Visiting Plymouth and Plimoth

Two trips to Plymouth the past week-one a scouting mission and one a trip with my cousins from the west coast. The historical sites had certainly evolved from my last historical visit twenty years ago. Most of us probably have visited with kids, but Pilgrim Hall and Plimoth Plantation both deserve a second look as adults.

The scouting trip took me to Pilgrim Hall Museum at 75 Court Street (Route 3A). I remembered the museum as a stuffy old style place loaded with poorly lighted Pilgrim exhibits. Restored a few years ago, the museum now makes good use of its collection. Upon arrival you are urged to go to the basement exhibit area and see a short 13 minute film telling a modern version of the Pilgrim story. The highlight of the museum is its collection of 17^th century artifacts connected to Pilgrim families. These objects range from ceramics to armaments to furniture and clothing. The collection began when the museum was opened in 1824 “only” 200 years after the Pilgrims arrived. The artifacts there are well lit and even better explained. Unlike most museums there are a number of replicas with instructions to please touch. You can even try out a replica of one of those spindly great chairs. For my pilgrim families there were pieces of Brewster furniture and a beaver hat worn by Constance Hopkins.

The upper floor of the museum hosted a temporary exhibit of books and documents which was not very interesting to me and a permanent collection that explores how public views of the Pilgrims have changed through the generations. This is a great way to explore the museum’s collection of paintings, but the highlight is a collection of costumes that show the changing perceptions of the Pilgrims. There’s also a chunk of Plymouth Rock-please touch! The place is open daily from 9:30-4:30 (closed January and February) and is worth the price of admission which is $8 for adults with discounts for seniors and AAA members.

I visited Plimoth Plantation with the West Coast cousins who had just discovered they had family on the Mayflower. Due to justified pressure over the years this living history museum has matured and now offers a more balanced view of the Pilgrims and their Wampanoag neighbors. We came at the right time-the last of a thousand school children had just departed as we drove in. Again your visit is expected to start with a movie. This one is called “Two Peoples, One Story.” It does a good job tracing the complex interconnection of Native and Pilgrim culture while introducing you to the layout of the outdoor museum.

We moved onto the Wampanoag village. Staffed by native Wampanoags who act as modern museum docents in order to answer contemporary as well as historical questions, the six people in the village were practicing native crafts. Two were burning out a log to create a canoe as they introduced people to the village. We then went to the nuwetu-we would call it a long house. The young woman and her daughter in the long house answered all sorts of questions from us. Her explanation of how a matrilineal society worked was fascinating. Leaving the long house with a little more knowledge we saw that the village has full sized examples of all three of the seasonal houses of the Wampanoag. Before leaving the village we discovered the cooking display and had a wonderful chat with the women there. They had roasted a turkey earlier in the day and were now making a pot of turkey soup. They explained that a pot of soup was always available for visitors or returning hunters. One woman shared that her grandmother had continued the tradition down to modern times-a good example of cultural continuity and the reason for the modern interpreters in historic clothing.

On the other hand the people in the Pilgrim Village are “stuck” in the year 1627. Their first person stories and life style is a high point of any visit. Our first encounter was with three young wives led by Priscilla Alden. They were sitting outside, the day’s work done, working on three part harmony for a hymn. The sound of their singing could be heard all around the upper village as they alternated between religious and secular songs. They really set the stage for us to step back into the 17^th century. “Who are you looking for? Nobody seems to come here unless they are looking for somebody”, one girl said. We admitted we were looking for Mister Brewster and the Hopkins family and got general directions to their homes. Before we visited with “family” we stopped at other places in the village. At the blacksmith shop we learned about nail making and the economics of trade, as sparks flew all about us. Next we visited the house of Dr. Fuller. “Me husband is no doctor, “ said his wife, “He’s a surgeon.” This led to discussion of 17^th century medicine with the wife admitting rather proudly that her husband could mix up more complex medicine than the average housewife.

