Cole Farms
Made a trip up to Gray today, and shared a meal with some old friends. We met at a restaurant there called Cole Farms. This place was built in 1952, and is a large part of my earliest (and best) memories. Just 15 minutes south of my home town, it’s grown from a tiny little clam shack, to a huge, two story enterprise that almost always has a bit of a wait. The pies are made on site daily … and the potatoes are real! They don’t take credit cards … but they do offer some of the best food, for the best prices, anywhere around. This isn’t a just another restaurant, it’s a local “institution!” Click on the link and a take a look at the little movie in the left side bar of the web site.
Althea, my Mom-in-Law, drove up with Dougie and I. We met with Fr. Bob, who had come up from Gorham, and his brother Emery, and Emery’s wife Sylvia, who drove up from Westbrook. Joanie and her Mum, “Aunt Pauline,” drove all the way down from Bangor.
These little meetings are getting harder and harder to arrange. If things work out the way I expect them to, by late this fall, this sort of thing will become completely impossible for us. This is a year of change for most of us.
Here are a few pics that I’d like to share with you of today’s little jaunt …
My Mom-in-Law, Althea Ballard, my son Dougie, and Fr. Bob Girouard - better known as “Unca Bobby!” ;o)
Pauline England, (Mom England, or “Aunt Paulie,”) my dear friend Joanie England, Sylvia Girouard, and Emery Girouard. Emery and Fr. Bob are brothers. The first time we ever met Emery and Sylvia was right here at Cole Farms. Fr. Bob, Dougie and I met there for lunch one day. We were surprised to find Emery and Sylvia already there! They sat us at the table right next to them! After lunch, Fr. Bob, Dougie and I hopped into one car, and drove up to Orono together to see Daein.
Before heading back for Berwick, Dougie, Althea and I drove up to my home town, Lewiston, and I paid a visit to the cemetery where my parents are buried. We made a quick nostalgic pass through town, and just before we crossed the bridge over the mighty Androscoggin on our way out of Lewiston, the car overheated, and I had to pull over and let it cool off.
While I was there, I took a picture of the falls. This is taken from the Lewiston side of the Lewiston/Auburn bridge.
Funny thing … no matter how old you are, there’s always a tug whenever you return “home” again. This time was especially poignant, because the school I went to has been torn down, and nothing is left but a huge heap of bricks. I could almost see all of my little school-girl memories, buried underneath the pile.
I think the most difficult thing of all, though - is the realization that the place I grew up in is now occupied by people I’ve never met. If I were to march back into the kitchen, my Mom would no longer be sitting quietly in the rocking chair … my Dad wouldn’t be there in his long johns, reading the paper. The kitchen would be different, the people would be unfamiliar. They wouldn’t welcome this intruder into their domain. It wouldn’t matter to them that I know those walls intimately … that I spent all of my childhood playing on those floors, and knew every corner, and every crack. The voices filling the house would be painfully unfamiliar.
You never outgrow the desire to find home again, somehow … even when you know that it no longer exists.
July 26th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
I’m totally missing out on all the fun this summer!!! I’ve been cooped up in my tiny apartment and the summer is flying by without me. I associate summer as going out to eat with you and your friends!! I miss that now that I am far away….
Glad you had fun though!! Great pictures. :-D
July 26th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
I wonder if this nostalgia is a gender thing . I ALWAYS feel nostalgic when I visit my parents’ house (and that is EVERY WEEK). However my husband does not seem that sentimental about his childhood places. Guess women ARE hopeless romantics :)
July 27th, 2006 at 12:13 am
Sarah … it won’t be long before we’re all doing stuff together again. I miss you both an awful lot. When you’re not around, I feel as if part of me is missing.
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Lakshmi … thank you for visiting me and leaving a comment. Yes, we’re hopeless romantics. I’ve come to the conclusion that I should avoid going anywhere near anything that raises that sort of sentimentality … sometimes it’s just too acute …
July 27th, 2006 at 9:48 am
I would love to check out Cole Farms. A restaurant that has over 40 desserts HAS to be good ;)
It is nice to hear that you had such a wonderful gathering with the special people in your life…especially now that you know big changes will be happeningfor you in the not too distant future. That makes these times even more precious than ever.
July 27th, 2006 at 11:08 am
You are right, we can never return. The lil’shotgun house I was born in still stands, try as I do, the owners have resisted my offers to buy it over the years. I do not know why I feel compelled to have it as I only have one memory from it, my Grandmother use to make me a lil’fried pie from cinnamon, sugar, and butter.
July 27th, 2006 at 11:53 am
Probably Thomas Wolfe said it best with ‘You Can’t Go Home Again,’ but some things can be powerfully evocative no matter how long we have been away from them. If your old school still existed, you could walk into those halls, the same smells would be there and that would take you right back to 5th grade, or whenever. About five years ago I found a name on the Internet and it referred to a girl I went through school with, right from kindergarten. We had not spoken or seen each other for 40 years. I contacted her. Found out she didn’t live very far away, even though we both live a long way away from our childhood homes. We agreed to meet for lunch. The moment we saw each other, four decades later, we recognized each other immediately. And then we kind of picked up in conversation where we left off. We are now in regular contact.
Gee, Moof, your blog gave me much to think about.
Cheers, Ian
July 27th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
Moof, I love the new pic. Also, I have to tell you that I corrected a very BIG typo on one of my responses to you, on my blog..
July 27th, 2006 at 8:48 pm
It looks peaceful! Beautiful pics
July 28th, 2006 at 7:55 am
those pictures are beautiful! i wanna come eat at Cole Farms.
July 28th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Pattie … it’s a great place. The desserts are wonderful. I’m not real big on desserts, but it’s hard to pass them up at Cole Farms!
Yes, you’re right … these times are more precious now than they’ve ever been as we all scatter to the 4 winds. I’m sure that you realize that as much as anyone would … *comfort*
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William - don’t give up on trying to buy that little house you were born in - you never know when the current might relent. You may only have one memory from there, but it sounds like it’s a pretty wonderful one …
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Ahh Ian … it’s good to know that my blog may occasionally affect you in the way your blog always affects me … :o)
I’ve had two recent experiences with finding people I hadn’t seen in 40 years. Both were real revelations. We simply seem to be who we are … time affects the outside, hurts and joys affect the inside, but we are still the same little child who experienced the memories we reminisce upon today. Time is a harsh mistress … she carries us along in her wake, but leaves the sights, sounds and smells of where we’ve been intact, only misting the edges, making them even more evocative.
Thanks for visiting Ian. I really enjoy your comments.
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Cathy … I’m going to have to come over and take a look … and then come back here and fix it for you! *comfort* I hate it when I do something like that on someone else’s blog … and I do it all the time!
That’s why I added the live comment plug in, so that you can see what you’re typing as you type it. (below the comment box)
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Wanda … thank you for visiting and leaving a comment. The waterfall looks pretty peaceful in the picture, but when the Androscoggin is angry, it really is frightening. There’s been one major flood in the last century, and it took down what was then the only bridge between the twin cities of Lewiston and Auburn.
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Kt … listen dear … if you come to Maine, I’ll bring you to Cole Farms! *LOL* :o)
July 28th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
Thats sweet moof…. enjoy your freinds and those special get together times… I never had a home like that.. Dad was a Jarhead and mom must have gotten used to it because even after they split we still moved alot LOL… but I often think of the last place we were together and think about going back there for a visit… Mind a hithchiker on the way to fl? LOL… love the pics!!!