The South Coast Insider - September 2023

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September 2023 | Vol. 27 | No. 9

Published by Coastal Communications Corp.

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief

Ljiljana Vasiljevic

Editor

Sebastian Clarkin

Sales Manager

Mari Burns (508) 916-0374

Contributors

Michael J. DeCicco, Paul Kandarian, Tom Lopes, Sean McCarthy, Elizabeth Morse Read

Layout & Design

Janelle Medeiros

The South Coast Insider is published monthly for visitors and residents of the South Coast area and is distributed free of charge from Mount Hope Bay to Buzzards Bay.

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COVER

12

Maze and moos

By Sean McCarthy

20

Rolling on By Michael

General Admission: 12 PM - 5 PM

VIP Admission: 11 AM

J. DeCicco

6 See you in September! By Elizabeth Morse Read

18

From seed to sapling

By Michael J. DeCicco

14 Vintage cheer

By Michael J. DeCicco

16

Renovating from A to the Z

By Michael J. DeCicco

22 A slightly-below-average life

By Paul Kandarian

ON THE COVER

A perennial fall favorite on the South Coast, the Escobar Farm corn maze returns for its 24th year, promising to delight visitors young and old with classic autumn entertainment. Learn more by turning to page 12 or by visiting escobarshighlandfarm.com.

+ Visit southcoast.org/urgentcare to check wait times, skip the line, and save your spot online.

+ Our 6 locations are open 7 days a week – 8am to 8pm Monday through Friday, and 9am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.

+ Walk-ins are welcome and having a Southcoast Health physician is not required.

Urgent Care Locations:

Dartmouth, MA

435 State Road

Fairhaven, MA

208 Mill Road

Fall River, MA

450 William S Canning Blvd

Lakeville, MA

12 Main Street

Seekonk, MA 39 Commerce Way

Wareham, MA

Wareham Crossing 2421 Cranberry Highway

Here for you when you need us

THINGS TO DO

See you in

September!

by Elizabeth Morse Read

Summer’s almost over! The kids are heading back to school, the tourists have gone home – take a deep breath and enjoy the cooler temps, the bumper-crops at the farmers markets, the harvest fairs, seafood festivals and dancing-in-the-streets – and the return of indoor music, theatre, and cultural events as the days grow shorter!

Festivals, fairs, and festas!

Mark your calendars for the annual Our Lady of the Angels Portuguese Festa on Labor Day weekend –September 2-4 – at the feast grounds in north Fairhaven (fairhaventours. com)!

Head for Trinity Beer Garden at Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence on September 23 for the RI Vegtoberfest – a 21+ vegan beer and food event and marketplace presented by RI VegFest (goprovidence.com)!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! King Richard’s Faire in Carver returns on weekends September 2-October 22 (kingrichardsfaire.net).

Head for the 13th Annual Rhode Island Seafood Festival at India Point Park in Providence on September

16-17, rain or shine (riseafoodfest. com)!

Head for Frerich’s Farm in Warren for the Mum & Scarecrow Festival

September 9 and the Thrive Outside: Mud Run September 17 (frerichsfarm. com).

Don’t miss the New Bedford Food Truck and Craft Beer Festival on September 16 at Fort Taber. Family fun, lawn games and music (foodtruckfestivalsofamerica.com)! Mark your calendars for the Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival on September 22-24 at Rosecliff (newportmansions.org).

Don’t miss the 21+ event “First Taste of Fall” on September 23 at the Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford – food trucks, local breweries and wineries (bpzoo.org).

Don’t miss the annual Acushnet

Apple-Peach Festival on the weekend after Labor Day (facebook. com/fans-of-the-acushnetapplepeach-festival)!

Family fun!

Don’t miss “Riverside Beats,” a free outdoor community dance party with New Moon DJs at Riverside Park in New Bedford on September 3 (newbedfordcreative.org)!

See what life was like during the Revolutionary War! Visit the Fairhaven Village Militia’s Military Encampment at Fort Phoenix September 30 to October 1 (fairhaventours.com)!

Head for Onset Bay for the Harvest Moon Festival on September 23 –fireworks, flea market, food trucks,

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Show up hungry for the 18th Annual Blount Fine Foods New Bedford Seaport Chowderfest September 30 on Pier 3 in New Bedford (onesouthcoast.com)!

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live music, antique/classic car show (onsetbay.org)!

Take the family to Soule Homestead in Middleborough for the Harvest Fair on September 9 – hayrides, local artisans and crafters, food, and music (soulehomestead.org)!

Don’t miss the 18th Annual Arts & Music Festival on September 30 in Lakeville – arts & crafts, kids’ activities, music, food trucks, and more (lakevilleartscouncilma.org/ festival)!

Enjoy free family fun and entertainment on AHA! Nights in New Bedford! The September 14 theme is “NB Cultures” (ahanewbedford.org).

Food, drink, and shopping!

Sign up for a Newport Foodie Stroll on Wednesdays to Saturdays through October 14, a walking tour of the restaurants of Lower Thames Street in Newport (visitrhodeisland.com)!

Head for the Mayflower Beer Garden at the Pinehills in Plymouth every Sunday and on select Mondays through October 9 – live music, food trucks, beer, and pop-up shops on the village green (mayflowerbrewing. com)!

Head for the Huttleston Marketplace on Saturdays through September 30 on the lawn of Fairhaven High School to browse

through arts & crafts, antiques, vintage collectibles, farm produce, and local foods (fairhaventours.com)!

Be sure to head for the Carousel in Roger Williams Park in Providence on Food Truck Fridays through September 29 (rwpzoo.org)!

Taste your way through the historic district with New Bedford Food Tours on a three-hour guided walking tour to sample local foods at five signature restaurants, a 2-hour “Art and Brunch” tour of the city, or a threehour “A Taste of Portugal” tour in Fall River (nbfoodtours.com)!

Take the family to the monthly Open Farm Days at Round the Bend Farm in Dartmouth through December!

Grass-fed meats, botanicals, local veggies, honey and farm tours (roundthebendfarm.org). Make a trip to Somerset on Saturdays through October and stroll through the South Coast Open Air Market to purchase all things local, handmade, and fresh (southcoastopenairmarket.com)!

