October gave a party,
The leaves by hundreds came;
The chestnuts, oaks, and maples,
And leaves of every kind.
By George Cooper
Coming along Route 3, Hubby and I saw quite a few red maples among the trees with their green leaves. Quite a few years ago, one of the TV weathermen said that cooler weather and shorter daylight accounted for the change in color. The red maples are just beautiful.
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I was sorry to hear from pal Eileen Burke that our longtime friend Ann (Flynn) Maloney had passed away on Oct. 6. Ann was the wife of the late John Maloney and the sister of James Flynn, Edward Flynn, and the late William and Charles Flynn. She was a sister-in-law of Ruth and Edward Sullivan. Ann, a secretary in the Boston schools, often spoke with Hubby about the schools after both had retired. She was a lovely lady and a friend to many. The last time I saw Ann was at the Bostonian Nursing Care and Rehab Center.
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I was so happy that I was listening to John Costello, who was filling in for Paul Sullivan on the Irish Hit Parade on WROL last Saturday at noon time, because John mentioned that he had just been speaking to Lenny Lilly. Lenny told John that he, a Boston police officer, would be working at the Irish Heritage Festival at Florian Hall and the McKeon Post the next day. John said that Lennie looked great in his uniform. The Pope’s Hill Association is pleased that Lenny, who still lives in our neighborhood, is a Community Service Officer for District C-11 in Fields Corner. By the way, at our Sept. PHNA meeting, Lennie announced that another local resident, Tommy Rose, was in charge of the Bike Squad. It is great that the local police know our neighborhood where they grew up.
Also, at the September PH meeting, President Phil Carver announced that he was retiring from his post as president. We were all shocked. Phil explained that he was taking over a new position at UMass Boston and he would not have enough time for Pope’s Hill business. We were all sorry to see Phil leave. Phil’s wife Pam was at the meeting that evening. John Schneiderman, our vice president, has kindly offered to step in as president. At an impromptu E Board meeting after the September PHNA meeting, John said that he would need the help of all the E Board members to help him serve the association. Quite a few E Board members have already volunteered.
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Back to our five days down at the Irish Village: To say we had a great time at the Village is an understatement. The food was excellent. I had comfort food: hash (for breakfast), shepherd’s pie, and meatloaf. Hubby had mostly beef and steak. The day we had the torrential rains on the Cape, we decided that we would go to Burger King since their coupons were in Sunday’s newspapers. While we were in “BK,” the heavens opened up. The solarium area, all glass over the tables and chairs, was in about five inches of water on the floor. The falling rain came in where the glass panels joined. It was sad to see. Later that day, we drove up to the Agway Store to get canned cat food for our outdoor cat “Louie.” Before we finished shopping in that “feed and grain” store, the rains came down heavily once again. We waited in the store for quite a while with our purchases until the rain subsided. I have never seen such heavy rain.
Of course I had to visit the Dennisport Post Office. The personnel are so nice. I told the clerk that I wanted “Forever” stamps but not the “blowing” flags. If I don’t have my glasses on, I can’t tell which is the right way up. He gave me the water lilies stamps, which are positively beautiful. We also had to visit the Santander Bank,during the day of the heavy rain to deposit a check and get a little more cash. We explained that we used their branches in Dorchester and Quincy. The people there were so nice to us. They invited us to come back to their office the next time we were down the Cape.
I had a chance to chat with my friend Barbara Sullivan from Lower Mills while we were down the Cape. Barbara entered a senior citizen art contest, sponsored by Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin at the Commonwealth Museum (the Archives). The theme of the paintings was to be the Revolutionary War and the paintings were all on display from Sept. 8 to Sept. 27 at the Archives. Her painting came in third in the oil-painting category. Bravo, Barbara!
Of course we had to thank Tommy, one of the owners of the Irish Village, for being so kind to us. Usually Eileen, the head of our tour, goes to the Stage Stop Candy House in Dennisport to get fudge for Tommy but she was not felling well. Because we know where the Candy House is located, she asked if we would get the fudge for Tommy. At 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Hubby and I were on the road to Stage Stop. We arrived there a little earlier than the 9 o’clock opening time. The employees saw us waiting outside and they kindly opened their store a little early for us. While the clerk was filling our order for Tommy, I said that I lived very near Phillips Candy House in Boston. The clerk’s eyes lit up. “I love Mary Ann. We have such a good time together.” I told the woman that I would tell Mary Ann Nagle. By the time we arrived back at the Irish Village, breakfast was still being served so Hubby and I ate heartily and Eileen presented Tommy with the fudge, which he loves.
We had packed most of our clothing on Thursday evening. We had several Diet Cokes in the fridge so we didn’t take them out until the last minute. We were sad to leave. On the way home, however, we had another place to visit, the Market Basket Store near the Sagamore Bridge. There were not too many shoppers at the time we were there. We stocked up on milk and bread and other staples. We had to jam the food into the car with all our luggage and our Cape purchases. Not many were going off the Cape at Friday noontime so we had an easy ride home. (Traffic going onto the Cape was much heavier.) When we arrived home, we unloaded the car. I think I heard a sigh from the motor when the car was empty and much lighter! When we had a minute, we put the dates on our calendar when we will visit the Irish Village in the spring. We can’t wait to return.
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I love this saying by Bernard Berenson: “Miracles happen to those who believe in them.”
