SAME ONE?: As the crow flies, Laurel Drive isn’t too far from
Bolivar Drive. And that makes us wonder if this bear is the same
one we told you about last Friday.

Larry Dow sent us the picture, and reported, “I took this
picture Monday morning at about 7 a.m. – about 9ð feet away through
our dining room window on Bolivar Drive. I had just returned to the
house after getting our morning paper.”

That Monday would have been Monday, June 5. By our estimation,
it would have been close to the time Gabe Chamberlin saw a bear in
his back yard on Laurel Drive, off Constitution Avenue. It looks to
be about the same size and certainly seem to have the same large
appetite.

In addition, it certainly proves that bird feeders are a magnet
for bears and, as we said before, they should be taken inside
overnight. Again, a word to the wise …

MORE MAYPOLE: Joan Klussmann writes, “I lived across the street
from West Branch School for 20 years. For a month each year during
the ’60s I hummed ‘Country Gardens’ daily (it got into my brain) as
the children practiced for the Maypole festival held on the front
lawn of the school.”

“Each grade performed a little program: kindergarten played
their rhythm band instruments; first graders did a calisthentics
routine to ‘Chicken Fat.’ (The words to it that were so funny.)

“The older students did a Maypole dance – to the tune of
‘Country Gardens’ – and, for a while, crowned an elected May Queen.
The latter event got too political and was dropped.

“The program ceased by the late ’60s. The teachers said it had
become too involved and time consuming. I was sorry to see it go.
It appeared as a picture of springtime happiness and childhood
innocence.”