Special events, exhibits, and lectures

On September 19-20, head for Round the Bend Farm in South Dartmouth for the free event “Autumn Joy: A Garden Club of America Flower Show” hosted by the Little Compton Garden Club (littlecomptongardenclub.org ) and

the Garden Club of Buzzards Bay (gardenclubbuzzardsbay.org). Enjoy gorgeous floral arrangements, plant and flower specimens, nature photography, and conservation initiatives supportive of sustainable agriculture (roundthebendfarm.org)! There’s always something going on at the Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown! Don’t miss the Mushroom Hunting Lecture on September 14 or the Mushroom Hunting Guided Walk on September 16 (normanbirdsanctuary.org)!

Check out the free Pilgrim Hall Museum Speaker Series this year in Plymouth – compelling speakers on a range of history-related topics (pilgrimhall.org).

Be amazed by WaterFire in Providence on September 2, 9, and 30 (waterfire.org)!

Go on the Providence Preservation Society’s Architectural River Tour on September 25, cruising the Providence waterways (ppsri.org/ events)!

Need a bigger boat? Plan ahead for the Newport International Boat Show September 14-17 at the Newport Yachting Center (newportboatshow. com).

Quench your thirst for learning at the free monthly New Bedford Science Café lectures and discussions at The Last Round Bar & Grille. Don’t miss “Climate Change in New Bedford: Exploring Probable Futures” on September 12 (nbsciencecafe.com)! Explore the free public art and programs presented by the Massachusetts Design Art and Technology Institute (DATMA) entitled “Shelter 2023” in New Bedford: “Threshold” at Custom House Square; “Our Woven Story” at the intersection of Union St. and Rt. 18; and the “Community Tides” mural on Fish Island. And don’t miss the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra’s Pop-Up Performance in Custom House Square on September 14 (DATMA.org).

Listen to the free lecture “Sea Monsters from Classical Times to the Age of Exploration” on September 14 at the New

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Enjoy free walking tours on AHA! Nights in New Bedford through September, led by the New Bedford Preservation Society – “Walkways: Exploring the People and Places of Historical New Bedford” (nbpreservationsociety.org).

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

Bedford Fishing Heritage Center (fishingheritagecenter.org)!

Go on a special walking tour of New Bedford’s Abolition Row on September 27, sponsored by the Rotch-Jones-Duff Museum and the New Bedford Preservation Society (rjdmuseum.org).

Visit the special art exhibit “A Singularly Marine & Fabulous Produce: The Cultures of Seaweed” at New Bedford’s Whaling Museum through December 3 (whalingmuseum.org).

All the world’s a stage

Enjoy dinner with your drama at the Newport Playhouse! Don’t miss “Ghost of a Chance” September 13-October 29 (newportplayhouse. com)!

Check out what’s playing at the Providence Performing Arts Center! There’s “Funny Girl” September 9-16 (ppacri.org).

Enjoy the new season of Your Theatre in New Bedford at its new home, the Steeple Playhouse! “Murder on the Orient Express” will be performed in September (yourtheatre.org).

Head for the Priscilla Beach Theatre in Plymouth, the oldest barn theatre still in operation in America! There’s “Always…Patsy Cline” September 8-16 (pbtheatre.org).

Enjoy a performance of “ The Good John Proctor” September 7-15, 28November 12 and “Becky Nurse of Salem” September 21- November 10 at Trinity Rep in Providence (trinityrep. com).

Music on the lawns

Head for Frerich’s Farm in Warren for the RI Bluegrass Festival September 23-24 (frerichsfarm.com).

Enjoy a “Concert in the Garden: Broadway in New Bedford” on September 17 at the Rotch-JonesDuff Mansion in New Bedford (rjdmuseum.org)!

Bring a picnic or enjoy the food trucks when you head for Soule Homestead in Middleborough for the Summer

Concert on September 23 at the outdoor pavilion (soulehomestead.org)!

Don’t miss the 28th annual Westport Rock, Rhythm & Blues Festival September 8-10 at the Holy Ghost Grounds in Westport, a fundraiser to benefit A Wish Come True (awish.org). Enjoy wine tastings and live jazz on Saturdays at Greenvale Vineyards in Portsmouth (greenvale.com).

South Coast sounds

The 100-year old Zeiterion Performing Arts Center in New Bedford will undergo an historic restoration and renovation and will be closed for 12-18 months until completion. But during that time, the great performances the Z is known for will still be scheduled at other venues and stages throughout the South Coast, including performances by the Z’s resident companies, the New Bedford Festival Theatre and the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra

So head for Madeira Field in New Bedford on September 8 to hear Get the Led Out , or to the Kilburn Mills Event Center in New Bedford for the New B Legends on September 21, or back to Madeira Field on September 30 for Legally Blynd (zeiterion.org)!

September 2023 | The South Coast Insider

Find out who’s on stage at the District Center for the Arts in Taunton! (thedistrictcenterforarts.com).

Head for T he Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River for great music! (narrowscenter.com).

Classical acts

Buy your tickets early to hear violinist Karen Gomyo perform at The VETS in Providence on September 23 (riphil.org)!

Enjoy beautiful music in New Bedford’s historic district on September 23 for Sonata Saturday, a partnership of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra and The Drawing Room – head for the NBWNHP Visitor Center for two free afternoon performances of classical and popular music (nbsymphony.org)!

Listen to the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra’s opening night concert “Wanting More” on September 30 at Plymouth Memorial Hall (plymouthphil.org)!

Don’t miss the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra’s pop-up performance in New Bedford’s Custom House Square on September 14 (DATMA.org).

Head for Blithewold Mansion and

Bring your picnic basket to Running Brook Vineyard in Dartmouth for free live music every Saturday and Sunday year-round (runningbrookwine.com)!

STEPHEN K ELLEHER A RCHITECTS, INC.

Waterfront and Estate Homes Additions and Alterations

Gardens in Bristol for “Songs of Love and War,” featuring the Encore Opera Company, on September 7 (blithewold.org)!

The great outdoors

Enjoy Yoga in the Garden on Saturdays through September at the Rotch-Jones-Duff Mansion in New Bedford! Sign up online – free to YMCA members (rjdmuseum.org)!

Sign up early for the 2023 Wine Run at Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery on September 6 – run along the river through the vineyards, followed by dinner, wine, and music (info@rhoderaces.us).

Annual shows offering American made,

“Discover Buzzards Bay” offers an online portal with information about 100+ public places to walk, birdwatch, kayak/canoe, fish, snowshoe or cross-country ski (savebuzzardsbay. org/discover). You can find other outdoor recreation spots along the South Coast at thetrustees.org, exploreri.org, massaudubon.org, riwalks.org, asri.org, riparks.com, or stateparks.com/rhode_island.

