The Bugle Boys of Company B

The March winds are blowing reveille, and it's music to my ears. I can hear the bugle boy play "a root, a toot, a toodli da toot" as if I were listening to Bette Midler singing "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." You can hear the notes from far away, and just like company B, Bath and I are waking up. I can hardly wait for spring because Washington Street has the prettiest flowers in May and June. Wait! Let's not rush because time can never be repeated! This is the first March that we have owned a home in Maine, and we want this March to last 31 glorious days. We are off to a good start because John Ater and his bugle boys arrived on time to revive our living room and dining room. Now they look bigger and brighter than ever before. Our electricians, Kenny and Dickie, put canned lights in the ceilings, and voila, the mood changed to happy! 

I'm convinced that lighting has the power to add grace to any room, but before you can turn up the lights on Washington Street, you have to find electricians who know old houses, and that is why I thank John Ater so often and so loudly. John introduced us to Kenny and Dickie, who bear an uncanny resemblance to Dean and Jerry. No, not Ben and Jerry. I am referring to the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, who lit up movie and television screens from 1950 to 1956. Well, Kenny and Dickie, men of Company B, are almost as funny and equally as endearing as Dean and Jerry. Yes, they are! They have been friends since high school, and now they work together like a well oiled machine. Kenny talks real fast while Dickie waits and punctuates the  pauses with a word or two. After Kenny repaired some old wiring in our basement last July, I began to trust and admire his skills. Kenny in turn trusts and admires Dickie, the master electrician. In many ways, their enduring friendship exemplifies the best of Bath. It's very clear that the shipbuilders who have resided here for hundreds of years know how to build strong houses as well as strong boats. According to Kenny and Dickie, that's why this cool little city has been able to move so many historical homes from one location to another within the city limits. Blessed with an abundance of skilled craftsmen, Bath makes the impossible inevitable. And when something breaks, you can be sure that someone very capable will come to fix it! And chances are, they will entertain you with a few urban legends.

We spent forever deciding on paint colors. Polka dots of spring like color seemed to appear on every wall. It was definitely a Goldilocks experience. The first color was too blue and the next color was too green, but Tranquility was just right for the living room, and Wildflower was just right for the dining room. Both colors wake you up in the morning with a tickle. Our Maine house is ready for spring, and we have two newly painted rooms to fill with comfortable chairs and couches, pretty photographs, local art, and of course, books and music! This old house is awake, and Joe and I are so ready to dance in the living room, cook in the kitchen, serve dinner in the dining room, read the newspaper in the sun-room and laugh with friends and family in every corner, but at the moment our Maine house is rather empty. You might even be able to hear an echo in the dining room.

The kitchen and sun-room, however, are beginning to feel like home, and although we haven't painted the rooms upstairs, the bedrooms all have beds! In fact, the master bedroom is feeling quite lived-in with an antique dresser and my grandmother's rocking chair. The Dash and Albert rug is definitely the heart of the room. It was expensive, but it was "necessary" to make our house feel cozy. Maine is cold in winter, and sometimes it's cold in the spring and fall, too, so a rug brings that snuggle to the center of the room. We found our "Flower Box" design at the Ornament shop in downtown Bath. I must admit I never walk down Front Street without stopping at the Ornament. The owner, Gayle Hunt, is truly a visual artist. The Ornament's display window invites you in, and once inside you want to stay for a while and touch and see all of the lovely garden accessories, antiques, linens and lamps. Within Ornament you will also find Betsy Pare at her Maine Shades' workbench. Betsy is the Mary Poppins of lamp shades! With a little fabric, a scissor and glue, she saved my mother's old lamp, a family heirloom, that now adorns our nightstand. With Gail and Betsy working creatively at the Ornament, Bath time is always in good hands, and springtime promises to be magnificent. I can hear the winds of March, the bugle boys of Company B, blowing reveille!