The People of the Pemaquid Peninsula

   Most folks looking for a home in Mid Coast Maine are initially attracted by the sheer beauty of our landscapes and seascapes. Once they settle in, they quickly discover there's another attraction that makes living here special - our diverse and interesting people.  Over the next few months we'll introduce you to some of those folks here on our blog. And today we'd like to start with one of the nicest and most interesting persons we know, Bud Elwin.

    Bud and his lovely bride Janet are originally from the Somerville Massachusetts area, where they raised their 3 children and Bud worked for Hewlett Packard. They were longtime vacationers in Maine already by 1980 when they happened to visit friends in South Bristol here on the Pemaquid Peninsula. One boat ride on the Damariscotta River was all it took to convince them that this was where they wanted to retire.

   As they were leaving town that weekend they stopped at a Main Street real estate agency and after talking with a broker decided to look at and buy a 5 acre parcel on Prentiss Cove in the Walpole section of South Bristol. This is a great neighborhood, close to all of the village amenities but with low taxes and right on the river.  By 1988 the Elwin's could no longer wait for Bud to wind down his career in Mass. so they built their retirement home and Janet became a year round resident while Bud continued to commute to his job and enjoy Maine on the weekends. Finally in 2000 Bud retired and no longer endures that all that driving. Unable to sit still Bud took a part time job working in the pro shop at our local golf course and also spent an enormous amount of time reading all those books he'd always meant to get too.

   Five years ago Bud found a used book entitled "It's Only Me", by John Underwood, which chronicles the life and career of Ted Williams. The book includes a 62 minute CD narrated by The Splendid Splinter himself.  Buds initial curiosity about Ted Williams was transformed into an obsession. subsequently Bud read 21 books on his Red Sox idol and claims he just might know Ted Williams better than Ted knew himself.  Bud has made pilgrimages to Ted's famous fishing lodge in Canada and befriended his old fishing guide. Buds car carries the license plate TED 406 and the decals "Splinter 9" and "TEDDY BALLGAME".

   Reading about baseball and researching the life of his hero, Bud found that many of the players interviewed talked about crossing the "white base line" and the emotional impact of taking the field. This fueled Buds passion to experience the same emotion and so, in the spring of '09 Bud signed up to go to Red Sox Fantasy Camp.  This required him to 1. come up with a financial plan to pay for the camp and 2. to come up with a fitness program to enable his 70 year old body to withstand the rigors of the one week camp.

   The financial plan was the first priority. Bud designed a sports jacket with Red Sox and Ted Williams insignias sown on by Janet. Using the modern technology of E Bay, Bud was able to sell enough of the jackets to meet his financial goal. However his fitness goals would take longer. In July of 2009 Bud joined our local YMCA and with the guidance of a fitness instructor developed an ambitious plan.  As of this writing Bud has completed over 80 workouts, lost more than 18 pounds, reduced his waist size and greatly improved his flexibility. Bud met a former player from the Minnesota Twins organization who became his hitting instructor and got any high school player he could find to help him throw long toss and play catch. Camp opens on January 31 and Buds final words as he was leaving were, "I'm as fit as ever and ready to win the home-run derby".

   Bud has promised us an update if he can and would like to invite any of our snowbird residents who might presently be in the Fort Myers FL area to join him for a BBQ with former Red Sox players and his fantasy camp teammates. Send Bud an email at budelwin@gmail.com.  We'll hope to post more pictures when Bud returns. Hopefully with that Homerun Trophy!

   Watch right here for more stories of some of the interesting people who have either moved to or lived their whole life on the beautiful Pemaquid Peninsula. 

Lee Simard
 

Real Estate Report

    I can't even begin to think about real estate.  We've got more important things to worry about.  The Red Sox lead over The Team Whose Name We Shall Not Write is down to 7. And they no longer have the best record in all of baseball. 

   I know what you're thinking.  "What's his problem?"  "They still lead the A.L. East and they are 7 games ahead not behind."  "It's only mid July."  Clearly you don't understand.

   The warning signs are all there. Over the last 45 games the Red Sox record is something like 21-24. The trouble apparently started when Dan Shaughnessy wrote an article May 30 in the Boston Globe in which he just about crowned the Sox winners of this years World Series.  Faithful fans will recall that Shaughnessy is the kiss of death for any successful Boston team, our own version of the SI cover jinx.

   Now friends from New York who were conspicuously silent when the lead was 14 games, are only too happy to be in touch.  Oh sure, they try to make it sound like it's just old friends getting together but we all know what's going on.  They smell blood in the water and the sharks are beginning to circle.

   I thought when the weather got warmer Big Papi would start to hit but instead we're hearing about "torn meniscus" and "playing in pain".  J.D. Drew was supposed to make us forget about Trot Nixon but he's hurt (big surprise there) and even when he was healthy I didn't see anything that said "I'm worth $70 million" .  Willy Mo can hit a fast ball no doubt about that but the pitchers in the A.L. East have figured that out and he's getting a steady diet of breaking balls and other junk which he can't hit. Julian Tavares was forced into the role of 5th starter when Theo couldn't find a closer and had to move Papellbon back to the job.  Papelbon is doing his job but it's time for Tavares to go back to the pen and bring one of the young arms up from Pawtucket (Jon Lester?).  The little guys (Lugo, Crisp and Pedrioa) at either end of the order are getting on base and playing pretty good defense and Mike Lowell continues to make the Marlins look dumb for saying he was all done but as a team there are way too many runners being stranded on the bases and the starting pitchers are prone to that one bad inning (see:Matsusaka, 6th inning last night) that can kill a comeback.

   So don't tell me that the lead is still 7 games.  Remember  a certain 5 game homestand last August?  Remember a ground ball to first in Game 6?  Remember Bucky F. Dent?  I want to see Manny slowly rounding the bases.  I want to see Papelbon breathing fire and pumping his fist to end games.  I want a huge lead and I don't care if it is July.  Everything changed after 2004.  We can't go back to the way things used to be.

   Honestly, it's enough to drive a man to drink.  And I don't mean Moxie.

Jim Cosgrove