Duke’s Pond

It seems to get swimming hot only in the month of July in the Hoosac Valley. The wind or breeze is blocked by Mount Greylock to the west and Savoy Mountain to the east, and the town of Adams Massachusetts bakes. If you live here you are 200 miles from the nearest ocean beach. But that’s OK because nestled just over Savoy Mountain is Duke’s Pond. Just drive up Orchard past the Polish cemetery, past where Danny Alibozek used to live. Stay straight through the Gulf past the dairy farms and through Savoy. You will go down a long decline and right there on your right you will see the sign. It’s in West Hawley, near the Windsor border.



It isn't a huge pond but it is warm. It is not freezing cold like Sand Springs in Williamstown or Anthony's in Adams. Here is where Dad took us one hot , steamy night after work to learn how to swim. He simply took my brother and I out over our heads and we had to swim back. Duke’s is also where I first canoed. The east end of the pond is where the dance pavilion and barroom were. Once you got off 116, the roads were just gravel.



White Birch was another area on the pond -- at the bottom of the hill and on the right. It was a very nice picnic area, with picnic tables and a stone fireplace at each site. It was first come, first served. Maybe you had to pay. You must have had to pay. Dad liked it because they had a small barroom nestled in the birches. You could get an ice cold beer, but you had to be 13.

The Bacon family would go up after church at Saint Stan's. My mom, Nora, would always buy the Polish rye bread at the Polish Bakery just across from the church. It is a pizza place now. I remember all of this mostly from old photos.

My mother and father would take their parents along. Much of the time Walter Lemanski (my mom’s dad) came along. His children referred to him as Pa.





His wife, Alexandra, had passed by then. They came from Poland, "the old country," they would say. Alexandra came first and alone. She was pregnant with her first of 9 children. She was 19, married to Walter who was drafted into the Russian Army. She walked for two days to get to the steamship that would take her first to Ellis Island. From there she traveled up to Adams Massachusetts where she had a sister living. What did she carry? How did she communicate? What was it like to see her sister in the United States of America? What type of transportation did she use to get to her sisters? Maybe the train? I don't know.

What did she think of Adams? If she stayed in the Polish section of town, she would have no problems. She would not have to learn the language and she never did. Sandy's Polish Grandmother never did either. You just didn't need to.

Alexandra was called Alice by her friends. There must have been a promise of employment. Hoosac Valley needed factory workers for the cotton and woolen mills. The Polish people filled that need.

Alice Lemanski 's favorite movie star was Buster Crabbe. In her heavy Polish accent, she called him Bustum Crap. You can't make up stuff like this.

My mother would dust our little squeeky clean house on Howland Avenue every Saturday. Part of her ritual was to take down her mothers photo, polish it in a circular motion, kiss it and put it back on the shelf. This is the photo of my Polish Grandmother in a wheel chair at Dukes Pond. I remember my mothers ritual clearly as if it happened yesterday.

It was March 19, 1944. The World War was raging. The five daughters and their mother were sitting at the kitchen table on Commercial Street, talking, when someone knocked on the front door. Oh my god, Billy was home from the war! But when my Aunt Steffie got to the door, no one was there. The very next day a letter came from Mr. Roosevelt. William Lemanski was missing in action over Italy. Rumor says it was over Austria. He was a tail gunner in a B-52 bomber airplane -- the one with all the glass, with the turret that swiveled. The next day, another letter. Billy was killed in action. Alexandra couldn't take the loss and had a stroke climbing the stairs.



It reads:

IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF

STAFF SERGEANT WILLIAM LEMANSKI, A.S. 31284582

WHO DIED IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY

IN THE NORTH AFRICA AREA , MARCH 19, 1944


HE STANDS IN THE UNBROKEN LINE OF PATRIOTS WHO HAVE DARED TO DIE
THAT FREEDOM MIGHT LIVE , AND GROW, AND INCREASE ITS BLESSINGS.
FREEDOM LIVES , AND THROUGH IT. HE LIVES-
IN A WAY THAT HUMBLES THE UNDERTAKINGS OF MOST MEN.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
President of the United States of America



Oh, you want to know why the name of this story is Duke’s Pond? Here at our house in Marshfield, we have almost no grass. I did that on purpose. We would spend all morning mowing the grass in Zylonite at Mom and Dad's. But I do have a strip between the old house and the pool fence. I would always advise my swimming pool customers to put some grass in their pool area for color. A landscaper told me I could never grow grass there but I did. It has been damaged periodically, with all the additions that we have done, plus house painting and new roofs. Finally the additions have ceased and I brought up beautiful thirty-nine year-old compost from behind the pool near the garden, and seeded, and the grass is finally coming back in -- very well, thank you.