Don’t miss New Bedford’s free “Summer Sounds” concerts! Dance in the streets, mingle and enjoy the block-party atmosphere every other Friday night through September 15, alternating between Purchase Street and lower Union Street (destinationnewbedford.org)!

Escobar

Maze and moos

by Sean McCarthy

visitors to ascend for a look at the overall puzzle as well as enjoying a view of the scenic farm landscape.

“We have families who return here every year,” says Stuart MacNaught, General Manager of the corn maze. “Each year there’s a new design for people to explore with different themes. You can do it at your own pace. Some people may solve a half of it in 20 minutes but for most people it takes about an hour to complete the entire maze.”

Escobar Farm. Beginning on September 1 and continuing until November 5, the maze will be open Fridays through Sundays. In September it will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and in October it will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $8 for children 12-andunder and $10 for adults.

For 24 years, this Portsmouth dairy farm has provided guests with the unique and thrilling challenges of their corn mazes. With two miles of paths, this “maze of maize” is cut into eight acres of corn, creating a puzzling labyrinth for guests to solve. Designed into two separate sections, visitors can attempt to complete the course of one or both halves. Both sections of the maze contain a bridge which allows

The attraction has earned the title, “The Lucky Maze.” Each year many visitors make a wish as they enter the maze with the hope that it will come true after they solve it.

But everyone emerges safely – the puzzle contains “Corn Cops” who will assist anyone who feels as if they need help to reach the exit.

The corn maze is located at 255 Middle Road in Portsmouth, adjacent to the

The site also offers picnic tables and a snack bar with beverages and small packaged foods. Guests can bring their own food and drink. Birthday parties can be booked at the maze by calling MacNaught at (401) 835-8813.

Lost and found

“Mazes are a fun challenge,” MacNaught says. “They’re an international phenomenon and people have been doing them since medieval times. People come every year and compare it to past years, they judge it on its difficulty. Every year we try to make it more difficult to solve.”

Farm wants you to have an a-maze-ingly fun time.

McGovern’s Family Restaurant

310 Shove Street, Fall River

508-679-5010

mcgovernsonthewater com

This well-known restaurant and banquet facility overlooking Laurel Lake usually packs them in for a large buf fet on Thanksgiving Day. The menu typically includes traditional turkey dinner with Paul’s butternut squash, prime rib, ham, and much more. The restaurant has been of fering dine-in and takeout, including its locally famous corned beef and cabbage, for 50 years Here’s a protip: if you can’t wait until Thanksgiving for a roast turkey dinner, you don’t have to –it ’s on the regular menu

Merrills on the Waterfront

36 Homers Wharf, New Bedford 508-997-7010

merrillswaterfront.com

This favorite restaurant and function facility sits on the waterfront overlooking the busy port But if isn’t your thing on traditional turkey day, be sure to keep watch for their holiday of ferings Last year, Merrill’s served up turkey and prime rib, all the sides like apple sage and sweet corn and polenta ravioli, plus pies galore.

1955 on the historic wharf that dates to the 1700s, isn’t all about summer

Last year they served up a feast of turkey, roast prime rib, sausage and more The restaurant currently of fers dine-in and takeout, including some oven-ready dishes like seafood casserole and stuf fed lobster.

White’s of Westport

66 State Road, Westport 508-675 -7185 shop lafrancehospitality com

White’s has been of fering family-style takeout and curbside meals pickup for months, so when Turkey Day comes around, it ’s a good bet they’ll have a handle (or rather a drumstick) on that too. Currently, the restaurant is of fering meal packages and platters like its “ Taste of New England” that comes with chowder, quahogs and clam cakes or its Italian package of salad, lasagna, meatballs and breadsticks Both meals serve six Also available are dinner-for-two meal packs like and chips, lobster rolls, bourbon beef tips, and even kid-sized pasta and meatballs for two With more than 60 years in the hospitality industry, White’s is accustomed to cooking for a crowd

The Pasta House

This year the maze is being dedicated to Louis Escobar who passed away last year after owning and running the farm for decades. Escobar was the person who originally brought the maze to the farm in 1999, and for more than 30 years he hosted a fireworks celebration in the town every Fourth of July.

100 Alden Road, Fairhaven

508-993-9913

thepastahouse.net

If their Pumpkin Patch Old-Fashioned (now on the bar menu) doesn’t get you inside, nothing will Luckily, you can a recipe in the sidebar for this drink and serve it with your Thanksgiving dinner takeout

“Louis was a beloved character in the town of Portsmouth,” MacNaught says. “He represented all the good things about the earth. He lived a fruitful life, and he was a national spokesperson for land conservation. He was remembered for dressing up like Uncle Sam on the Fourth of July, he was known as ‘Mr. Patriot.’

the maze in costume for either event will receive a dollar off their admission. Each year, corn for the maze is planted in mid-June and is soon made into paths in early July. The paths are designed and constructed in conjunction with The Maize Company, based in Utah. The corn can grow to be as high as 13 feet by the time the maze opens.

Pumpkin Old-Fashioned

“The time of day that you visit the maze will determine your experience,” MacNaught says. “Different times will have a different experience. Some people prefer to do it at a specific time each year.”

“This year we want people who do the maze to ask Louis to grant them their wish.”

Past themes for the mazes have included The Moolenium Cow (2000), On The Eighth Day He Made the Farmer (2020) and Field of Dreams (2022).

The Pasta House served up a spread last year that included turkey dinner, ham dinner, mignon, braised short rib, and more Currently, pickup and delivery is available from the regular menu, including their apple cider sangria to go. We’ll just have to wait and see what they dream up for Thanksgiving.

First you’ll need to concoct cinnamon syrup. Mix ½ cup sugar, ½ cup water, and a three -inch cinnamon stick in a small pan Bring it just to a boil, turn of f the heat and let it cool Remove the cinnamon stick and discard or use it to garnish the cocktail if you like The syrup will last for three weeks in the fridge

Escobar Farm includes upwards of 200 cows on 100 acres of land. The cows are milked twice a day every day. Escobar’s milk is sold by Rhody Fresh as well as Cabot dairy products. The farm is run by Louis’ widow, Jane Escobar, who has worked the farm everyday since they married in 1986. The Escobar family has owned the farm since 1937.

