Ripening fruit upon the trees
In the August sun;
Cornfields swaying in the fields
When the day is done.”
“Gifts” by Mary Wagner

Hubby didn’t grow any corn this year so we are enjoying someone else’s corn. One of the supermarkets this week has ten ears for $2. We will partake. Our cherry tomatoes abound. The big tomatoes just keep getting bigger. One slice covers an entire piece of bread. Home-grown tomatoes certainly taste terrific. Hubby is also proud of his sunflowers. Unfortunately, his tallest sunflower, over his head at probably 6-feet-2, broke off at the soil line with the strong winds last Saturday. He probably has seven more sunflowers, all taller than the top of my head.

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I was fortunate recently to see a flyer promoting the Irish Heritage Festival, which will be held on Sun., Oct. 12, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Florian Hall and the McKeon Post. The festival will feature live music, great food, vendors, cultural activities, children’s activities, and fun for all. To support the cost of the festival, the suggested donation at the entrance will be $5 per person or $20 per family.

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I was happy to hear, from pal Eileen, that Martha Gowett from Keystone recently celebrated her 95th birthday. Father Rich Putnam singled her out at Mass on Saturday evening, much to her delight. There was even a celebration among her family members, who had joined the usual Mass attendees that evening.

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On Wed., Aug. 20, Hubby, daughter Sue, pal Eileen Burke, and I were waiting in front of St. Brendan Church for the bus that the city of Boston provides to take seniors to the concerts on City Hall Plaza. This was the last of this summer’s concerts and it was a good one: Charlie Thomas and the Drifters. I had asked daughter Sue what their hits were. She said, “Mom, you’ll be singing “Under the Boardwalk” for the rest of the evening.

The bus took us in rather quickly although it was late picking us up. We were welcomed by workers from the Elderly Affairs Commission. Each of us was given a bottle of ice-cold water and a raffle ticket. I no sooner got near our usual seats when both Eileen Collins and daughter Sue told me that Mel Simons from WBZ radio was sitting down near the stage. Thank goodness Mel is tall, so it was easy to find him. He recognized me immediately and thanked me for sending him the schedule of the concerts. His friend Roberta told me that the weather, especially for the first of the four concerts (Tavares), was terrible.I told them that the city had held off canceling the concert because of the forecast for improving weather during the evening. I mentioned how nice the weather turned out and how wonderful Tavares was that evening. We had a little spring in our step as we walked back to our bus. Some were even singing some of their songs.

I wished Mel a “Happy Birthday” (August 30) and I put it in the paper. Daughter Sue began to tell Mel about her trip to Liverpool to see the Beatles’ home town. She told him how good the “Beatles’” concert (the group “Beatlejuice”) was a few weeks before on City Hall Plaza. (The group sounded very much like the Beatles.) Mel and Roberta are so nice to chat with that it was difficult to say “goodbye.” (I never got a chance to tell Mel how much I enjoy him with Morgan White Jr. on WBZ).

It was getting very close to the start of the concert for the evening. I had seen the Drifters before so I knew how good they are. There were probably a few thousand people in attendance. (The workers kept putting out more folding chairs.) The group started with “On Broadway.” We all started singing along with them. We also joined them in “This Magic Moment,” “There Goes my Baby,” and “Up On the Roof.”  People began standing at their chairs. They were swaying and dancing to the music. The dance floor was very crowded. Among the other familiar songs that almost everyone joined in on were “Mustang Sally” (“Ride, Sally, ride!”) and “Stand by Me.” I loved “Save the Last Dance for Me” and my positive favorite, “Under the Boardwalk.”

I must mention how cool the evening became after the sun went down. I should have remembered. I think back to previous years when we were wearing fairly heavy jackets in mid-August on the Plaza. I am sorry that the Dorothy Curran Concerts are over for this year. I think that this is the 46th year for the concerts. I believe that Ryan Woods said that Dorothy Curran was a worker in the Parks Department. I am already looking forward to next year’s concerts.

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I was delighted to hear of the safe arrival of Sebastian James Gillespie on Aug. 26. The baby, who weighed in at eight pounds, is the son of Shane Gillespie and Rita Huff. The proud grandparents are Pat Gillespie and Julie Pearce, and Richard Huff and Ann Feeley. “Unbiased” great-grandma Ann Pearce told me that “Sebastian is as cute as a button.” I must look online to see his photo. Congratulations to all the family.

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Last Friday was a lovely, cool, sunny day. I thought to myself, “I’ll get lots done around the house with the cool temps.” After we ate breakfast, Hubby asked, “Are you all set to go to Castle Island?” It had slipped my mind. This was one of the last outings for “Old Ironsides” before she goes into dry dock for major repairs, which will take three to four years. There’ll be many other cool days for housework but there will only be a couple when we can see “Old Ironsides.” So off we drove up Morrissey Boulevard. We were surprised that there were so few cars in the parking lot but it was early, only about 9:15 a.m. Sully’s was already doing a good business. (The Castle Island Newsletter had suggested that we have breakfast at Sully’s before we went out to the water’s edge.) Hubby was carrying our two folding chairs but we were lucky. One of the iron benches just had one woman sitting on it so we took the other end. It was a perfect place to see the ship. More and more people began filing up the Fish Pier. Others went way up the hill to the fort with their chairs. It was a perfect day.

We began counting all the planes that were coming into Logan Airport. We noticed that these planes were only a couple of minutes apart. It was a busy day at the airport. Hubby also went up the hill toward the fort. When he came back, he said, “I can see the ship’s masts.” Very soon we could see the fireboat spewing water into the air; what a gorgeous site! Then “Old Ironsides” came round the corner into view. We could not see the tug pushing her on her other side at first. Then, as she came right in front of us at Castle Island, she stopped. We then heard the loud sounds of the cannons aboard the ship saluting Castle Island 21 times. The ground shook with each boom. Then the ship began to turn around. We could then see the tug that had pushed her to Castle Island. We all clapped and cheered for the ship. The woman sitting on our bench told us that everyone who had gone to see the ship turn around the week before had been given a small American flag to wave.  (There were none this week.) We watched as the ship went out of view. Over the fence, to our left, we could see that the crew had unfurled her sails and she was sailing back to her berth under her own power. Hubby, fortunately, had hurried up the hill when he saw what was happening and was able to take a few photos with her sails opened fully by the brisk wind.

Hubby and I saw many friends walking around Castle Island. Our pal Jane told us that she walks around the island almost every day. (I hung my head in shame.) She mentioned that her Dad had been a ship’s captain while her family lived in Canada. She told us some exciting stories about growing up with her captain father. Another friend, Shawn Prout, stopped and chatted with us. He unfortunately was a little too late to see the ship. She was returning to her dock when Shawn came along. I promised that I would write to him to tell him when the ship will take her final sail before her repairs – that will be Fri., Oct. 17. Come before 10 a.m. to be sure you see her. The crew will not be able to unfurl her sails for this last voyage. They will have already been taken off the masts because of the renovations.
Of course, as Hubby and I walked up the path toward Sully’s, we decided that this would be a great day to get some hot dogs and fries. I found an empty table under a tree while Hubby went to get the food. It was a lovely place to have lunch. What a great morning we had that day.

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I hope you heard Anthony Silva on Aug. 26 as he announced that he has been at WBZ Radio for 35 years.  Anthony is the co-host of the afternoon news segment and is the station’s New England business editor. Bravo, Anthony!

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I send my best wishes to all students and their faculty members as they begin a new school year.