September 22, 23, 24, 2006 ---
The Common Ground Fair was held in Unity on September 22, 23 and 24.
More IQ congregates there for those three days than you will find anywhere this side of Cambridge.
So it is only natural that an inordinate number of my radio friends are in attendance.
All year I look forward to the fair because it is a chance to talk with you.
If you see your picture here or recognize one of your friends, please send me a name to
put under it.
I went up from St.George around 0700 every morning. On Sunday I followed ScottishWroughtIron all the way
up and I'm glad to say that I could barely keep him in sight.
A. Saturday without a tent. Pix by Sue DiVito
B. The media folks brought their own tents.
C. humble and Charlie DeVito, wet, and cold but not miserable.
Charlie and Sue later stayed at our B&B
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23. A man came up to me at the Common Ground Fair and said that his name was Harold Mosher
and that 28 or so years ago he used to work with me in the Navigator Motel in Rockland for our good friend,
the late, great Paul Devine. And Harold asked me if I could remember working with him and I said that I couldn’t.
And I said to Harold, “How in the world, after 28 years, can you remember me?” And Harold said,
“You used to hang your underwear out to dry in the lobby.”
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28. Marlene & Skip. These wonderful young people who live down Bar Harbor way helped me fold up my
tent Sunday night. They each have an MA in biology, I think.
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32. This one of my friends selling Rolled Oats made me laugh when I downloaded it. They
are obviously very much into what they do.
33. My friend of many years, David Bright. David brought Vic Runtz to one of my first
Free Lobster Picnics and there is a Vic Runtz cartoon on my cellar door dated August 15, 1982.
34.
35. "Less talk --- more music."
36. T shirt of Ed Perry's pig, Rosebud. Many people used to stop at Ed Perry's gas station
in Stockton Springs just to see his big pig, Rosebud. I stop there today because Ed Perry has the best
crabmeat rolls I know of on the coast of Maine. If you know anyone else who has great crabmeat rolls,
please let me know.
37. Asked me to be in the bicycle parade. Thank you. "Mr. Robie, the bicyle fanatic."
38. This girl didn't come by my booth, but she was so pretty I had to walk over and ask her if I could
take her picture. I think she later confessed to being a radio friend.
39. Re: Common Ground Fair '06 Picture #39 --
It was a pleasure meeting you at the fair.
My wife and I make it a yearly pilgrimage, so I will probably see you next year.
Until then, keep up the good work....I love the show.
Spencer Garrett
40. Sofia, Bia's Sister who spoke Swedish with me.
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46. Alvino Rey's daughter
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49. David Bright and George Quinlan
50. Dear Humble,
I wanted to take a moment and tell you how much I enjoyed our short
visit together meeting at the un- Common Ground Fair this year. The
good looking couple in picture 50 are George and Victoria Quinlan
from Kennebunk. We are raising two Tamworth piglets and wanted to
find some extra information while there. To our surprise we saw a
picture of our piglets on the board at the booth from where we buy
our hog mix.
51. Dear humble, Oh, and by the way, my lovely wife Jill, my Wee Lad, Benjamin, and myself
are in Common Ground Fair picture #51. It was nice to meet you, and Martha's cookies were delicious. Craig Timberlake
52.
53. Dr. Jay Stager. I owe my life and happiness to this man. Eons ago he taught with my buddy
Bill, Marsha's father, in Manchester, CT. Marsha and her husband worked in Jay's Maine summer
camps for teens for years. When she was widowed at 34, Marsha sold out in Connecticut and Jay helped her
find a place in Lincolnville. I then met Marsha at the Camden Single's Club where hungry men were
lured in by food. I'm still eating it. You're right. When Jay came up to me at the fair, I didn't recognize him, either.
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64. Can this be Sydney Mitchell, Sydney Bechet's godchild?
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70. "70 is John Kelly and Suzanne White-Kelly from Boston, MA/Sumner, ME."
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77. Dr. Olga
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79. Marsha says that this is Dick & Lorraine Stone from Orange Harbor where Marsha
& I winter in Fort Myers.
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86. John Leeke is THE expert when it comes to repairing old houses,
and if he wasn't at the fair, he should have been.
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94. Marsha says that this is Margaret & Wayne Hill who live on Sun Circle in Orange Harbor in Fort Myers
where Marsha and I spend winters.
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96. Carl Ed Lacy and Susan Eastman
97. No. 97 is me (Prof. John E. Carroll, University of new Hampshire) I'm an
alum of Michigan State, as the cap indicates.
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99. Dear Humble Farmer,
Thanks to Google I was able to ascertain that Judi Dench's movie that neither of us could remember when we met at the Common Ground Fair was Mrs Henderson Presents. She's an amazing actress. It is an injustice that out of so many well deserved nominations one did not result in an Oscar. Thank you for one of your programs that mentioned the movie.
This brings me to the reason for this e-mail which also has a link to the delightful and well thought out satirical flyer you handed out at the fair.
I was 11 years old in Bristol England when the war broke out in 1939. The first year was rather quiet as Hitler made his way through Europe and it took time for England's war machine to get into operation. The tragedy of Dunkirk was followed by a relentless attack on England and the bombing of my home town, Bristol. As a school boy I can remember going to school through the gutted, still smoulding center of the town after spending a night in a shelter listening to the antiaircraft guns and the explosions of bombs, one only 200 yards from where we were sheltering. I recall one Saturday morning standing in the garden and counting 126 bombers, which we thought was the RAF returning from a bombing raid. They were Germans and that day the Midland town of Coventry was destroyed. Shortly after that I was evacuated to the quieter town of Reading to stay with foster parents.
Many friends I knew suffered for years from what we now know as post traumatic stress disorder. Then we saw derelicts suffering from shell shock. One of our teachers, that we ribbed unmercifully, suffered from shell shock he got from WW 1.
Humble Farmer. I hope this letter to you will, as the memories come flooding back, do two things; exorcise the tragic content of war and in some way the mistaken heroic mythology of war. War sucks. I hope it's a lesson that this swaggering gun-toting leader of ours may experience one day.
I trust we share the same platform here. Keep up the good work and pumping out that great music on a Friday evening.
Arthur Berry, Union.
100. Chris Miller
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104. "I did discover my friend Eydie Pryzant located at #104" from Peggy
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109. Eating one of Marsha's cookies
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116. Getting a bike ready for humble for the bike parade.
117. "I biked to the fair."
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120. Falkenburg, Sweden. Here you see me teaching Olivia to be bad. She shrieks with laughter when I act silly
and her parents are glad when I leave. Olivia is around 3 and is a great great grandaugther
of Anders Alexandersson, a cousin to my grandfather Skoglund. You can tell that Olivia and I
are related because we have about the same complexion.
121. This is Christian Alexandersson, son of my third cousin Egon, and his new bride Pia.
122. This is Christian Alexandersson, son of my third cousin Egon, and his new bride Pia. A visit to Hoggy's store. Hoggy's
great great grandmother delivered me in 1936. I am related to Hoggy innumerable ways.
123. This is Christian Alexandersson, son of my third cousin Egon, and Pia.
120. This is my third cousin, Egon Alexandersson, grandfather to Olivia, with his son's killer watch dog, Woopi.
785 River Road
St. George, ME 04860
(207) 226-7442
humble@humblefarmer.com
www.TheHumbleFarmer.com
© 2006 Robert Skoglund