To make the cocktail, a shaker halfway with ice. Combine ¼ cup pumpkin puree with three ounces bourbon, two ounces maple syrup, ¼ ounce cinnamon syrup, one ounce orange liqueur, and two dashes orange bitters Shake well

The Wharf Tavern

215 Water Street, Warren

401-289-2524

thewharftavernri com

While stuf fed quahogs nibbled by the water may not be a Thanksgiving tradition, the Wharf Tavern, established in

This year there will be two theme days at the maze. On Saturday, September 23 there will be Harry Potter Day and on Saturday, October 28 there will be a celebration of Halloween. The Harry Potter event will include a presentation by Mad Science from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. which will feature educational entertainment. People who come to

“It’s a tough life, and there are less and less small farms every year,” MacNaught says. “The people who come to the corn maze are having fun, but they’re also helping to keep the farm running.”

Fill two old fashioned glasses with ice, pour in the strained cocktail and garnish with a twist of orange peel and a cherry.

For more information visit escobarshighlandfarm.com.

OPEN FOR FUNCTIONS

This year the maze is being dedicated to Louis Escobar who passed away last year after owning and running the farm for decades.

Vintage cheer

by Michael J. DeCicco

At Westport River Vineyards, at 417 Hixbridge Road in Westport, workers start taking care of the 80-acres of vines in July and August. According to Alan Stewart, the Manager of Marketing, Wine Club, and Events, the vineyard uses a wire vertical trellis system that moves the wires up so the vines are stabilized and the grapes have their best exposure to the sun as they grow.

Meanwhile, vineyard personnel are bottling last year’s harvest in the summer. “The most important preparation is to make sure most of last year's harvest is bottled and the tanks can be cleaned and prepped for harvest. Then harvesting of the grapes typically begins in mid-September,” Stewart said.

“In the middle of August we begin sampling and tasting grapes from our vineyard,” winemaker Marco Montez explained. “We are specifically looking for sugar ripeness in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes which we use for our estate-grown sparkling wines. As soon as these grapes achieve the

desired flavors and degree of ripeness, our picking crew begins the laborious process of hand-picking them.” Then, daily throughout September, Montez said, grapes are brought in small harvest lugs from the vineyard to the winery, where workers wholecluster press the grapes very gently, slowly extracting the juice from the berries. This juice is then fermented under optimal temperature. The resulting mixture then undergoes a secondary fermentation in individual bottles.

“These bottles are then laid to rest on the lees for a minimum of three years before being released to the public as our flagship sparkling wine,” he said. For more on the Westport vineyard, go to westportrivers.com.

Cheers to that

Similarly, at Newport Vineyards, at 909 East Main Road (Route 138) in Middletown, the grapes are just finishing “being established” in July and August. “It’s been a cool spring but after recent rain, they are looking pretty good this year,” co-owner John Nunes (with brother Paul) explained. “You wait for the grapes to change to a dark color at the end of August.”

The Newport winery, with over 60-acres of vines spread across 100-acres of historically preserved farmland, likes a fairly dry fall, Nunes said. Providing there are no extreme weather events this season, they will start tasting the grapes to see if they are sweet and ripe and harvest Pinot Noir grapes in late September.

“Once they are ripe, we pick them,

The fall is when local vineyards turn their ripened grapes into wine. But in a sense, this harvesting season started long before then.

The most important preparation is to make sure most of last year's harvest is bottled and the tanks can be cleaned and prepped for harvest

press them, and ferment them,” he said. “Some reds are aged for two years in French oak barrels. Whites are released in six months to a year until they are aromatic enough and their wine ready to drink. The harvesting itself takes about a month, three to four days a week of work."

the region’s coastal charms. Their new property was a former tomato farm, perfect for supporting the couple’s new hobby: raising chickens.

Fortunately for them, they had a knack for it. Before too long, the Bishops had more eggs than they knew what to do with. They began selling the surplus, and learning about how to expand the farm in a healthy and sustainable way.

Meanwhile, other Newport grapes will be left on the vine to freeze, then are pressed frozen to make Vidal Ice Wine, he added.

To give a sense of how successful this expansion has been, the farm’s chicken population has ballooned from the original 20 to over 3000.

At Newport, there are over 20 types of grapes. Seventy-five percent are for white wine, 20 percent for red, all on 62 acres on over 100 acres of land.

While her husband has kept his IT job, Ester has been able to commit herself to the farm full-time. She prides herself on providing her animals with joyful, stressfree lives. “People should know where their food comes from – you can really taste the difference,” said Bishop.

Westport Vineyards boasts that it owns the largest vineyard in New England and grows a wide range of wine varietals: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Saparavi, Marquette, Petite Pearl, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Gris, Gruner Veltliner, Shoenburger, Rkatsiteli, Geisenheimer, and Muscat, plus another 20 experimental varietals using more esoteric grapes.

Green acres

Bishop’s commitment to “beyond organic” farming extends beyond cuddles and words of affirmation to her livestock. She ensures all the animals are provided with healthy, organic meals, and that their waste is repurposed as manure.

“You can see how green the grass is where the turkeys have been,” Bishop says. “That’s because they fertilize the soil with their manure. Manure is the basis of organic fertilizers. There are no chemicals added, or needed, when the animals do their job.”

It’s a visitor-friendly vineyard too. “Our vineyard can essentially accommodate as many people who would like to visit as long as the weather is nice,” Stewart said. “We have outdoor seating for 250+ and can seat 24 upstairs in our indoor wine bar. We typically have a food truck on-site Saturdays during the fall. We host hayrides for $5 a person on Saturdays from Noon to 4:30 p.m. in October and also offer fire pits for sale, weather permitting.”

Speaking of animals doing their jobs, Bishop has conscripted her goats and pigs into clearing away swaths of underbrush on the property – the “gnarly vines” that give the farm its name.

Gnarly Vines coordinates with neighboring farms to provide its customers with a variety of sustainable and organic products. Angus beef, for instance, will sell out almost as soon as it comes into stock.

September is also the best opportunity for the public to visit, Nunes said. “It’s a great time to visit because the vines are ripe and in their full glory,” he said. “We hold wine tastings each day and have a full-service farm to table restaurant. We are open year-round, especially weekends, and we have public tours daily.”

But the farm is not bound by terrestrial limitations: the Bishops have partnered with Captain’s Finest and Sakonnet Lobster to bring fresh seafood to market.

For more information on the Newport vineyard, visit newportvineyards.com.

