymore.
There is also a small granite monument to Vietnam soldiers with names on it. And a larger, more modern memorial (probably post WWII) with a statue of a soldier with bowed head.
(Well, I was wrong on ALL counts! The big memorial is from the Civil War (I should have known), and the newer one--with the soldier) is WWI. Why I should have known is the money that was obviously spent on these monuments. After the beginning of the 20th century, people didn't like to shell out that kind of money for monuments. Such a shame.)
As I walked toward Green St. (I don't know my directions very well, but I think I was going North), I noticed the District Court building hadn't changed. St. Paul's was the same (in the Hill Mansion) but was now Catholic Charities. I wonder if there is still an abbey there. When Uncle Jack lived with us, he became friends with the monks (since he is a monk, too). I looked toward the back yard and wondered if the little courtyard with the pond was still there. When we were little, we used to go there all the time. Children don't think about property and trespassing. We were just thrilled we found a cool place. No one ever chased us out. (Found another picture without writing on it, but a smaller picture.)
On the Green St. side, there were cages of rabbits one of the monks kept, and rosebushes and hydrangea bushes. Those are all gone, now.
I also remember Uncle Jack said a mass there once--there is a chapel in the mansion. It's a beautiful building. I think it's a John Calvin Stevens building, although it's not his normal style (editing to add--J.C.S. just remodeled it, it was built before his time). It's funny, because you can tell it was once a grand home (even though it's blond brick which isn't my favorite) but it has religious statuary on all the balconies and niches, and a granite cross on the portico above the front door. But they look as if they belong there. Maybe it's just because they've been there so long, I'm used to them.
As I walked up Green St. I remembered the building that Martha D., who was a reporter under Dad, had an apartment there, and I remember there was a fire in the top floor. The building now has a square roof. It used to have a regular, peaked roof before the fire.
The house of my third grade friend, Anne M., is now Pine Tree Legal. Her weiner dog used to always bark at me and I would be so scared I wouldn't walk by the house.
I got to the house that was next door to my childhood home, and noticed they had changed the backyard from grass to a pretty sculpture garden. There was a fence across what used to be our driveway, so I couldn't see what the backyard looked like. The house looks different, since about 20 years ago someone put vinyl siding over the clapboards and cedar shingles. Dad had painted it an ugly olive green with mustard trim. For some reason, he loved that combination. The problem was, he mixed his own colors, so every summer, the part he worked on was a slightly different shade.
The side of the house on Melville St. looked totally different. We didn't have any vegetation on that side but grass, since it was right on the street. There was a huge elm tree that that died a couple years after we moved in. There were elms on both sides that had to be cut down (disease). They were huge, beautiful trees.
I walked up to Sewall St. and turned left. I looked down the driveway that I used to cut through (and through the driveway of the house behind it). Again, I was bemused about the way kids don't think anything of cutting through someone else's property. It was a shortcut, that's all we cared about. I have had dreams about that shortcut several times, too. Weird.
I also noticed that the Barnes house still had the nameplate hanging, so I wonder if they still lived there. They had an ice-cream making place in their basement, and we used to go there after school and buy ice cream bars. They made sherbet ones covered in dark chocolate--orange and raspberry. The raspberry was my favorite. I think it was the color combination that I liked, although they tasted really good. They also had "B-Bars" which were vanilla covered in chocolate. O.K., but not as good as the shebert ones. Tom Johnson used to work there.
Then, I was passing St. Mary's, which looks the same, except now it's St. Michael's, having merged with St. Augustine's. I guess that's just a testament to the shrinking Catholic population.
The post office looks the same, Dunkin Donuts (where we used to watch the guy making the doughnuts through a window) is now a Japanese restaurant, but there is a little drive-through DD right next door.
Almost all the houses that used to be on that side of Sewall St. are gone, including Mike M's house. There were a few that all looked the same, probably built in the '20s. They were handsome homes, shingle-sided with large porches and a bay window on the front.
The parking garage where we used to skateboard is still there, and so is Nash school, although it closed when I was a child and became state offices. Then I was at the capital complex, where I usually turn around on my normal walk, a little bit over 1 1/2 miles from home.
When I left my house tonight, I saw two Morman guys walking down my street. They saw me leave, but as I reached Water St. I saw them going on my porch and knocking on my door. Please.
I saw them again when I was almost home, driving up North St. in a Toyota with NH plates. They saw me, too, but luckily they were done with their trolling for the night.
I feel better tonight. I decided I will probably cut out my cable for a while, to save money and make myself more productive. I need to work on this house and continue my plan of having my business here. That's why we bought it in the first place, and there is no excuse for just giving it up. It's not like it's going to take a lot of money, except for the bathroom. It's just effort.
It's too easy to be distracted by T.V. and internet. For over two years, I had neither here, and I was fine. Of course, I didn't live here all the time, so that made a difference. Still, it's not a necessity, and I have to cut costs somehow. It's ridiculous to keep paying for something that isn't necessary for survival. And I know it will end up being for the better as far as getting things accomplished around here if I don't have the distraction.
Today at work was sucky, of course. But I think I need to just refocus on my original plan. It's really hard without the support (not just monetarily, but emotionally) from G, but that was the choice I made.
So, I guess I walked about five miles tonight. Near the end, I got that weepy feeling again. I've been crying every night, anyway. Whatever.