Finally we arrived at the Brewster home to discover Elder William Brewster and his daughter-in-law Lucretia, both ancestors. The actor playing the role of Brewster must have a doctoral degree in the 17^th century. We were happy to learn of his progressive attitude towards education. “When I had my sons sitting at the table learning their letters, I thought it silly not to have my daughters sit there too.” He was also surprisingly tolerant of the Native American religion. Pointing out a “conversation” with Tisquantum that led him to believe the Indians were on the right track-they had a great spirit after all-despite having many other gods. We learned that the Pilgrims had discussed the issue of conversion with English experts who had suggested letting the natives decide on their own. Our conversation continued on to many other subjects from the voyage of the Mayflower compared to other ships of the time and 17^th century printing in Holland that fascinated my cousin who is a modern day printer.

Our last stop in the village was with John Billington who was whittling a spoon. Unlike the scholarly Brewster, Billington was a working man, who filled us in on many details of ordinary village life. I stopped the cousins in their tracks as we left Billington with a whispered “He’s going to be hanged for murder in three years.” That’s an important consideration for an adult visit to Plimoth, the more you know about the people, the more fun the village is. A good place to start is Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower despite its emphasis beyond the first generation of Pilgrims. For those who have Pilgrim ancestors George Willison’s Saints and Strangers, is not as well written as Philbrick’s book and somewhat dated, but it offers a lot of information on individuals in the early years.

After leaving the village we spent time in the old visitor’s center which has been converted into a workshop for creating objects for the two villages using original techniques. We watched a potter at work, a Native American working with feathers, and a carpenter who was by far the most interesting and outgoing. True to its original purpose the building also had an extensive gift shop with lots of books. You could easily spend an hour here especially if you are a home woodworker.

All in all, I believe Plimoth Plantation has really stepped up its interpretation. It’s like taking an advanced degree in Pilgrim history and it’s exactly what a living history museum should be. The Plantation is open until November 25^th and reopens in the third week of March. Hours are 9-5.

Greenspade Inn and Three Restaurants

Just got back from a day and a half of touring with my long lost cousin from the West Coast. I'm going to do a separate post on our tour of Plimoth Plantation and Plymouth, but I'd like to say some great things about an Easton hidden gem: The Greenspade Inn. Located at 66 Lincoln Street, the Greenspade is Easton's only bed and breakfast. In fact its Easton's only inn, motel, and hotel. It's also a super idea. The Greenspade is located in a house that is over a hundred and fifty years old and has the wide boards and quirky design to prove it. Two of the four rooms have separate baths and two share a bath. The ambiance makes you feel like you have stepped back in time. Guests have the use of a living room that overlooks a big back yard, but we always found our way back to the large dining room with its fireplace and large antique table and chairs. One couldn't ask for a better host than Veronica Herlihy. She made a suggestion that changed our itinerary, opening up part of a day for a tour of North Easton and had restaurant recommendations as well. She is also an amazing cook-the breakfast part of B and B is a strong suit here. She made a hearty breakfast for my cousin and diet breakfast for his wife, but the diet breakfast included home cooked egg whites, a giant fruit plate and yogurt. Even dieters don't leave the Greenspade hungry.

Rosemary was hilarious on her first trip to Massachusetts-she wanted lobster at every meal except breakfast. We started with a Lazy Man's Lobster at Legal Seafood in Braintree. I opted for a wood grilled medley of three fish, shrimp and scallops, my cousin chose steak. I'm never happy with the price at Legal, but you definitely get good fish and according to my cousin great steak. Rosemary loved the lobster.

However, for lunch yesterday we went to Woods overlooking Plymouth Harbor. This is one of those no frills shacks that dot the coast. The locals eat at Woods. It has generally high reviews although some folks have killed it for rude service (there isn't any-you order at a window and bus your own table) and bad food. I tried the place out Sunday found a smiling person in the order window and a long line for the food so I took a chance. Definitely no frills-no lobster bibs or heated damp napkins not even handiwipes, but twin one pounders (one a little larger) were $22.95. Rosemary loved the lobster after we showed her how to eat the darned things. She didn't get the little legs thing until an old gentleman at a nearby table explained the nuances. I had fried shrimp-delicious and generous at just $9.95 and Cousin Richard had the fish and chips, another hit. Great food, great prices and great view of the harbor from our formica table. Clean bathroom also-who needs handiwipes.