Flow going

Bishop is particularly proud of a new initiative at the farm: food security community supported agriculture (CSA) plans. CSAs, popular among farms nationwide, allow customers to pre-purchase “shares” of the farm’s produce, which are

An example of a fall wine harvest season that doesn't start earlier is at Running Brook Vineyards, 335 Old Fall River Road North Dartmouth, which grows its grapes on 16.5 acres

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Shop small, shop local!

of vineyards and also in-house distills brandies, grappa, flavored brandies, and other liqueurs.

In late August, Justin Seney, Operations Manager, said vineyard personnel will start picking some of the grapes, especially for the St. Croix wine used as a base to make some of its liqueurs.

Why risk your health (and sanity) at crowded malls on Black Friday? Take advantage of incredible offerings in your own neighborhood on Small Business Saturday, November 28, throughout the South Coast. Check out sbsshopri. com for shop-and-stroll events in Rhode Island. For that special gift, support local craftsmen and artists by heading over to the Waterfire Arts Center in Providence to visit the safe outdoor pop-up markets (waterfire.org/art-mart). And on First Thursdays (November 5) you can “shop and dine local” in Barrington, Bristol, and Warren (discovernewport.org).

The AARP Massachusetts Auto Insurance Program from Plymouth Rock offers AARP members in Massachusetts special savings in addition to the everyday benefits that set Plymouth Rock apart from its competition. With Plymouth Rock, lower rates are just the beginning.

But owner and winemaker Pedro Teixeira said Running Brook (so named because a brook bissected one of the winery’s original acres in Westport) starts harvesting grapes mostly in early October and ends harvesting as late as November. He said 1,000 vines per acre of mostly red grapes grow on his vineyard. One ton of grapes equals 150 gallons of juice and a gallon of juice equals five gallons of wine. He said his winery produces Bordeaux reds that include Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot, and Burgundy reds such as Cardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Grist. It also produces Vidal Blanc wines used to make its brandies and grappa.

Kick-off the holiday season at Frerichs Farm in Warren with “Girls Night Out” on November 6, 7 and 8 – buy your holiday trees, greenery, and gifts there, too (frerichsfarm.com). Then mark your calendar for the Newport Block Party & Holiday Stroll at Bowen’s Wharf on November 27 – you can watch the Illuminated Boat Parade while you shop and enjoy Caribbean music (bowenswharf.com).

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Teixeira pointed out that the length of the harvesting season is dependent on the weather. “The length of the growing season depends on the frost dates, when the temperature gets below 32 degree Fahrenheit,” he said. “The last frost of the year is the last week of April. The first, hopefully, is in November but sometimes earlier.”

It’s the thoughtful gifts that count

And if you can’t find gifts for all the special people in your life, consider buying gift cards to restaurants, shops, vineyards, special event venues, local farms, e-commerce websites, or grocery stores. Use mail-order services to deliver flowers, sweets, and specialty foods yearround to someone you want to thank or to express your appreciation.

The grapes the vineyard harvests then will be de-stemmed and fermented in one of the winery’s three 1500-gallon metal tanks and three 500-gallon tanks, Seney said. The wine that results will go into a mixture of American and French oak barrels before being bottled.

For those who are always hard to buy a gift for, consider signing them up for an annual subscription to a streaming service, app, podcast, premier sports/ movies/cultural channel, magazine, or newspaper. Or make a donation in their name to their favorite charity, educational institution, or cultural organization. Consider how much it would be appreciated if you upgraded an older relative’s digital capabilities with an easy-to-use smartphone, tablet, or notebook – and then helped to set up Zoom or Skype.

For many, the last step will be the best. When the wine has aged, it is served in wine tastings that are often accompanied by live music every Saturday and Sunday throughout most of the year. Bands set up outdoors in sunny weather or move indoors when it’s cold or rainy to be enjoyed within the view of the tanks where the wine making process started.

are sure to have the purrfect cat or the cutest K-9 to steal your heart so if you are looking for love, check with us first!!

You can keep the holiday spirit alive this year, even though you may not all be together to celebrate Thanksgiving. It just takes some imagination and good cheer!

For more information on this Running Brook Vineyards, go to runningbrookwine.com

Renovating

A TO THE Z

by Michael J. DeCicco

A$31 million reconstruction of the 100-year-old Zeiterion Performing Arts Center that will reconfigure and improve nearly every corner of the 684 Purchase Street theater is expected to begin in September.

The downside is that the theater will need to close for the 12-to-14 months it will take to complete the work. The city owns the building; Zeiterion Theatre, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that manages and programs the facility. The Z and its two resident companies, New Bedford Festival Theatre, Inc. and the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, are now searching for other venues for the year that the Z will be under reconstruction. The Z, in fact, has already scheduled some events in New Bedford’s Madeira Field and other venues for September and beyond. But the work being planned should be worth the wait. Zeiterion President and CEO Rosemary Gill characterizes

the plan as a complete transformation of all aspects of the building except for the stage house – the stage wings and loading docks, as well as under the stage that includes the performers' dressing rooms.

The auditorium will be restored to its original historic look, from the color scheme to the plaster and painted friezes and the tapestries decorating the walls. Conversely, the lighting and

sound systems will be made more state-of-the-art. The seating area will be re-pitched to make seating more accessible under Americans with Disability Act requirements, and at least 80 new seats will be added to the current 1,200-person capacity. A brand-new hydraulically-operated orchestra pit will will not only be larger than what is there now, but will also include storage space that will fit the Z’s circa-1923 "Unit Orchestra" style Wurlitzer organ.

Even the small details in the auditorium will see changes. The men’s room will be moved from the basement accessed only by an ungainly steep set of stairs to the lobby where the women's rooms are now. The women's room in return will move to the north side of the lobby.

The size of the lobby itself will be increased, Gill said, by bumping out the wall behind the concession stand and the doors next to it to expand the

The hub of live drama and other performing arts in New Bedford is about to undergo a dramatic transformation

FROM

The auditorium will be restored to its original historic look, from the color scheme to the plaster and painted friezes and the tapestries decorating the walls

space into what is now the supporters lounge and classroom space with windows that face Purchase and Spring Streets. Nicole Merusi, Vice President of Strategic Advancement, noted that a roughly 1100-square-foot lobby will become 3500 square feet when the reconstruction is complete.

Old is new again

The network started as AHA! Fall River through the Community Foundation of Southeastern MA in 2014 with a focus on highlighting the multitude of art, music, theater, charity, historical, and cultural events throughout greater Fall River. Since April 2017, it has been a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization with a target audience that includes not only residents but also visitors from towns on both sides of the Taunton River and Mount Hope Bay, and from Boston to Providence.

