From France
In 1927, my mother gave me, as a Christmas present, a beautiful illustrated book called “Nursery Friends from France.” Included in its 191 pages is “On the Bridge of Avignon,” with the words in English and also in French, written beneath the music of the song, for the reader to play if desired. In French, it is called “Sur le pont d’Avignon.”
Avignon is a beautiful city on the banks of the river Rhone in southern France. The interesting old bridge in Avignon still stands there, and every year the people of Avignon hold a festival on the bridge and sing the old song.
I wrote a few years ago that the Lauritz Dyhrberg family of Westbrook was in France and sang “Sur le Pont” on that famous bridge.
I phoned and talked with Lauritz’s wife, Michelle Fournier, who teaches French at Westbrook High School. She verified my recollection. What a happy time that must have been!
The first verse in French is:
“Sur le pont d’Avignon
L’on y danse, L’ on y danse,
Sur le pont d’Avignon
L’on y danse, tout en road.
Les messieurs font comme ga.
Puis encore font comme ga.”
From somewhere
An AP story in the Portland newspaper July 18 showed a picture of a wildife specialist holding an 8-foot long python, with both hands.
The snake supposedly made its way through water pipes and into the washing machine of a Gorham woman, Mara Ranger. She had reached into her machine for her blue jeans and felt something move. She saw the huge snake, quickly closed the lid and called for help.
Richard Burton of Maine Animal Damage Control in Lewiston arrived and could barely believe his eyes. He wrestled the scaly snake into a plastic bag, tied it shut, and took it to Lewiston.
The snake was at the wildlife park in Gray, and will be sent to York Animal Kingdom in York.
Ms. Ranger says she’s a little paranoid, and will be checking every corner and crevice in her home. Mr. Burton guessed that the snake was somebody’s pet, got too big, and was tossed it out into the wild.
The markings on the python, in the picture, were beautiful. Now I’d like to visit York Animal Kingdom to see that 8-foot snake and study the markings.
From a newsletter
My copy of the latest Guillemot newsletter, put out by the Sorrento Scientific Society and
sent to me by Joan Ashley, had several interesting items:
Cooper’s hawks were here and there, with 14 reports through the end of June. One was taking a pigeon at Biddeford on June 16, and the Bradbury Mountain hawk watch saw four. Goshawks were less common in migration, with only six noted at the hawk watch site. There was a pair at Falmouth, one of which took a chipmunk on June 9. One in Edgecomb went after a squirrel, which escaped by hiding under the squirrel guard on a bird feeder.
The only ring-necked pheasants reported were birds at Cape Elizabeth, and one on Monhegan Island.
There were too many indigo bunting reports to cite all of them.
Baltimore orioles were the less common species, believe it or not. One in Topsham was taking threads from green and red plastic tarps and building a multi-colored nest in a maple tree.
Dark-eyed juncos were nesting and many had young by the second week in June. One in Blue Hill fought its image in a car mirror.
Under Astronomy, we read: “Here in Earth we have passed the summer Solstice, and find the days starting to get shorter by a few minutes each day as we approach Autumn Equinox at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 22nd.’
From the musical
We read in the July 29 New York times, with a picture of three of the von Trapp family, that their family villa in Salzburg, Austria, is now open to the public and will be a hotel and museum.
For 15 years the villa was the home of Baron Georg von Trapp, his seven children, and Maria, their governess, who became their stepmother. The story of their escape after the Nazi occupation of the country inspired “The Sound of Music,” the Broadway musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein and an Oscar-winning film.
Pictured were Maria von Trapp, 94, the second daughter, her brother Johannes, and their sister-in-law, Erika von Trapp.
How I would have enjoyed visiting that villa, had it been open to the public when I visited Salzburg in the 1980s on an AMC hiking trip. “The Sound of Music” is my favorite Broadway musical recording, which I often listen to, and sometimes sing with.
From the files
Today’s recipe is one I made several years ago and have just made again.
CHOCOLATE CHEWIES
1 can of condensed milk
1 small package of chocolate bits
12 double graham crackers, or 2 cups of crumbs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of shredded coconut, or 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts.
Put 1/2 can of condensed milk and the contents of the package of chocolate bits into the top part of a double boiler. Cook over low heat until the bits are melted. Add the remaining 1/2 can of condensed milk. Mix well.
Remove from heat. Add 2 cups of the graham cracker crumbs. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Fold in 1/2 cup shredded coconut, or 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts.
To make flat cookies (which I made): Drop by spoonfuls onto well-greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Place on a rack to cool. Frost lightly with confectioner’s sugar. (I did not). Place a cherry on top. (I did not).
To make rolled cookies: Drop by spoonfuls onto a well-greased cookie sheet. Bake 8 minutes at 350 degrees. While warm, make each cookie into a ball. Roll in confectioner’s sugar. Place on rack until cool.
I baked the first batch of flat cookies the 10 minutes called for in the recipe. The second batch I baked I removed at about 8 minutes. These were a little more chewy. So just watch your cookies. Either way, they were very good, and disappeared quickly.
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