Home after the tour we went to Maguires where Rosemary had the Lobster Caprese, a combo of lobster salad over tomato, lettuce, and mozzarella  which finished a close second to the boiled lobster at Woods. This is the second time our local eatery beat out Legal. A taste test of fried clams had Maguires beating the famous restaurant last year. I ordered the fish tacos which uses the same top notch fish that goes into their fisherman's sandwich. Richard had the steak tips which I feel is the restaurant's least successful food-certainly never bad, but not a home run like many things on the menu. Richard found the steak very tasty, but not tender. The service was great on a busy night. Hooray for the local joint and the shack in Plymouth.

Tomorrow an assessment of the new Pilgrim story.

Three Big Events

A busy week in Easton!  On Thursday, October 25th at 7, the Trustees of Reservations will be holding a public visioning session in the old Carriage House on the Governor Ames Estate. I really like the careful planning that the Trustees seem to devote to all their properties and think that they have been doing a fine job maintaining the property, but two things concern me.

One is the final plan for the "mansion" house itself. Smaller than most MacMansions built in Easton over the last decade and only 60 years old, the house on the estate sits in the footprint of the original mansion. Unless a use can be found for this building that allows the Trustees to break even on heating and maintenance, it will eventually be taken down. I think this would be very sad as the house is the focal point of the landscapes site lines. It also provides a wonderful niche for wildlife as I learned when I parked in front of it Sunday. My car was surrounded by a mixed flock of robins, bluejays, flickers, and kinglets. Maggie and I watched the flock until they moved on after 15 minutes. OK, I watched the birds while Maggie fumed about not getting out of the car to sniff things. It was like being in a bird blind because the birds at the estate are so unconcerned with people.

My other concern is the vulnerability of the property. Sheep Pasture has 158 acres of land while the Governor Ames Estate has less than 30. At Sheep Pasture much of the property is inaccessible, a boon to wildlife, but the part that is accessible to people is a constant maintenance headache-people are pigs. Our wonderful little children also seem to have one reaction to wildlife-chase it, screaming. The acreage of the Ames Estate is manicured and completely accessible. I'm not sure that the wildlife there has a chance against the influx of people some Eastoners are proposing. Plans to make the place "alive" may be the surest way to make it dead. As generations of quiet walkers have discovered, the Ames Estate is a place where you can hear the voice of nature in the rustle of leaves, the calls of birds. It only succeeds when people have the chance to slowdown and open their senses. A playground, a coffee shop and too many events will ruin it, I believe. Come see it before it changes, but be quiet, look and listen. Also, don't miss the meeting on Thursday night. It's your chance to help determine the future of this wonderful place.

On a happier note this Saturday the Easton Farmers Market will be holding its first ever Doggie Halloween Costume Contest. Puppy Luv, one of the original Farmers Market vendors, will be providing prizes in four costume categories: cutest, funniest, most original, and scariest. All doggie entrants will get a treat. The Contest starts at 11. Maggie will be present in her lion costume-no cowboy costume would fit. She will not be competing in protest of not being awarded both the cutest and scariest costume prizes in advance.

Also on Saturday at the Bay Road Fire Station, the Agricultural Commission will be hosting an informational session and sign up for the new Community Gardens at Wheaton Farm from 10 to Noon. The new garden space has been plowed and tilled so you can see it as you drive by. The plan provides for 15 twenty foot by twenty foot family sized plots and 10 ten by twenty foot single plots. The large plots will go for $75 per season with the smaller ones at $45. The proceeds of the rentals will go towards managing and improving the garden area. The goal of the garden is to use only organic practices. A water system and 12 foot high fence will be added before the garden officially opens in mid-April, 2013.

Vampires in Easton…Sure Why Not!

I was on a Spooky Walk yesterday with a dozen fourth grade girls and their mothers. We were standing on the stage at Queset Gardens, and I was doing my best pitching the numerous rather friendly ghost sightings in North Easton when one perky fan of the Twilight series asked the inevitable question. “Were there any vampires in Easton?”

I collect Easton ghost stories and don’t believe most of them. They are a wonderful mix of folklore and poor observation and I reserve the right to change them when I tell them to young audiences. A bloody minded fifth grader once told me the story of an abusive father whose daughter pushed him off the Bridge Street bridge in front of a train one Halloween night. I’ve always found the real life part of the story unpleasant to tell to kids-yesterday a “mean man” was pushed off the bridge by an avenging “big dog.” You have to tell the story because the tagline is too good to pass up-“And you can still hear the whistle of the ghost train if you stand on the bridge on Halloween night.” And you can-every time a train pulls into Stoughton Station.

