Each morning,

as I make our bed,

my eyes scan the heirloom cover.

As a boy, I watched grandmother's hands

set each crocheted hook and knot with

her seemingly endless thread.

It was the 60's

We watched news together on TV while she worked.

In '63 it was no bigger than a handkerchief

when Martin Luther King Jr.

gave his 'I Have a Dream' speech.

By the time Kennedy was killed,

it had grown to the size of a newborn's shroud.

It continued to grow during the Vietnam War

and through the riots in Newark.

By the time King was killed in '68

she could hardly bear the weight.

I lost track of it in '69 when I was

sent away to school.

Decades passed before it returned to me......

Feeling now the weight as I drape it over the bed,

I see the intricate detail of its design,

look for stories hidden in the knots.

I see Grandmother's German fingers

catching and pulling the thread,

her head shaking in disapproval

with the terrible news on TV.

Today, in front of a flat-screen TV

I watch similar news,

following her thread deep into the knots,

look for my place in this woven story.

But what can a child know other than what he is told?

What is light or dark, what is black or white?

What is a truth, what is a lie?

My eyes focus on one corner, a tear...

the old knot letting go, threads unraveling,

I ponder repair

Think of the comfort it gives me on cold winter nights,

the creamy cotton weight spread over feathered quilt;

the underlying warmth of inherited privilege...

I follow the loose threads inside the tear,

sense each generation hidden in its fibers,

hear their voices released by the unraveling.

Some scream 'tear apart the whole thing,

throw it on the alter, burn it, return it to ash,

pretend it never happened.'

Others demand 'lay it on a table,

examine every oppression,

each thread, stitch, and knot,

make the necessary repairs and reparations'

I finish making the bed,

tuck the tear under my pillow,

keep it near to the place I dream.

Perhaps tonight it will come to me,

that loose thread connecting all threads,

that dream connecting all dreams,

Martin Luther King Jr's dream,

heirloom dream for our Nation.

I was in Uvalde again the last week of January. This time I worked with children in smaller groups and taught lessons in finding the love in our hearts.

John “Moose Curtis ran the Junior Maine Guide Program for nearly 50 years. Click on the button beneath and you will find out more about this man who has dedicated his life to teaching young people skills of outdoor survival. The way things are going with our electricity grid perhaps the whole town may need Moose to teach us these skills.

Moose describes how they test Junior Maine Guide fire building skills.

circulation 141

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To subscribe send your email address to barrylane55@icloud.com. It’s free. If you like it, forward to a friend or have them forward their email to get on the list. Refresh frequently to see the latest breaking news.

The other day....Teigan and I were at the shore, and I was struck by this beautiful and never before noticed phenomenon.

The gentle 'surf' beneath the fragile layer of shore ice....enchanting....feeling like the lake....breathing. Sam Guarnaccia

Stoneham loses another town elder with the passing of Craig Adams on December 6. He will be remembered. Condolences to the family and friends.

STONEHAM-Craig Edwin Adams, 74, of Stoneham, died unexpectedly early Tuesday evening Dec. 6, 2022 in the comfort of his home in Stoneham.

He was born on Apr. 24, 1948, in Norway, a son of Howard E. and Barbara A. (MacKenzie) Adams and attended local schools. Craig was in the first graduating class of the newly combined Oxford Hills High School at the time.

After high school, Craig served in the Army from 1967-69 and did a tour of duty in Vietnam.

Shortly after his return form the service, he married Kathleen Chandler on Sept. 26, 1970 in Lovell. They made their home for a few years in Albany Twp. before buying a home and settling in Stoneham.

Craig was a wood mill worker virtually all of his working career. He retired from CB Cummings in Norway in 2002 after working there for 19 years.

In earlier years he was a volunteer firefighter for the Stoneham Fire Department and really enjoyed their annual auction that he and Pete Fox rode around together gathering items for. He enjoyed the outdoors hunting and fishing and when poor health forced him out of the woods, he could often be found riding the back roads looking for deer during hunting season. He was tremendous history and genealogy buff and helped with Lovell Historical Society.

A close second to his family was Craig’s love for classic cars, especially his 1941 Ford Coupe.

He is loved by his wife, Kathy; a daughter, Bethany Cagle and her husband, John; a son, Jesse Adams and his wife, Nicole; grandchildren, Heather Adams, Amanda and Allyssa Rogers, Chandler and Spencer Adams; two great granddaughters, Rose and Lily; a brother, Brad and his wife, Karen and their daughter, Erin. He was predeceased by his parents.

A memorial graveside service for Craig was held , Friday, Dec. 16, 2022 at the Hillside Cemetery in Stoneham. Gifts may be given in Craig's memory to the Stoneham Fire Department, 47 Butters Hill Road, Stoneham, ME 04231. Arrangements are in the care of the Hall Funeral Home in Casco where condolences and tributes may be shared amongst family and friends at www.hallfuneralhome.net.

Katie Curtis picked December 26. This years official ice in day. Start gearing up for your ice out predictions in April. Though the ice is in, it’s not too thick. Best to wait for some more cold days to make it real safe.

You can purchase these beauties at the Town Clerk’s Office for $18. Make great Christmas presents.

We have to act quickly!

Have you seen these roadside signs?