Between the bar and the driveway is an area where you cannot grow grass for two reasons. It is too shady there, and the water from the long driveway swales right through there like a flood when it rains. We had pachysandra there for awhile, but it got trampled during my big fiesta. I decided to fill the area with round, smooth Rexame beach rocks. Then I dug a very crooked path through it for the water to flow. Abel and I named it Snake River.



Abel and Teddy, Abel' s best friend who lives across the street, love to play in Snake River. When it is not raining and dry, we run a garden hose at one end and the river comes alive. So much for all my water barrel and water pail conservation efforts. I enjoy washing the cars with rain water. Doesn't everyone?

There is a large rain barrel on the other side of the bar with a roof gutter running right into it. It is always full. Abel came up to me, covered in mud, with those big blue eyes, and said, "Grampa, would you mind if I turned on the spigot and made a pond, and then connect it across the lawn to Snake River?"

“Abel,” I said, “That is a great idea.”

Then he said, "We will call it Duke’s Pond."

I was kinda stunned. Sandy and I have been to Duke’s Pond only once in forty-four years. He's never been there.

Today he and Teddy found a dead chipmunk in a pail of rain water, and asked me what to do with it. I said, “We will bury it, but not right now.” Next thing I knew, they had dug a hole right in the middle of my new lawn! We had a little service, and bid the chipmunk -- and my new lawn -- farewell.

Your Friend,
Abuelo Tocino

Holbox Vacation 2011

Isla Holbox (whole bush) was pretty neat. It is located on the Gulf of Mexico so the sea is not as blue as the Caribbean. Yah it looks like Isla Mujeres did, but maybe eighty years ago, not twenty as we were thinking before we went there. No cars. White sand streets with grande slippery puddles when it rains.



Almost no TVs in the houses. None in the hotels. No cell phone reception for Americans. Great restaurants, pizza, Argentinian, Italian, Mexican.



Here is an interesting note. In the 10 days in Mexico we never had a Mexican meal. Chips and pico de gallo and guacamole for sure, but NO Mexican.



Israeli, Spanish, Italian and Mediterranean and Asian but no . . . There was incredible sea food, or so I was told.





Our hotelita was a knock out. It is very new and run by an Italian mother and daughter. It had one of the most beautiful pool areas that I have ever seen. And I have seen a few thousand.



I think there are 7 hotels on the twenty six-mile-long island. Isla Mujeres is only 5 miles long.

Our hotel was rated by Trip Advisor as #3. I can't imagine any hotel on Holbox being better than the one we stayed at. Not much shopping, but when you did shop, there was NO pressure. No "take a look" or "where you from." No vendors on the beach. Way more bird life and way more shells. We have only seen more stars at night once on a vacation, while in Montana. Quiet. Not many Norte Americanos. Population of Isla Mujeres: 10,000. Population of Isla Holbox: 1,600.



Found a new drink for me there that I really enjoyed. It is called a Michelada. Soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, Goya sauce, salted glass with rockes (ice cubes) add ice cold beer. I had Modelo. You cannot drink it fast. Mine lasted for up to two hours. Three would be too many. If you like a spicy drink, this Bud's for you. I mean this Michelada is for you. Mr. Google says that it was concocted in the 1940s and that roughly translated it means "my cold beer" or mi chela helado.

Marshfield Hills Civil War Memorial Lecture

135 Marshfield men signed up to fight in the Civil War. All of them were farmers or cobblers. In 1860, Marshfield's population was 1713.

27 names are on the monument. They are referred to as “fallen.” 21 deaths, 5 discharged. One, Lucius Carr, born in 1840 - ? We know the missing soldier’s name and birth date only.

It was 30 years before the memorial was dedicated. During the years after the war, there was a serious depression. And, as in any war, the combatants just wanted to forget the war and get on with their lives.

Eventually, granite from land in Quincy Massachusetts, owned by the famous John Adams family, was used for the memorial. The statue on top is that of a full-sized soldier at parade rest. He is carrying a Springfield musket. These were made 100 miles away in Springfield, Massachusetts, for the war. He wears a full mustache, which was common for the time. He is dressed in his Winter Blue uniform. This granite was the best money could buy. Marble would be less. Then limestone, followed by cast iron. The granite statue weighs 167 pounds per square foot.