I was reluctant to just make up a vampire story on the spo, but Easton should have vampires. Sadly they wouldn’t look like the hunky or seductive actors that play vampires in movies and TV today. Why should we have vampires? We’ve had just about everything else: ghosts, the devil and his imps, witches, and in the 20^th century Bigfoot and Mothman. I can’t speak for modern times, but superstition ran rampant in 19^th century rural New England and vampires were part of that tradition. Parts of Easton were so “rural” that belief in witches and charms persisted almost to 1900.

Before Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Bela Lugosi’s film version in 1932, 18^th century European peasants believed vampires looked like this fellow:

This is the great Max Shrek from 1922’s Nosferatu, the scariest vampire movie ever, and one of the few silent films that can still be viewed with real interest today. Note the long fingernails, sunken chest, and paralyzed facial expression. Those European peasants thought that vampires were real corpses come back to suck the life from the dead.

19^th century New England saw an outbreak of similar vampire belief. Populations had reached the size where certain endemic diseases of crowding and poor sanitation became common. Here in Easton wells too close to outhouses killed many with typhoid and other intestinal diseases. The most mysterious of these diseases before the discovery of germ theory was tuberculosis also called phthisis or consumption. Spread by contaminated milk and mucous from the lungs of infected people, it was a difficult disease to diagnosis because it could attack so many parts of the body.

In many families a child would come down with the disease, waste away, die, and then a sibling would begin to show the same symptoms. It was easy for the superstition to believe that the first child had come back from the dead to draw the life out of another.

If you want to know what happened next you can read several sensationalized accounts or you can download from the internet “Bioarcheological and Biocultural Evidence for the New England Vampire Folk Belief” by Paul S. Sledzik and Nicholas Bellantoni which was published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 1994. The article gives the chilling story of a corpse that was mutilated after death to stop an outbreak of vampirism. It’s a good read and indicates that there were at least a dozen similar cases mostly in Rhode Island.

Some of these cases made the papers, but it seems that only the undereducated really believed in vampires while the thoroughly modern folks of the time thought it was a ridiculous superstition. It’s likely that grave digging and corpse mutilation was often carried out in secret and thus, the real extent of the vampire hysteria may never be known.

So were there vampires in Easton? All the signs are here-only the hard evidence of skull and bones is lacking. Town records show that consumption was just as much a scourge here as anywhere else. We had superstitious and uneducated people in the rural parts of town who were not bound by rational thought. For example, in 18^th century Easton a mad woman was locked in her room with the windows nailed shut, had her head shaved and mustard plasters applied to drive out whatever (devils?) was making her crazy, and that was done by “doctor!” Easton has a record setting number of cemeteries and they were certainly not well watched in the old days. In 1862, the body of a murdered girl was exhumed in secret from one of the largest cemeteries in town and disappeared without a trace. So shall we say “Anything is possible?”

The good news is that there has never been a hint of werewolves in Easton! On the other hand, one of the witches allegedly could turn into a cat, and reports of the Big Black Cat of Poquanticut continue to this day.

Two Tours

Steady readers of the Curiosity Shop Blog know that I've tracked some long lost relatives to the West Coast. Two of them will be visiting New England next week so yesterday I decided to visit the grave of my Grandfather Hands at Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plains. I'm not sure the West Coast folks have ever been there so I'm planning to show them the site. Genealogists generally consider all cemeteries as tourist attractions, but Forest Hills is above and beyond.

I hadn't visited Forest Hills since my grandmother died in 1967 so I stopped at the cemetery office, an elaborate Gothic structure. A nice young lady welcomed me and quickly confirmed that Grandpa Hands was still there. Great. The next thing I knew she had pulled out the plot map with the record of all the burials, a treasure trove of information for a researcher. She kindly made a xerox. Then out came a large scale map of the cemetery and directions to the site. The map wasn't an office version, it was mine to keep.