The basement below the lobby will be transformed into a Speakeasy Lounge, a multi-purpose gathering spot that can feature small parties, live performances and meetings, "with a nod toward the 1920s history of the building," Gill said.

Stairs from the lobby will lead to a lounge similar to the one now on the first floor. The third floor will become educational space, Gill said, “an especially exciting part of our plan. Something we are offering for the first time: dedicated space for a movement studio and classrooms.”

“After three years working under the AHA label,” Dave Dennis said, “we realized this model wasn’t compatible with the needs of Fall River, not to mention the difficulty connecting with the AHA name. Our financial stability since then has allowed us to make the decision to move in a new direction to position ourselves to better meet the needs and demands of a gateway city. In 2017, through research, focus groups, and marketing specialists, we formed Creative Arts Network Inc. (CAN), along with a branding logo, then formed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.”

The current seats, she pointed out, are three to four different varieties that the theater received second-hand when it opened in 1982. The intent was to replace them later with a second funding campaign – one that never happened. “Forty years later, these are the same seats,” she said. “We’ve listened to the feedback on what people want. Some seats were uncomfortable; the sound system was poor. We heard them loud and clear.” Yet there are also deeper motivations for the plan. The goal, Gill said, is to create a place for creative and community gatherings – a place that will attract people beyond Friday or Saturday night theater. A place for lectures and meetings and visiting artists to conduct a workshop in a classroom. A rehearsal hall for those artists. Gill said the ultimate goal is making the Z “a community living room.”

On the outside facade, as if to announce to the public that these changes have been made, a marque in the style of the original design will return to the front entrance, and a small marquee will be placed over the new box office.

Why do all this now? Gill said it's all about improving what the Z offers the public. But there is a practical side. The city helped make safety and security improvements to the building several years ago, she said, but there are still multiple building code updates needed around under-utilized areas of the building that must be addressed along with the need to improve accessibility. To that end the reconstruction will also install a central elevator to all floors.

With Covid restrictions this past year, Dennis said, CAN has pivoted from live events to virtual events through its Facebook page and website. Some of the creative events started with ArtWeek at Home in May where it offered a week-long virtual event from art lessons, cooking

lessons, dance lessons, concerts, and crafts for kids. For Valentine’s Day it offered dance lessons, art lessons, instructions on how to set a perfect table, how to make that special drink, and how to make chocolate-covered strawberries. It has also sponsored two groups of local students from a local Community College for their class projects. The most recent class put together tours for National Tourism Week, May 2-8. CAN’s other most recent event was a collaboration with the Fall River Public Library for an Earth Day event. CAN has also taken on a role in working to have more public policy implemented around art and culture. Over the past year we have seen the newly formed Fall River Waterfront Cultural District, June 25 has been proclaimed Hydrangea Day, the City Council voted the hydrangea the official ornamental flower of the city, and CAN’s current proposal is for a formal Public Art Policy with the formation of a Public Art Commission.

Right now the funding to make the plan happen is more than halfway there. “We have secured 75% of the funding needed for the project,” Merusi said.

That includes both public sources and private sources. In addition to fundraising, some of these sources have included $5 million of city APPA money, another $2 million of state ARPA funds and $400,000 in state tax credit allocations from the Secretary of State’s office.

This summer, Dennis said, CAN hopes to return to small-scale live events such as an open-air art exhibit, a mural wayfinding project, the continuation of the group’s hydrangea beautification program, and a festival to highlight a variety of art and culture activities with a focus on the city’s restaurants and shops.

For more information on how to get involved go to creativeartsnetwork.org.

The project's funding, Gill said, is a wonderful example of a public-private partnership. Historic Tax Credits, local and state money and philanthropy are combining to make this project possible. “We are grateful to all who have supported us,” she said.

CELEBRATING 133 YEARS!

CELEBRATING 132 YEARS!

Viva Fall River! Created by Portuguese-based lettering designers Mariana Branco and Emanuel Barreira of Halfstudio, and executed by local artist Gregory Pennisten, a new 40’ by 60’ mural called “Viva Fall River” was unveiled at Fall River’s Kay Building, owned by Anthony F. Cordeiro and family, a short walk from the Quequechan River Rail Trail. The mural celebrates Fall Riverites of Portuguese descent.

THINGS TO DO

From seed to sapling

by Michael J. DeCicco

The all-new South Coast Harvest Festival is scheduled to be held at the Westport Fairgrounds at 200 Pine Hill Road from September 29 to October 1

The show creators describe the festival as a one-of-a-kind event blending a flower and garden show with a harvest festival. It’s also a reunion of sorts. For 24 years, awardwinning garden designer Michelle Sousa Peay of Metamorphosis Design and her husband, Brian, a restoration carpenter, participated in the Providence Flower and Garden show. Michelle created two Boston Flower and Garden show entrance gardens depicting that year’s show theme, and the couple created Rhode Island Garden Show entrance gardens for 15 years.

When the garden shows ended because of the owners’ retirement, it became the couple’s mission to continue creating such shows because they had built such a family of talented people. Not only gardeners, but also tradesmen and operations and ticketing.

“Folks in our region have also been missing the Harvest Festival that took place 20 years ago,” Michelle Sousa Peay said. “Fall is such a beautiful time of year to create this event. We wanted to keep the magic going.”

“We are working with many of the gardeners from the Rhode Island Spring Flower and Garden show who are from the South Coast,” Brian Peay said. “We’ll have professionally designed gardens, fall floral arrangements, creative scarecrows made by local artists and businesses, an antique tractor display and procession each day, garden talks, and demos. There will be vintage fishing boats on display, live music, local food vendors, and an artisan/farmer marketplace. There will be two live owl programs by Eyes on Owls, and an interactive kids garden and sensory garden for show visitors to enjoy.”

Michelle said setting the event for the weekend of the Full Harvest Super Moon was carefully planned. “We are celebrating the harvest from land and sea,” she said. “We are so blessed to be centered in the South Coast region where the farmland meets the ocean. What we offer will reflect that.”

In February, the couple brought the idea to the Westport Executive Fairground Committee, which approved the project as the show falls in line with their mission to promote

agriculture. “We’ve been going gangbusters getting it organized ever since,” she said. “We linked up with local gardeners and gardeners we’ve worked with before. And everyone has stepped right up.”