The first STATE REGIMENTAL monument at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was from Massachusetts. Now there are over 300 memorials, showing exactly where the particular state regiments were during the battle.

There was eventually a draft of men between the ages of 20 thru 43. For $300 you could pay someone to take your place. Rich kids didn't need to go. Sound familiar? The North, eventually running out of men, paid many Germans and Irish to fill the ranks. The speaker at the lecture I attended said, “without the foreigners we would not have won.”

The small, older crowd many times broke the tempo of the speaker with questions. “Don't stand in the hallways, don't block up the halls.” Many times they presented their own little facts. Hey, maybe next week YOU could do a lecture. Would you interrupt Nathaniel Philbrick? “Hey Abe! What do you mean by four score?”

The memorial service in Marshfield Hills, Massachusetts, in1895 cost $432.
240 children of Marshfield were there, all dressed in white. The Plymouth band also was present. Half the cost of the service was for food. $22 went to a man with his buckboard who brought most of the children. Lastly there was a $5 charge for the use of someone's horse. According to the Boston Sunday Globe, “Rain came at one point but it laid the dust nicely.” A grand time was had by all.

I Did It Tom's Way

When you look back on your life do you think, like Frank Sinatra, that you did it your way?

That's what I thought until I analyzed my life and discovered, much to my surprise, that I Did It Tom's Way.

Characterize me if you will. Civil War buff, Cajun/Zydeco dancer, National Park lover . . . yup. But none of these were my original ideas.

Tom took me on a tour of Gettysburg. After a while I looked at him and said, "We were here," to which he agreed. I don't know why I said that, but I believed it and still do. Tom even looks like General Thomas Jackson aka Stonewall Jackson, a name that he earned at First Manassas -- or Bull Run, as the Union forces called it.





Go ahead, compare the photos. Am I right? What an amazing resemblance.

I always thought that Tom looked great with a beard. The story goes, he took his two young sons to the movies and a woman said, "Isn't that nice that Grampa is taking his grandkids to the movies." He went home and shaved the gray beard off and we haven't seen it since. I have wanted to shave off my white beard, but Sandy won't let me. She says I would look like Gramma Walton from The Waltons TV show. Not Grampa Walton. Even John Boy would probably agree.

Cajun/Zydeco dancer. Not my idea. Tom took us to our first festival in Rhode Island, the state where he was born, and Sandy and I were hooked. That was a long time ago, at Escoheag, and it changed our lives.

Speaking of Rhode Island, every Mardi Gras Ball we end the evening by going to Haven Brothers for hamburgs and fries. Did you think that was my original idea? As a kid Tom was a regular there, and he took us there the very first time. Federal Hill, Point Judith, Ninigret and Rhodes on the Pawtuxet. None of these were my idea originally, but thanks for thinking it was.

National Park lover. It was all his idea. First we hiked Yosemite, then Arches, then Canyonlands, then Tetons and Yellowstone, then Rocky Mountain National Park. I don't think we are done yet. He showed us Virginia City and the trails and lakes of Tahoe. Truckee California too. Tom lived in California for twenty years. He hiked Yosemite many times with the Sierra Club.

The first time we went to Yosemite we ate first at a Mexican restaurant called La Piñata. It was just south of LAX. It was awesome. When Sandy, Allan Sylvester and I went to Steve George's 50th birthday party, we of course ate at La Piñata. When the Adamses went to Yosemite they enjoyed the place so much they went twice. Mike Coleman from the Ultra Running Club was going to California with his Lauri. I told him about the restaurant. During the trip he suggested a GREAT Mexican restaurant. Lauri said, "You have never been to California before, how do you know where a great Mexican restaurant is?" They went to the restaurant in Burlingame and loved it. Bill Thibideaux, a former Navy buddy, was going out to California. I told him. He couldn't find it. Finally he asked someone and found out that, after 37 years, it had closed.

Tom and I have many other connections. He and Jeanette built a house on the lot next door to us here in Marshfield in 1980. One day Sandy and I were in the back yard. The Egan casa was under construction. We met at the fence. As Tom remembers it, I said, "Do you own a dog?"

They said NO.

I said, "We will get along just fine."

We did get along fine. That same night we went out for Mexican. We have been friends now for 30 years. Not around 30 years -- 30 YEARS.