I had already donated a dollar for a smaller map with the history of the cemetery on the way into the office. I noticed a glossy book for sale in the office and asked what it was. "Oh, that's our tour book," the helpful woman said. They want you to visit-no dead relatives needed. And Fido is welcome too as long as he or she is on a leash. I could have brought Maggie. She's banned from the Blue Hills Cemetery where the rest of the family is buried.

If the thought of touring a cemetery gives you the willies, you need to know that Forest Hill is one of those garden cemeteries so popular in the mid-19th century. It's old section is one of Boston's premier landscapes with trees more than a century old. The landscaping design is so good it actually influenced Olmsted's plan for nearby Franklin Park. It is also an outstanding collection of outdoor sculpture. Add in the resting places of famous Bostonians, and you have an interesting place for a visit. I bet the birding is good too. Go in the spring or fall and you'll be surprised.

Finding the last of the Hands' was interesting too. The father-in-law of the immigrant ancestor bought the plot in 1900 and over the last 100 years Colemans, Lothrops, and Hands have come to stay. Since my visit in 1967, the grandfather of my West Coast relatives was buried in 1977, and on one side of the stone is an entire Hands family that neither of the newly reconnected sides of the family has ever heard of with the last burial in 2010!

Well, eventually, the trusty Garmin got me home and Maggie made it very clear that she knew it was a beautiful day and I had neglected her through the first half of it. I decided to continue my visits to Trustees of Reservations properties with a trip to Moose Hill Farm. This is not to be confused with the Audubon's adjacent Moose Hill property which is a 2,000 acre wildlife sanctuary-no dogs leashed or unleashed on its 25 miles of trails. What a great choice by Audubon-2,000 acres of unmolested wildlife make Moose Hill a key to the ecology of the whole region including Easton. The Trustees welcome leashed dogs on their farm, but you need to be careful and watch the signs since some of the trails on the two properties connect.

The over 300 acres at Moose Hill Farm mix a large open field, part of which was being plowed for a new Community Supported Agriculture program next year, and a variety of woodland habitats. There are marked trails and a readily available map, but I must admit it was a little more confusing than the Bradley Estate or Signal Hill. We decided to do the field walk which goes uphill at a gentle rate. If you look back from the top of the field, you are rewarded with a great view of the Blue Hills. Moose Hill is the second highest piece of land in the area. While I was thrilled by the view, Maggie got her thrill from the abundant scent marking done by the local coyotes. A large pile of scat had her sizing up the chances of attacking a wild canid-after all in her mind she scared a Bernese Mountain Dog out of the vets on our last visit. Luckily for someone, probably me, nothing bigger than a chipmunk made an appearance. The variety of habitats look like good birding territory, but right now our own Governor Ames Community Park has more birds.

All in all, Moose Hill Farm is a place that will repay repeated visits. Like all the Trustees property I've seen, it is well maintained. I had a nice chat with a staff member who I ran into in the parking lot. She was friendly and enthusiastic and working on making a number of properties universally accessible for people with walkers and wheelchairs. She has already checked out the Easton property. I was heartily thanked for my annual membership unlike a local conservation group that barely acknowledges my existence despite a life membership. Nice people make a difference.

Using the 1940 Census: an OA Example

 Announcement: Easton Curiosity Shop blogs on history and genealogy will now be available on the Easton Patch website as well as here. All other blogs will continue to appear here exclusively.

The 1940 census is now available online at Ancestry.com free for non-members. This census is the most detailed enumeration available to researchers and includes information not found in earlier censuses. Recently I had the opportunity to use this census to track down some important information.

I do research for the Oliver Ames Athletic Hall of Fame. Besides showing athletic prowess, a student candidate must graduate from OA. Generally, this is easy to determine since the list of graduates is published in he annual town report. What if student’s name doesn’t appear in the town report? That’s where I get called in because absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Recently, I got the call for a candidate who should have graduated in 1928 or 1929, meaning that there wouldn’t be any classmates who could confirm a graduation.

My first check usually is the yearbook collections at Oliver Ames and the Easton Historical Society. Before 1949 the last issue of the school magazine served as the yearbook. Unfortunately, neither place has a complete run of early graduation issues. All I was able to determine was that the candidate had been a stellar athlete as an undergraduate.

