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THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, AUGUST 26, 2022 Page 13 The Sounds of Saugus By Mark E. Vogler Back-to-School countdown Hey, Saugus kids! Hope you’ve made the most of your summer vacation, as you will be headed back to school next week. Classes begin on Tuesday (Aug. 30) for students in grades 1 to 12. Kindergarten and pre-K classes start on Wednesday (Aug. 31). Enjoy the remaining days of your summer. Read a little. Have fun. Relax. If you are interested in local places to visit to spice up your summer, go to the Saugus Public Library, the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site, Breakheart Reservation, the Youth & Recreation Department or the Saugus Senior Center. Collectively, these places offer a lot of summertime options for Saugus residents. Show some respect for Old Glory Recently, we received a few disappointing reports about tattered and torn American flags flying on staffs outside town municipal buildings. It seems this is an issue that surfaces periodically. And, when it does, it should be addressed as soon as possible. Since U.S. Army Vietnam War Era veteran Joe Johnson brought this to our attention this week, we’ll share from his emails and hope that Saugus town and school officials respond promptly to replace the flags. “As I drive and walk around our town, I’ve noticed that our American flags are being flown tattered and torn. The flags at our new SHS are in poor condition as well as the flag at the World Series Park,” Joe wrote in his email to The Saugus Advocate. “As an Army veteran I’m upset. I’ve aired my complaint at the Veterans Council and to a few town officials. I’ve been told that it will be taken care of. Simple solution is to take down the damaged flags as it is against federal law to fly a tattered torn U.S. flag,” Joe said. “I understand that they may not have enough American flags to replace but they can at least remove the torn ones. It looks terrible seeing them fly like that. And is against federal law. I hope they take the torn flags down and respectively dispose of them.” Joe apparently shared his concerns with several selectmen and a member of the Saugus Council on Aging. I understand the Board of Selectmen’s Office has also been fielding a few complaints from concerned citizens who feel the same way as Joe. Hopefully, the powers that be read this and take care of the situation quickly. Some quality time off I am back on the job after enjoying some time off over the past two weeks resting, relaxing and doing some fun things unrelated to newspapering. For the folks who ask me how my vacation went, my standard answer will be as always: “There’s no such thing as bad time off.” I didn’t go on any special trip this year. And I didn’t focus my time on a major home improvement project like last year, when I spent most of my two weeks gathering and removing clutter from my garage. I decided at the outset that I would spend my time stringing together some day trips while visiting friends and relatives that I haven’t gotten to see a lot of since before the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020. There’s no question the highlight of my trip was visiting my 91-year-old aunt in Danville, N.H. Elsie Rondeau is my late dad’s sister and my only living aunt. I wanted to take her out. But she insisted that I drive up to visit her one day and join her and her daughter, Sharon, who I haven’t seen in many years. We had a great lunch. My cousin brought some very tasty pizza to my aunt’s house. As we enjoyed the pizza, some huge and well-fed hummingbirds entertained us at the feeder set up near the front porch. I’ve never seen humming birds as big as these birds hovering in the air, oblivious to people nearby watching them. After lunch, I spent about four hours sitting on the couch in my Aunt Elsie’s living room, catching up on things and sharing memories about people from our past. Four hours sitting on a couch, and the time just zipped by. It was amazing how my Aunt Elsie was able to share wonderful memories and stories of the past. She’s very articulate and still has a great memory and a great sense of humor. It was special – leisurely spending an afternoon with the sister of my dad, who has been gone for over 30 years. My aunt has got some mobility issues but points out proudly that she does about six miles a day on her exercise bike. There are not too many people I would spend four hours of casual conversation with. That’s a long time. But it was well worth the time with my Aunt Elsie. She’s great. And I wish I would have spent more time with her. All in all, it was a great vacation. I did get up to Portland, Maine, to enjoy a baked, stuffed lobster at Boone’s Fish House & Oyster Room – a place I haven’t been to since 1975. Back when I was a young reporter based in the Bridgton-Fryeburg area for The Portland Press Herald, I would occasionally splurge on a good seafood meal at Boone’s – a popular restaurant on Portland Harbor since 1898. I really loved the place back then when life was less complex. Oh my, have things changed. There wasn’t any parking issue back then. But I wound up spending $40 for parking this time on the Portland waterfront. The parking and the $14 in Maine and New Hampshire turnpike tolls combined cost the same as the $54 for the baked stuffed lobster. The total lunch bill came to $114 – a lot more than what I paid on the last time I dined at Boone’s. Another high point of my vacation was a day trip to Nantucket. I got up at 5 a.m. one day and picked up my UMass Amherst college buddy Bob Callahan in Woburn. We got down to Hyannis in time to catch the first steamship to the island. We arrived at 11:30, had lunch and spent about six hours and six miles walking around the island, visiting places we used to go to during the three years I lived and worked out there when I was editor of the now-defunct Nantucket Beacon. The steamship trip was two hours and 15 minutes each way. I didn’t run into any friends and acquaintances during my time on the island. I walked into the Nantucket Town & County Building to see if anyone remained since I left the island 26 years ago. Libby Gibson had worked as an administrator back at the time I left. She’s still around and became town manager when Nantucket changed its form of government from the town administrator position. I got to enjoy some cookouts with a few other close friends. So, yes, indeed, it was a great vacation. Navy Band Concert canceled The Friends of Breakheart were looking forward to hosting the U.S. Navy Band’s “Rhode Island Sound Machine” on Wednesday (Aug. 24). But the forest fires at Breakheart Reservation forced the cancellation of this week’s concert. “We’re going to try to reschedule, but we don’t know what date yet,” said Peter A Rossetti Jr. of the Friends of Breakheart. “This is a free concert and a very popular one that’s been enjoyed by local residents over the years. Unfortunately, it got canceled THE SOUNDS | SEE PAGE 14

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