Jeanette, a southern California girl, even taught Sandy how to make Mexican fideo soup. Now we think of the recipe as ours.

Through the Egans, we became fast friends with the Sylvesters and the Georges. Tom worked at a company in Boston with Allan Sylvester and Steve George. We were only friends here in Massachusetts for 5 years. But it is a strong connection. The Georges moved back to California. The Sylvesters moved to Vermont. And the Egans moved to Pennsylvania. When they all lived here, we had great fun. Mexican pool parties, New Years Eves, etc. We still get to see each other. We all show up for a son or daughter’s wedding, or one of our special birthdays, and we have been on vacations together.

Tom Egan and I have many other things that connect us. To start, we were born in the same month. Tom grew up in the projects and I grew up in a mill town.

We both love old western movies. Lonesome Dove: he called me the first night it was on and we were both hooked. Hell, most of America was. Anything that Robert Duvall does is OK with us. If I told you once, I have told you twice: rent Assassination Tango. We may be the only two people on the east coast who loved the movie Heavens Gate.

Lake George New York has a lot of history for both of us. We still vacation there. Around Boston no one knows Lake George. Well it is Yankee territory.

Telephone call one night. Bob. Tom. Best western gun battle ever. Open Range. End of conversation.

Tom is an avid reader. We pass each other books at Christmas and birthdays. It was Tom who let us all know about a great book that he had discovered. It was to be my Christmas present, but he couldn't wait and sent it in July. It was called Mayflower. It had a major affect on my other friends here in New England. The author, Nathaniel Philbrick, came to the Winslow house for a reading. It was so packed that people outside were trying to listen to him through the open windows. Most people were turned away.

I have read everything that there is to read on Buffalo Bill Cody. We swung off the exit near Denver once after visiting Leadville to see his gravesite. Tom had been there years ago with his father. I was overwhelmed with the place and ended up buying this Buffalo Bill jacket at Longview Point.



Bill wanted to be buried at Cody Wyoming, a town that he started. The city of Denver offered his wife $10,000 if she would bury him there instead, so she did. They didn't get along all that well. Once she showed up unannounced at a hotel where Bill was staying. The desk clerk told her the room number where Mr. and Mrs. Cody were registered. Bill was a ladies’ man. Even late in life he was something to see.



Cody cowboys threatened Denver that they would come and dig Bill up and bring him back to Wyoming. Denver responded by reburying Buffalo Bill under 20 feet of concrete. You can't make this stuff up.



When Tom and Jeanette visited Russia, he bought a Russian Officers cap from a little old lady down a side street. Jeanette said, "Tom, WHAT are you going to do with that hat?

Tom said, "It’s for Bob.”

Jeanette said, “Oh!”

My Polish grandfather was in the Russian Army.



What else? I ran 54,000 miles. Tom hockey skated 54,000 miles.

Later in life, Tom became a story teller while I became a story writer (sort of).





I cracked up when I received this mail recently and it sparked this blog. That's me as a project teenager at age 14. I can't wait until the royalties start pouring in.

As you can see, Tom has become a great storyteller. Even the famous Jay O'Callahan of Marshfield believes this. Check out all of Tom's other accomplishments. He is quite a guy and he is my friend.



I really think that T.P. has influenced me more in my life than anyone, and I wanted you and the rest of the world to know.

Bob Bacon

The Bees Knees

You of course remember that Walter Casimer Zepka, the Polish florist, had a place on Orchard Street, where he grew many of his flowers for his florist business, which was on Victory Street in Adams. Just down the street from St. Stan's. It recently closed after 101 years. If you got my Christmas e-mail on it and didn't hit DELETE you already knew that. It was just past Cherwinski's and across from Alibozek's. The Alibozek in that house was a Petrowski girl. She lived on East Hoosac Street. Do you remember her? Her father worked at G.E. in Pittsfield (this is how older people in Adams talk). Anyway, he died. You hear that a lot also. But did you know that Walter also kept bees?

The Polish Cemetery is also on Orchard Street. It is about two miles from Walter's gardens and bee hives. Two people told me this story at separate times while I was in Adams this weekend so it must be true: this summer as they were lowering Walter into the ground, swarms of his bees showed up for his send off.



Do you remember what Club Bacon's motto is? You can't make up STUFF like this.

Bobby Lemanski Bacon
I married a Zabek girl.
The family lived on Grant Street.