But flowers and garden plants will not be the festival’s only feature she emphasized. The event will also be displaying antique and vintage tractors and boats provided by the local fisherman and farmers, and it will be offering an artisan marketplace for a selection of local handmade goods.

Michelle lists a variety of local food vendors, offering fish and chips, clam chowder and cakes, barbeque, gourmet grill cheese, apple pie, and cinnamon rolls made on-site along with apple cider donuts and cider. There will be garden talks and demonstrations on topics such as pollinator gardens, beekeeping, mushroom log inoculation, herbs for kids. a live owl program, artist Richard Kaiser carving a giant pumpkin, and a kids’ interactive corner.

The latter, she said, is part of their mission to “promote horticulture and agriculture to the next generation. We

stake, especially in children from high-risk

terrifying, hopeful, necessary, and inevita ble. We are writing this story, together, as we go along. The best we can do then is to trust that others are arming themselves with as much information as possible and will live in such a way as to do no intentional harm.

While Coronavirus has woken us up in terms of helping us appreciate our prior freedoms (to travel, to go to school, to mingle with friends, to attend concerts), that loss of innocence has hopefully helped us grow. School districts, judging by the amount of work that goes into reopening under state guidelines, have been working tirelessly to create a plan of action. Parents are proactive and creative in imagining a new routine. Through the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives around the globe, the best we can hope for is that we have gained insight about our interdependency: we are all truly in this together.

need to inspire and educate people to support local farms. We need to keep the farms in the Farm Coast.

“We need get folks to step away from the computer to enjoy nature and want to garden and farm,” she said. “Our kids’ corner is designed to do that. Children will have the opportunity to dig and plant and harvest from the earth. We need to get their attention and pull them in so in their own lives they will connect the dots in a different way as to how horticulture and agriculture are important to all of us.”

Brian and Michelle Sousa Peay call this year’s festival an inaugural event that they hope will continue for years to come. A Garden Illumination Preview Party has been scheduled for September 28 (a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Westport Fair Agricultural Scholarship Fund). For more information visit southcoastharvestfestival.com. Search Eventbrite.com for tickets.

Some of us, though, want to go back to that innocent time, when we could get excited about backpacks and sneakers and lacrosse games. Maybe not return to “normal” but get as close to it as possible in the midst of a pandemic as we can. Kellie, a healthcare professional from Florida, has daily interaction with the Coronavirus and she is hoping her kids can go back to school soon. “This virus isn’t going away,” she says pragmatically. “We all need to get back to some sense of normalcy. Practicing safe reintegration is essential. We are all going to be okay. I know I’m biased because two of mine [tested positive] and were essentially fine. I treat [COVID] patients every day – and I’m fine.”

• Inpatient physical, occupational, speech

• Rehab programs that promote healing and relief from stroke, cancer and diabetes, as well as many cardiac, orthopedic, vascular and neurological conditions

• 5-Star Overall Rating by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

• Resort-like amenities, including restaurant-style dining, a media center, spa and salon services and sweete shoppe

We are working with many of the gardeners from the Rhode Island Spring Flower and Garden show who are from the South Coast.

Michelle and Brian Peay

COVER STORY

Rolling on

by Michael J. DeCicco

It's called lawn bowling, and it's not as simple as the indoor bowling game of rolling a ball across a flat floor to strike down ten pins. The player rolls a “bowl,” an almostspherical ball with flattened sides that is smaller and lighter than a bowling ball, toward a small, harder white ball called a “jack” on a bowling green that measures 4.3 to 5.8 meters wide and 31 to 40 meters long. The player who rolls more of their bowls closest to the jack without moving it gets the most points.

Maurice LaFond, a retired US Marine Corp. veteran, age 71, has been playing the game since 1993 and sings the sport’s praises. “It’s like four different games,” he said. “It’s a little like golf and like bowling. And like chess because you can roll your ball to block your opponent from getting their bowl close to the jack.”

He said he likes playing the sport

because it’s easy to learn but a challenge to perfect. The greens are like the putting greens in golf, with a surface that’s not entirely flat and smooth. The bowls have a “bias” that the player must use to roll the ball in just the right direction.

“And what I like about it is that it is makes no difference whether you're right-handed or left-handed or a man or woman or a child or what your physical ability level is. You can play this sport.”

In 2022, the Hazelwood Center, a 23-acre park located on Clark's Point, opened greens that it had recently rehabilitated for both lawn bowling and croquet. Free learn-to-play workshops for both sports quickly followed, as did their popularity in New Bedford. The city croquet players were represented in the Massachusetts State Croquet tournament on July 15 and 16 this summer. Six three-person New Bedford teams played in the Northeastern Division of Bowl USA at Hazelwood on August 12, LaFond noted.

New Bedford Parks and Recreation director Mary Rapoza said that since the free lessons started, the attendance has been building every week. “All ages are participating,” she said. “From a 95-year-old man to a 17-year-old." (LaFond’s grandson who has played the game since age 11.)

The city’s future goals for the Hazelwood greens will be to expand

The Hazelwood Park and Community Center is reviving a sport 100 years after it was first played in New Bedford and offering free lessons to spread the word that it is arguably one of the most inclusive of all sports.

In 2022, the Hazelwood Center, a 23-acre park located on Clark's Point, opened greens that it had recently rehabilitated for both lawn bowling and croquet

consumerism that involves demonstrations, sit-ins and, I kid you not because I’m afraid of them, a “Zombie Walk,” where volunteer zombies wander malls with blank stares and explain “Buy Nothing Day” to befuddled shoppers before, I assume, eating their flesh.

How are ya, what’s new, how’s it going? Say that and more on November 21, “National Hello Day,” created in the hopes that conflicts can be resolved through communication rather than the use of force, a lofty goal that, given there really has never been a time when there’s not war raging somewhere around the globe.

World Philosophy Day is an international day proclaimed by UNESCO comes into being every third Thursday of November. Or does it? Hmmm?

Silly as World Toilet Day on November 19 sounds, it is an actual United Nations observance day to tackle the global

youth participation, Rapoza added. It is reaching out to local youth groups who want to learn and play the sport, whether they be school groups or the boy or girl scouts. She encourages these groups to contact her.

Going greens

Joann Tschaen is considered by some as the Hazelwood greens and bowling league’s founder, but she said the sport's history goes much further back. The sport came to New Bedford when the English brought "Bowling on the Green" with them when they arrived to work in the city’s textile factories. It was played seven days a week back then, she said, and it was mainly a man’s sport. The games were played at Hazelwood Park, and the porch of what is now the community center would always be filled with male spectators; the women and children would sit in the beach wagons beyond the fence to get their own view of competition.