My second stop is normally the life card stored at the high school. This is available only to staff members with special permission from the principal. Members of the general public may call in and request information from their own card or basic information like graduation from other people’s card with their permission. In the current case, the candidate’s older and youngest siblings were in the collection, but the three middle children were not. This was surprising, but not unusual for someone who would have graduated in late 1920s. The card could have been misfiled among the thousands of cards or perhaps sent on to another school.

There were rumors that the candidate’s family had moved to Brockton for a short time so I decided to turn to the census. The 1940 census was very helpful. The candidate, age 28, was single and still living in the parents home. A column indicated they had been there in 1935 and a quick look at the 1930 showed the family in the same house then a year or two after the candidate should have graduated. The key column, however, was a new one in 1940 that listed the level of education attained. The next door neighbor’s father had an E-4 while his wife had an H-4. This meant he had left school after the fourth grade while she had graduated from high school. Our candidate and a sibling both had H-3 next to their names meaning that they had left school after their junior year.

Normally, a researcher would be forced to conclude the candidate hadn’t graduated from high school, but from my own family research, I know that census records are not always accurate. Luckily, the Easton Historical Society has a set of records not usually available to historians because they are normally thrown away. These are the attendance registers of Easton’s schools covering the years from the late 1860s to the early 1970s. Turning the pages of these heavy volumes revealed that the candidate had a younger sibling in the same grade. Both finished their junior year with the candidate only missing three days all year-all in June, 1928. When school resumed in September the candidate did not return for senior year. Did she move to another school? The attendance record is silent because she never re-entered; only the missing life card would tell. However, the sibling did return to start senior year. That record ended October 16, 1928 with the notation “left.”

While it is still possible that the candidate attended another school, the evidence of the census makes that appear unlikely.  So despite an excellent athletic record at OA and an even better record as an adult, this candidate will not make the Hall of Fame unless some additional

Tea Party

Wow! If you weren’t at the Town Offices from 11:30 and 1:30 yesterday you missed quite a tea party. The venerable building is turning a hundred this year and the Historical Society with the help of the Historical Commission hosted a birthday party. Fifty vintage china tea cups were a highlight of the tea in the old dining room. David Ames spoke briefly about his childhood memories of the old place and David Colton talked of his enjoyment of one of the most unique town offices in America.

Mr Colton has been a big supporter of the building since becoming town administrator and has sponsored many improvements including a new coat of paint on the first floor this year. State Senators Kennedy and Joyce both attended and showed off their knowledge of Easton’s history in chats with the attendees. In fact the tea time chatter of the public, Ames family members, politicians and town employees was a highlight of the day that lasted long after the official end of the party.

The Historical Society provided a slide show of the building’s history and a self-guided tour of the mansion “back in the day.” The rain even held off to allow time for a brief tour of the grounds. A highlight of the display was the old book that mapped the first landscape plan of the 80 acre estate.

Town Office employees got to enjoy the party as well, and kept their rooms open after hours  for visitors. Kristin from the Board of Health never made it down stairs for tea because she put on display the log of the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918 which has just been opened under Massachusetts public records law. A steady stream of visitors looked back to find the names of family members or neighbors who had been quarantined with flu. The book also lists ages, occupations, addresses and attending physician. Kristin really knows her stuff and slipped in a push for getting your flu shot now along with the historical information.

If you didn’t make it to the party, you can come to the Historical Society’s museum at the Old Colony Railroad Station behind the Shovel Shop  this Sunday where all the handouts, and photos used at the party will be on display.  We’re open from 1-5 pm.

Special thanks to Hazel Varella for the idea and written material and to Melanie Deware and Joan Lundgren for the elegant tea.

Meatloaf

Mention of a meatloaf recipe in an earlier blog got me thinking about the way my mother used to make it. In the olden days our family ate a lot of smoked shoulder and Spam so a good solid meatloaf was a delicious step up. Lest you think us deprived, lobster was so cheap in the 1950s you could afford to eat three or four chicken lobsters at a time.

Anyway every magazine had recipes for meatloaf often passed on by some famous man's wife. Remember your Leave It to Beaver studies-women in the fifties were inevitably wives and mothers whose sole job was to make the men in their life look good. Yech! Still,  a good meatloaf recipe could make someone who dined nightly on caviar look like a man of the people.