They aren’t selling anything. ESRB is a group of volunteer residents from the SAD72 towns. They’re working to get affordable internet service for our area. This is a local initiative to bring fast internet to all the residents of our towns while there is funding available to build the network. We have to act quickly to apply.

To help, go to ESRB.org or To help, go to https://www.mainebroadbandcoalition.org/speedtesting-link to take the speed test (take it often, speeds are variable!). If you know of a location that needs service, contact the town office, and ask them to put it on the map.

Is there any doubt that we live inside nature?

My buddies Baxter and Pemi are obsessed with sticks. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good little stick after a long morning on the trail. It’s kind of like a return ticket back to car. But these two take it to a whole new level. The sheer artistry is magnificent.

Marilyn Jones discusses the dissapearance of Annie Patch. A woman who disappeared from East Stoneham in 1895. Called Maine’s Greatest Murder mystery, it was believed to be solved in 1926 when postman Carl Barker uncovered a human skeleton while demolishing a house on the Merrill Homestead,

Chronicle reader Richard Dunham of Lovell Maine has shared a wonderful series of old family letters dating back to 1823, almost 200 years ago. To download the whole pdf and read the background and footnotes of all the letters click on the button above. Thank you, Richard for sharing these historical treasures. NOTE: Stoneham was not a town in 1823. That’s why the address is Batchelder’s Grant.

From Richard Dunham:

Check out our old family letters. Perhaps excerpts would be enjoyed by your readers. I think it is fascinating how tough it was and how different it was to live in Stoneham in 1823.

Simple things like getting some sugar or some calico were big luxuries.

Sarah and Elixha our buried in the little family cemetery in the field that is at the entrance of Camp Susan Curtis. The pond used to be called Allen pond, but now it is trout lake. Beside the lake is Allen Mountain.

She writes to her mother comments like this

One thing I dislike in the Methodist Church is for giving lisence to almost everry one to preach so as to be all speakers and no hearers. I am glad you stayed whare you was. I wish I had. I am sorry Mr. Crease has left thiss place for he was an excellent speaker.5 I never reallise it so much as since he has bin gone. Iniquity seems to a bound while the love of money waxes bold among us. How many hard and impenitent harts thare in thiss place.

If you have access to family history, letters or photos of old Stoneham, that you would like to share, send them to barrylane55@icloud.com

If you are thinking about suicide or worried about a friend call 988. 24/7 to consult .

DEA Laboratory Testing Reveals that 6 out of 10 Fentanyl-Laced Fake Prescription Pills Now Contain a Potentially Lethal Dose of Fentanyl

The DEA Laboratory has found that, of the fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills analyzed in 2022, six out of ten now contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl. This is an increase from DEA’s previous announcement in 2021 that four out of ten fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills were found to contain a potentially lethal dose.

Many of these fake pills are marketed over the internet as legitimate drugs. A single pill can be enough to kill a person.

Charley Simic was a teacher of mine and UNH. Someone once asked him, “What is Poetry.” He said poetry is words that sing. His poem Stone is a great example of his ability to imagine a world with words and images. A perfect poem for Stoneham, our land of stones and star charts.

I have written many short poems in my life, except ‘written’ is not the right word to describe how they came into existence. Since it’s not possible to sit down and write an eight-line poem that’ll be vast for its size, these poems are assembled over a long period of time from words and images floating in my head.”. Charles Simic

With the recent gypsy moth invasion we are reminded how fast an ecosystem can be altered for the worse. We need to be vigilant and proactive. Are you interested in preserving our beautiful lake and its creatures for generations to come? You may want to join FOLK :Friends of Lake Keewaydin. Contact Adam at adamfhelm@gmail.com for more information.

Like the news itself, this Chronicle has no deadlines, only lifelines. It will be continually updated till the end of the current month. Keep refreshing to find new stories. Past editions can be found at link below. You are the reporters. Send news, pics and video links to barrylane55@icloud.com. We will publish everything that applies to our mission of building community on the lake and being stewards of our wild world or just sharing local stories and history of the lake and surrounding area. You are all reporters and the story surrounds us.

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Email: barrylane55@icloud.com
Phone: 802-345-9193

eggs have gone up 1 dollar because the chickens are eating more to stay warm.

If you are 65 or older, subscribe to Stoneham Rescue and save lots of money if you end up using the ambulance service this year.

If you are single, send check for $35 to the address below. If you are a couple, send $55. You are also welcome to send more money as a charitable donation.

Ciaran, of the Shea’s cabin. Unlike the British Harry, he is a real potter and makes traditional Celtic goods. See links below. He even speaks Celtic so if you see him say. Dia dhuit!

Here’s an intriguing, non partisan, look back last year that examines countries by their amount of peacefulness. Excerpt: The key to building peacefulness in times of conflict and uncertainty is Positive Peace. It can also be used to forecast future falls in peacefulness, with accuracy rates of up to 80 per cent. Positive Peace is defined as the attitudes, institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies. Countries that have higher levels of peace, as measured by the GPI, than their Positive Peace measures are said to have a ‘Positive Peace deficit’. This is where a country records a higher level of peacefulness than can be sustained by its level of socio-economic development. Of the countries with large Positive Peace deficits in 2009, 80 per cent had deteriorated in the GPI by 2022.