Authentic MaineSeaGlass

Lobsterman’s Wife’s Maine Sea Glass Bracelet

We saw an ad in Uncle Henry’s: “100 Pounds of Sea Glass For Sale” that’s all it said We called Then we visited She was delightful She said she and her daughters, and then grandchildren, had been picking up sea glass on the beaches around her home forever

The walls in her basement were lined with two types of coffee cans and glass jars Some with mixed colors, some filled with solid colors It was beautiful. This was the definitive collection of Maine sea glass. We met her asking price and bought it all

The bracelet is real silver The sea glass is securely set in handmade frames Toggle clasp with adjustable length, fits everyone

A really pleasant mix of colors. Every bracelet is different. Each bracelet is guaranteed a nice bright blue (Blue is rare and we have it because it’s from a lifetime collection )

Only $285.00 www.CrossJewelers.com

Satisfaction Guaranteed

See

Cross Jewelers

Jewelers to New England Since 1908

570 Congress St. Portland, ME 04101 1-800-433-2988

Buildings had been blown open by the strong waters, a few even lifted off their foundations and taken downriver. Dot’s kitchen clung to life over the now-placid but still-brown river; trees and bushes were strewn with colorful yarns from a local shop. Logs, fuel tanks, and other debris were piled up at the bridge. Hanging over everything was the thick stench of propane fumes.

For a town still reeling from the Great Recession, Irene’s arrival just weeks from the start of the crucial foliage season was a hardship that for some business owners was too much to bear.

Patty Reagan

Our first look inside the restaurant was around 6:00 that night. The building was undermined all the way around, but we were able to look in through the windows. It was funny, because the tables were all still set. They’d just floated right to the front of the building. I’ll never forget that.

Al Wurzberger

The next morning I got up early and drove downtown. I opened the door to my store, and water just poured out with all this stuff—T-shirts, sweatshirts, candy. I just stood there and cried like hell, ’cause I’d lost everything that I’d worked for. Almost 50 years. That was my barn. That’s what I’d wanted ever since I was 7 years old, and it seemed like it was gone forever.

Steve Butler

Nothing was where it was supposed to be. Two of the lanes pushed up like a tepee that was probably two feet high. By the time we got to the freezers, all the food was spoiled. I ended up hauling 17 dumpsters of trash out of here. That alone cost me more than $10,000.

Florence Crafts

After the rain, the sun came out with a rainbow, so I walked down to my house. The refrigerator had flipped over; so had the big gun cabinet, which had pictures and souvenirs. In the basement there was two feet of mud. The year before, my grandsons had put on a new roof for me, because the old one had been leaking. I’d been worried about the water coming in from above, and instead it came in from the bottom.

Al Wurzberger

Two days after the storm, there were already volunteers here. One fella yelled at me, “Hey you! Come on over here. There’s a crowbar—start tearing this wall off!” Okay. And then somebody else said, “Well, you own it, right?” Yeah. “Okay, we need crowbars; we need hammers.” As days passed, we needed insulation; we needed wood. And I’d go up to W&W Building Supply, and I’d throw the stuff into my truck. We broke screw guns; we had to buy new screw guns. We wore them out.

I ordered wood from a place in Greenfield, Massachusetts. At first they told me they couldn’t deliver because the roads weren’t good enough, but an hour later I got a call from the owner: “We’re in the goddamn wood business. We’ll plank the road.” That’s what they did.

Steve Butler

After two and a half months, we finally got heat in the building: big propane heaters with fans to circulate the air. They were the only things inside the place; everything else had been cleared out. When we left that evening, I was smiling, and I told Bev, “We might not have hot water tomorrow, but we’ll have warm hands to work with.” That was November 15th.

The next day I came in and saw that the ceiling had started to fall down. The building had been drenched with demolding chemicals, and the moisture from the attic had been drawn down into the Sheetrock. It was the only time I was nearly brought to tears. But then I started laughing out loud. Bev looked at me and said, “What’s wrong with you?” “Look on the bright side,” I said. “Now we’re going to get a new ceiling.”

Lisa Sullivan

For so long we were just riding this adrenaline to get things done. But eventually that goes, and I remember just reaching a point that winter where I thought, I can’t bear to do another thing. We’re still a total disaster. I didn’t have it in me to go to another meeting about the recovery or do any more work. So I took a few months and just did some more things with my kids, who’d probably felt neglected. I mean, all through that fall we were making grilled cheese for dinner at 8 o’clock at night and then just crashing. It felt important to take a step back and just feel normal again.

‘IT WAS LIKE BEING HUGGED, WHEN YOU WALKED INTO THAT BUILDING’

Slowly, things did get better. At the center of the recovery effort was the emergency shelter that had been established at the high school. The early visitors were a group of wedding guests who’d been stranded in town and a National Guard troop that arrived via high-water vehicles. Cots were set up in the gymnasium. In the library, sophomore Hannah Swanson oversaw a free child-sitting service, and the school’s head cook, Joe Girardi, churned out food for anyone who came through the doors. The whole experience was punctuated by a community supper every night, where exhausted residents could catch their breath and take solace in the fact that they weren’t alone. “It was this incredible time of fellowship,” recalls Nicki Steel, a local photographer.

It was also from there that Steel dispersed an army of volunteers, and leaders like Monique Johnson and Camille Swanson welcomed donations. Even those who’d had little connection to the town offered something. A bakery in Bennington delivered fresh bread every day, while truckloads of clothes came from Springfield, Vermont, and Portland, Maine. Offers of help came in from people around the country.

Wilmington’s community-wide recovery effort would continue for