Back then, she said, there were tournaments and trophies and celebrations afterward at the Belmont Club across the street. But the sport aged out; its male enthusiasts grew old and died. The sport completely disappeared by the early 1970s.

Enter Tschaen and her brother, Dan, whose father played the sport. With an inherited love of the sport, and after finding some of their father’s old equipment in an attic, they started an after-school and summer league at

Anne Marie Briand looking at a display of her father's time playing the game.

sanitation crisis because worldwide, 4.2 billion of us live without safe sanitation options. Think of that the next time you’re lucky enough to be relaxing with a magazine in a comfy loo.

Hungry? November is your month, with tasty days sprinkled throughout, odes to everything from banana pudding to vinegar and everything in between, including hot sauce, nachos, pickles, espresso, deviled eggs, French toast and more. Honoring all that grub makes perfect sense that November 15 is National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day.

In closing, and in observance of November being an election month, I’d like to add it is now National Impotency Month, which has nothing to do with the Republicans in Congress, much as it sounds like it should.

Happy winter, people! All eight damn months of it.

Victory Park on Brock Avenue (once known as the Poor Farm). Youngsters passing by on bicycles were drawn in to participate. In 2004, Tschaen and her brother started formally teaching them the sport. She enjoyed the lessons so much she did it again the next year and the year after that.

In 2013, she joined forces with the new Director of Parks Recreation & Beaches, Rapoza, to start renovating the Hazelwood greens. That led to the grand reopening in 2022, and that's when a Greens Coordinator, Anne Marie Briand, whose own father once played the sport, was hired to oversee the programming of the greens.

“We’ve been able to get young people and seniors and people with different ability levels to play these wonderful games,” Briand said proudly. “That’s what I love about these games. They are very inclusive sports.”

“I am very proud of the collaboration that got the greens restored and the sports back in the city,” Rapoza said. “The renovation would not have been possible without the Friends of Hazelwood Park and the many private donors and croquet and bowling enthusiasts that contributed to the effort. I look forward to seeing more folks come out at the free lessons to learn these fun sports. See you all on the greens!”

For more information, visit hazelwoodparkgreens@gmail.com or the New Bedford Parks and Recreation Dept. at info.prb@newbedford-ma.gov.

Lawn bowling came to New Bedford when the English brought "Bowling on the Green" with them when they arrived to work in the city’s textile factories

A slightlybelowaverage life

by Paul Kandarian

We’ve all seen these ridiculous memes on Facebook that screw around with age and aging.

Like if you add 70 years to my birthday it’s 2023, but if you subtract 70 it’s 1883. They do that do make you feel older. But truthfully, my body feels like it was born in 1883 anyway and, as the old cowboy saying goes, now looks like I been rode hard and hung out to dry wet.

I turn 70 on October 13. I distinctly remember when my grandparents turned 70, and then my parents and I thought “Holy crap! 70! I’ll never

be 70!” not meaning I’d die, (although I treated too much of my youth like a discarded coke straw at Studio 54), but that I felt it impossible that anyone as young as I was could turn 70. It was unthinkable, unimaginable, unfathomable.

I’d be 22 for ever and ever – lithe, young, supple, unbreakable, immortal –I’d convinced myself. And learned many years later that the biggest lies you’ll ever hear are the ones you tell yourself.

But hey, 70 years on a planet spinning at 1,000 mph that we’ve assumed would give us all the inexhaustible resources we’d ever need (whoops!), well, that’s not a bad stretch. I’m in no way ready to say 70 is enough. I’d love 70 more. But only if I’m not reduced to a shriveled lump of brokendown body and soul drooling and mumbling and wondering what the hell is taking the Grim Reaper so long to show up.

I remember when people would be amazed at humans living to 70. Now 80 is pretty common; my folks died in their late 80s. And 90 isn’t as rare as it used to be, nor really is 100. And this is despite living in a country with the world’s highest gun fatality rate, an obesity epidemic that’s not going anywhere fast, a crippling death rate from drugs, and a raging pandemic every so often.

In fact, our life expectancy is now 76.4

– the lowest it’s been in almost 20 years. Which, and I’m no math genius, isn’t terribly far from, say – gulp – 70.

I’m a full-time actor these days and on virtually every set I’m the oldest guy there, which is a double-edged sword. The downside being I can’t do the physical stuff I used to, like getting up off the floor with fluid grace. But the upside is all those young people I find myself working with not only look up to me like a wizenedyet-wise village elder full of life experience and sage advice, but also are more than willing to help me get up off the floor. Bless their young wonderful hearts. I always thank them and tell them, “Don’t get old, kid,” meaning physically but adding about state of mind, “Never grow up, there’s no future in it.”

I tend to grouse about getting older, but honestly it’s not that bad – internally anyway.

Everything in there seems to be working okay. It’s the wheels on the bus that are falling off: bum knees, shoulders, blah blah blah. Inside is what counts because that’s where life lives, happily 20-something forever.

I’d rather not be 70, but I’d also rather not be dead so I’ll take it and be happy to have made seven decades, keeping a wary eye on 76.4, I guess, but really not worrying about it. On those aforementioned movie sets full of young folks, I look in admiration and more than a little bit

of envy at all those years they got ahead of them, talking about stuff they might do in the next 10, 20, 30 or so. I just smile and remember when I had that many ahead of me, then getting wistful as I realize that hopeful span of years could now be realistically and painfully reduced to single digits.

The one thing above all I want a lot more years is Mikey, my grandson, now 8+ years old and the absolute center of my universe. We adore each other and always will, although I’m preparing for that run of years when it’s not cool for a young person to hang with their Grandpa. I know that’s coming. It happens to us all and I honestly regret not listening more intently to the amazing stories my grandfathers used to tell.

But I was a young man and wore a younger man’s demeanor and couldn’t be bothered by the ramblings of old men. Now I am an old man and love bothering my little man with my ramblings – which he still loves and that’s good enough for me.

One thing old timers have is dispensable wisdom, and if there was one thing I’d tell any young person – but my grandson most of all – regarding the enviable years ahead, it would be: do what I could not do. But do it better than I could have ever imagined. Pretty wise for an old fart, eh?

Now I gotta go live the hell outta at least the next 6.4 years. Anything after that is gravy.