‘Ida’ entertains

Susan Poulin entertained 54 members and guests of the Westbrook Woman’s Club, Jan. 16 at Keeley The Katerer, on Warren Avenue in Portland.

A performer known for her character named Ida, Poulin performed excerpts from her one-woman shows, “Ida’s Havin’ a Yard Sale” and “Spousal Deafness and Other Bones of Contention.” She played other characters, including those at the yard sale, and had club members laughing heartily.

Susan’s mother, Betty, a member of the Westbrook Woman’s Club, was a teacher at Westbrook’s Saccarappa School for 22 years. Susan was selected by Portland Magazine as one of the “Ten Most Intriguing People in Maine.”

A Maine native and now a resident in South Berwick, she has been a featured performer at the Women’s Performance Festival at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Maine Festival and the Minneapolis Fringe Theater Festival. In 2005 she received a New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant to study traditional Franco-American music with master artist Lucie Therrien. Susan’s essays have been heard on Maine and New Hampshire Public Radio. She writes her own scripts.

She sat at our table, along with Mary Gagnon, Beverly Libby, Evelyn Meserve and her daughter, Joanne Reece and Mary Barton.

I was pleased to talk with some of my friends at the luncheon. Ethelyn Chase had read in my column that Gladys Tilton was our senior class English teacher, and she had memories of her, too. Gladys’ father was pastor at Ethelyn’s church, often used to visit parishioners at lunchtime, and one day he brought his daughter, Gladys, along with him. Ethelyn said that our English teacher soon taught her how to knit.

I also chatted with Doris Doggett, who suggested that she and I could drive together to visit our mutual friend, Nancy Abbott Thompson Swears, who now lives at Piper Shores. I was also pleased to see Vaun Born, who was a guest of club member Nancy Curran.

Current club officers are President, Elaine Spiller; first vice president, Roberta Morrill, second vice president, Jean Anne Thomas; recording secretary, Mary Libby; corresponding secretary, Anita Blackstone; Tteasurer, Elizabeth Young; auditor, Jan Usher; historian, Ethelyn Chase; parliamentarian, Judith Reidman. Ddrectors: 2004-2007, Frances Fogg and Mary Gagnon; 2005-2008, Marjorie Eames, Sally Labrecque; 2006-2009, Evelyn Meserve and Ruth Joy.

Ongoing activities of this club include raising funds to provide three yearly scholarships to Westbrook High School seniors going on to college; providing yearly financial support for students attending Dirigo Girls State and Maine Youth Leadership Conference; supporting the President’s Project of the Maine Federation of Women’s Clubs; organizing and supporting an annual Westbrook High School Art Contest; and donating books and providing readers for the local elementary schools.

Among recent accomplishments: participated with Portland Trails to clear a walkway through Westbrook and arranged to have a bench built and placed on the cleared trail; arranged to have replacement signs made and installed at several historical sites around Westbrook; adopted a unit at Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook; provided Sunshine Bags for a Woman’s Crisis Center; participated in the local food pantry collection; and assisted a local family for the holidays.

The luncheon was delicious, and I would call it a feast. The buffet table gave members and guests many choices – a huge vegetable salad bowl, plates with sliced chicken, ham and roast beef, pans of potato, meat balls in gravy with rolls and many casserole dishes, from which we served ourselves. Dessert was brought to our tables, and for each person was a glass bowl with a brownie, vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream on top.

The luncheon was a nice outing to attend, after all the frigid days we have had lately.

Pronounciations grate

Every time I hear an ad on television about Chevrolet cars, I wince when the man reporting it calls it “Chev-O-Lay.” I wondered where that person could have come from, when he spoke of “Sack-O,” Maine. We Mainers know that it is pronounced like “Sock-O.”

Another word that bothers me in the ad I hear is “lug-cherie.” There is no letter C in luxury. I wish the person reading the ad could hear my correction, each time he or she says it incorrectly.

Pudding delights

Today’s recipe is another pleasant recollection of the days when we lived in one of Mrs. Alexander Speir’s apartments on Hawkes Street, Westbrook. Our next-door neighbor was Violet Lowell, who gave us her pudding recipe, which we used to make frequently. I have printed it before, but not recently.

VIOLET’S GRAPENUT PUDDING

3/4 cup grapenuts. Soak 15 minutes in 1 quart of milk.

Beat 2 eggs. Add 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and a little salt (I don’t use salt).

Combine these, and put in a greased baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour or more, or until set.

Ramblings