Mom swore her meatloaf recipe came from a White House kitchen of Mamie Eisenhower. It was a pretty standard meatloaf although I think it was our only menu item that called for that exotic recipe ingredient, a dash of Worcestershire Sauce. I think Ketchup was also involved. The secret of the recipe was to include two or three hard-boiled eggs in the middle of the thing and then to cover the top with bacon. This was much better than Spam, but looking back it's no wonder why Ike had heart disease.

By the way, for those of you who read my blog complaining about the lack of wifi access at the Town Hall, I honed those complaining skills in Mom's kitchen moaning about another dinner of Spam. I hear it's considered a delicacy in Hawaii sort of like snails and horse meat in France. Having eaten snails, I have to say they taste better than Spam. Don't know about the horse meat You haven't been able to get it around here since the rationing days of World War II when it was known as "beef."

I searched the universal library for Mamie's recipe, but only found her Million Dollar Fudge. I did find a recipe from another First Lady whose husband was the ultimate Fifties guy. Yup, Pat Nixon had a meatloaf recipe.

PAT NIXON'S MEATLOAF
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup finely chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 slices white bead
1 cup milk
2 pounds lean ground beef
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
2 tablespoons tomato puree
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Melt butter in a saute pan, add garlic and saute until just golden -- do not brown. Let cool.
Dice bread and soak it in milk. In a large mixing bowl, mix ground beef by hand with sauteed onions and garlic and bread pieces. Add eggs, salt, pepper, parsley, thyme and marjoram and mix by hand in a circular motion.
Turn this mixture into the prepared baking pan and pat into a loaf shape, leaving at least one inch of space around the edges to allow fat to run off. Brush the top with the tomato puree and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Refrigerate for 1 hour to allow the flavors to penetrate and to firm up the loaf.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake meatloaf on lower shelf of oven for 1 hour, or until meat is cooked through. Pour off accumulated fat several times while baking and after meat is fully cooked. Let stand on wire rack for five minutes before slicing. Makes 6 servings.

Add a dash of Worcestershire and some hard-boiled eggs and top it with bacon and you might have something!

By the way kudos to the Republicans for trying to restore Tricky Dicky's reputation by running candidates that are even worse like climate change denier James Inhofe and expert gynecologist Todd Akin. Interesting fact: Akin did go to college. According to Wikipedia he is a graduate of our own Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Bet they aren't putting that in their fundraising brochure. About the only good point Elizabeth Warren has made in her campaign is that a vote for Scott Brown is a vote to make Inhofe head of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee.

OK, women have come a long way since the bad old days of June Cleaver, but also remember in the 1950s both parties had something to offer and bipartisanship was actually possible! Here's my slogan, guys: "Save America, Bake a Meatloaf"

Send Guns and Lawyers

So here we are on the anniversary of Steve Jobs death and our fabled town government still treats users of Apple products like second class citizens. Once again I tried to fill out and save an online form from the town website only to find that honor was still unavailable to Mac users. Heck, you know me, I've complained before, vociferously, but nothing ever happens. We pay a tech person at town hall-I imagine him in top hat and a coal-stained morning coat presiding over some steampunk version of a server-why can't everyone have equal access? Also, if this poor wretch was allowed to escape in the evening and wander the halls of the old Frothingham Mansion, he might note that a lot of town business is done by volunteers (especially those plodding PC owners who can fill out the volunteer form) who actually need access to the Internet through a WiFi network to do their jobs. Here one imagines the current system run by Mr. Cratchit with a kite on the roof.  Let's have a town office that is the best that 20th century technology can provide! Yeah, the last sentence was sarcasm.

 I say let's lawyer up and close the damned place down, preferably before the Historical Society rents the tea cups for the 100th anniversary tea next Friday (from 11:30-1:30-You are all invited by the way.) The tea will include a tour of the grounds, a PowerPoint (yes, I'm bringing my own equipment) and a self-guided tour of the interior. Bring the traditional wooden shoe to throw in the gears of the server gizmo thingee or water to douse its boiler.

Please address any complaints about the above to me on engraved stationery, preferably laid paper, 40 weight, lavender color. I don't accept anything as advanced as mail from the penny post so please send your man with a calling card and my valet will decide whether to accept the epistle or not.

