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One Man’s Island by Bob Libby

September has many charms on Chebeague Island, and especially this year, islanders have a lot to anticipate. School is opening and we have spent most of our lives looking forward to the start of classes. Beginning in 1952 first as student and later as teacher, for fifty years I was excited for school to start. Five or six times in my school career the new school year began in new or remodeled school buildings. It’s like the new car smell or the new pencil box: a special electricity fills the air. When Kevin rolls up South Road and a new student takes that first step onto the bus, a magic ritual is rejoined. Our recent change of address has underlined strongly the great advantage of Chebeague’s community school. Out in our new district young children must ride fifteen miles or more to the nearest elementary school. One humorous detail of this long hot summer was the Ducas Construction school bus hauling the burly construction crew to the job site and back to the wharf each day. It often brought to mind the scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in which McMurphy takes the inmates fishing. The new construction at the boatyard tugs at nostalgia more poignantly. The last vestige of the old Brewer yard gives way to progress and a thriving

area marine facility that rivals the yards in Falmouth and Yarmouth. September is the perfect month to sail in Casco Bay, and more boat owners than ever have decided that Chebeague is the place to berth their boats for winter. Friends ask how our transition is going, and we must admit that this is the most difficult move we’ve ever made. All the details of life are different, but we are pulling together and bringing touches of Chebeague with us. We have treasured furniture and Casco Bay nautical charts from the old Chebeague Inn and treasures rescued from the dump. We have the Newcomb rose and our favorite white rugosas, hostas, and spirea that produced so well on West View. On our southern edge is a wetlands that we have seeded with milkweed from all over the island, eager to help the recovering proliferation of monarchs. We’ve exchanged housewarming plants with Anne Holmbom: Newcomb rose for her, Prince Harry’s walking stick for us. We’ve continued cuttings that Ruthie gave Paula fifty years ago that have grown at every place we have ever lived. Like the perennials we so enjoy, we have roots on Chebeague and will stay attached.

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SEPTEMBER 2018 CHEBEAGUE ISLAND COUNCIL CALENDAR