As I write the Sprucewold column on a cloudy Saturday morning, our cabin is abuzz with activity: using a chainsaw, rakes, and brute strength, a group is hauling small trees and brush out of the woods in preparation for the upcoming chipping day; a grandson has cleared out an overgrown garden and a daughter is planting herbs and annuals; I’ve hoed out the hutch yet again (how easily it collects stuff we might use someday) hoping to gain more room in the ancient kitchen I continue to love. A lot of our neighbors are doing much the same thing outdoors these days, and it makes a huge difference to how good the area looks — better and better each year!

By the time you read this, the Linekin Heights Annual Meeting will have occurred, but next Saturday, Aug. 10 is the date of the rest of the gatherings for the summer. The Beach Club meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. at the Catholic Church Social Hall and the Sprucewold Association annual meeting will occur at 11 a.m. on the Linekin Heights Green.

Saturday evening, Aug. 10, from 5-7, is the planned time for the annual Sprucewold/Linekin Heights potluck on the Linekin Heights Green, with a rain date of Sunday the 11th, same time, same place. In terms of food, last names starting with the following letters are asked to bring these dishes: A-E, dessert; F-O, salad or side dish; and P-Z, main dish. Please bring your plate, glass, and silverware; drinks for both adults and kids will be provided. This event is a great time to say hello to friends and neighbors, to welcome folks new to the area, and to join in on one of the events of our great community if you are one of the new folks. We look forward to meeting you and we will have name tags for all!

We’ve enjoyed having our turnabout, the Why Not?, in the water early this summer. She is named for an old British Firefly racing boat we bought many years ago from our neighbor on Birch Road Blanche Geer, who sold her cabin to Mike and Bev Kahn not long after we had purchased our own cabin here in Sprucewold. Blanche was the daughter of one of the original owners in Sprucewold, O.P. Geer, whose cabin dates back to the 1920s. Geer was the original president of the “Sprucewold Property Owners’ Association,” formed during the summer of 1927.

Page 76 of our delightful Rusticators in Sprucewold contains more details of that early summer including the specifics of forming the new association. If you’d like a copy, they are available from Ralph Kimball or David Otto. My brief foray into the book just now to check on the dates cited above makes me want to do some rereading. The photos and stories—of the original 1926 lodge and dining room, of historic cabin details, and of the kids who grew up here in Sprucewold—are a rich and inspiring record of our founding—and they solidify our identity as a continuing community of Maine rusticators.

Speaking of history—I recently walked into our kitchen to find on the table the old news-collecting box of the Sprucewold Colony, likely dropped off by a neighbor who had unearthed it from some storage place. It’s built like a mailbox, with a red flag to raise when you’ve put something inside. However, it’s made of logs and meant to collect information submitted by residents to the long-faithful writer of the weekly column, Barbara Schmidt. It used to stand on a post next to the mailboxes at the corner of Birch and Nahanada, near the Schmidt cabin, still owned and enjoyed by the next generation of the family. And trust me, if you didn’t submit the news of your cabin, you could count on a phone call from Barbara at least once a summer.

Hey — maybe we’ll try that again to be sure to include as much news as we can about the events and developments within the Sprucewold community. It wouldn’t take much to dust off that old mailbox!