About the guns. Maggie has had a tough week. Her groomer insists on treating her like a frou-frou shih tzu, putting a bow in her hair when she leaves. Bad for her self-image as the 14 pound alpha dog of Easton. She even rolled over and let me rub her tummy today-something no alpha dog should ever do. However, I have a plan to restore her self image. On Saturday, October 27th, the last day of the outdoor Farmer's Market we will be hosting a Doggie Costume Party at 11:00.  Anyone is welcome to bring a costumed pooch and there will be prizes for the best dressed dog. Along with the bow Maggie got a neckerchief. Building on that I'm working hard to improve her self esteem by dressing her up on the 27th as that icon of macho, the American Cowboy. But here in the USA you can't feel really macho without guns-just ask any NRA member. Its really difficult to find a gun, bullets and a gun belt in Maggie's size, however. Since her main job is household security, I'm sure she'd have no trouble getting a pistol permit if we could only find a Colt .045. If you know a really tiny gunsmith, please let me know.

It's All Happening at the Library-Almost

I didn't quite flunk my semi-annual physical yesterday. Cholesterol had jumped from 114 to 124 and A1C from under the magic number for diabetics-7 all the way to 7.5. It was enough to take all the fun out of my semi-annual visit to the Brazil Grill for what we here in Easton call "meat on a stick."

Leave it to the Ames Free Library to lift my spirits. In case you haven't noticed, the library is the place to go for entertainment. You want a film series-feature films or documentaries? It's at the library. Want to learn about technology? The library has an ongoing series. Want to learn about historic fires-stop by at 6:30 next Wednesday and hear Jeff Webster of our fire department. Jeff pulled into the yard the other day to drop off a flyer. His presentation really looks interesting. Not only are you going to learn about some of the most famous fires in American history. Jeff is going to tell you how those fires change your life. By the way if you are interested in our own Fire Department, their annual open house is this Saturday from 1-4 with a Jaws of Life Demo at 2:30. The night before the library will host a Native America poet (she's Abenaki and can prove it!)

OK, why did the library lift my spirits yesterday? The foodie group presented Hala Williams with a feast of Lebanese food. Hala demonstrated three wonderful healthy recipes: hummus, tabbouleh, and stuffed grape leaves. Hala provided opportunities to roll your own grape leaves (I passed on that) and to sample her wonderful food-the hummus was a thousand times better than any from a store. More important Hala is a charming exponent of all the wonderful aspects of Middle Eastern cuisine. We learned about how olives were processed starting with raw olives from her family's land in Lebanon and picked up another recipe for marinated olives. Samples of several types of olives were provided. Even more fascinating was a platter of Middle Eastern fruit from raw dates through things that don't have American names. The raw dates were delightful and the mystery fruit tasted a little like apples even though they looked like raw olives. However, the highlights were raw pistachios and grapes. The grapes were amazing. Half the size of normal table grapes, they burst with a honey flavor. Unlike her grape leaves which are home-grown, Hala assured us these very short season grapes were imported-from California. Raw pistachios are impossible to describe; they don't taste like the roasted version and they don't taste like chicken. The pistachio is covered by a fleshy skin hiding the familiar nut which opens much more easily than when roasted. What a wonderful evening at the library-a superior presentation and delicious samples.

If you are intrigued by Lebanese food and missed Hala's presentation she pointed everyone to Athena Foods at 753 Pleasant Street in Brockton just down the street from Gerry's Farm Stand. I visit Athena fairly often because I use Cavendish's Greek Seasoning, a mix of salt, garlic powder, pepper, and oregano as my basic condiment. I should warn that it also contains MSG, but it is a great seasoning that cuts down my sodium intake. Last week I visited Athena and bought a package of Chicken Shawarma spice. Shawarma is the Lebanese version of giros, but since I don't have a rotating spit for cooking I decided to use the spice in a ground turkey meatloaf. The recipe is: a 3/4 pound of ground turkey, a finely diced medium onion, one or two finely diced jalapeno peppers with seeds and white removed, three or four tablespoons of dried bread crumbs, one beaten egg, and five tablespoons of Chicken Shawarma spice. Put all together in a bowl and knead until thoroughly mixed. I baked for an hour at 350. Makes two servings and really tasted good and different from my normal turkey meatloaf which tastes like Thanksgiving turkey with stuffing.