May 2025 Plant Sale! hosted by the Woman’s Society
DATES: Our annual plant sale will start in May, with set-up starting Wednesday, May 21. The official start of the sale is Sunday, May 25, and will continue 2-3 weeks, unless we run out of plants more quickly.
SETTING UP: Please bring any perennials or seedlings you can donate and label them. There are pots available in the horse shed if you need any.
PROCEEDS: Plan to peruse the plants for something you might like. As usual, we will ask for donations, which will be used to support charitable work.
Any questions? Check with Dorothy Curtis, Kim Bolshaw, or Nancy Marstaller.
For many years — more than I know — members of Durham Friends Meeting have made quilts to be given away. In recent years, the quilts have been given to the parents and grandparents of newly-born babies associated with the Meeting. They have also been made and gifted for other reasons. One of those quilts recently made it’s way back to Durham Friends, a gift in return of Faye Passow, an artist in Minnesota. (You can learn more about Faye here and here.) The quilt had originally been made for and given to her grandparents. We are very grateful to Faye Passow for this gift.
“I am the daughter of Lydia Passow (Booker), who was the daughter of Harold and Jennie Booker, who were members of the Durham Friends Meeting. When my mother a teenager their house burned down and they went to live with an aunt, whose house also burned down. During that time this quilt was created for them by members of the community. I believe but am not sure many were members of the Meetinghouse.
“I currently have this quilt and have no descendants to pass it to and am thinking that it might be of interest to either the Meetinghouse or a local historical society. I am writing to you first as I think you may know many of these names or their relations and might suggest the proper place for this quilt.
“… The quilt was put together in 1943. The names on the quilt are:
Please forgive any spelling errors. The names are stitched in and not always readable.”
Here is the quilt, being shown in the Meetinghouse. Two of our quilters, Dorothy Henton Curtis and Angie Henton Reed are holding it.
In a further message, Faye Passow provided a photo of her Booker family.
“I’m sending a photo of the Booker family. Harold, upper left, would be my grandfather. Jennie Booker sits below him. Mabel Russell was my great aunt, married to Fred Russell. Mary Tarr is most likely the Mary Booker of the quilt square. She is my great aunt also, sister of Harold. She was married in 1944, so after the quilt was created. She died in 1994. The unknown men in the photo are probably Harold’s brothers: Ralph Howard Booker and Raymond Phillips Booker. Harriet Booker was married to Ralph.
“My grandfather’s parents were Eugene Loring Booker and Sarah (Sadie) Rowena (Cox) Booker. She is likely the Sadie you refer to. Born 1868, died 1928.
“Barbara (Russell) Weldon and Doris (Russell) Dupal are the only close relatives remaining that I know of in Maine. One of Doris’ children is married to a Reed, which I believe there is a firewood business in Durham related to the Reed family.
“Also – Ella M Brown, another name on the quilt, was my grandmother Jennie’s mother.
“Minnie Winn was probably Margaret (Brown) Winn, daughter of my grandmother’s brother Hugh. He worked at Worumbo for 50 years and apparently was known affectionately as “Jumbo” for his large size. My grandfather was an electrician at Worumbo.
“Mildred Winn was probably the wife of Carl, son of my grandmother’s brother Hugh.
“There is also an Aunt Jennie on the quilt who may be Jennie Lind (Brown) Douglas, aunt to my grandfather.
“My mother was prolific at searching out family genealogy and wrote a book on Booker and Brown ancestors. She was a member of the DAR, Colonial Dames and the Mayflower Society. She also as a side, was interested in Shiloh as a phenomenon and I have a couple of books on that subject.”
Advance sign up required. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.
There might be a materials charge; details provided when you write to sign up or inquire.
6:30-8:30 Maker Cafe with The Peterson String Band
Free and open to the public. No sign up required.
Bring a project to work on. Some knitting, stitching, writing, reading, drawing, coloring, carving, or whatever you want. And if you don’t bring a project that’s okay too.
Thursday, March 20, 2025: Make a Hand Broomwith Ezra Smith(please pre-register)
5:30-6:30 Learn How to Make a Hand Broom with Ezra Smith
Advance sign up required. Space is limited to 12, then we start a waiting list. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.
All supplies provided. $10-$20 donation is collected on site.
Ezra is a woodworking teacher at Maine Coast Waldorf School.
6:30-8:30 Maker Cafe with Live Music by Fanning the Breeze
Free and open to the public. No sign up required.
Bring a project to work on. Some knitting, stitching, writing, reading, drawing, coloring, carving, or whatever you want. And if you don’t bring a project that’s okay too.
Fanning the Breeze is Michael Fenderson and Bobbi Goodwin. They are two teachers who love sing-alongs and anything that pulls community together for good work and fun! They were recently spotted at the annual Thompson’s Ice cutting day in South Bristol.
5:30-6:30Make a Hand Broomwith Ezra Smith
All supplies provided (donation collected on site).
Advance sign up required. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.
6:30-8:30 Maker Cafe
Live Music Fanning the Breeze
Hot drinks, snacks, and light supper available. All ages, genders, and beliefs welcome. No Charge for thr Maker Cafe, donations welcome
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Please bring a project of your own to work on. Some knitting? Mending? Painting? Sculpting? Crafting? Carving? And if you don’t bring a project, that’s okay too.
Please don’t bring your phone or other screen-based devices. This is an offline place where we try to connect with
**Live Music by Craig Freshley and Frederik Schuele
5:30-7:00Learn How to Make a Shashiko Embroidered Patchwith Emily Bell-Hoerth
All supplies provided ($7-$14 donation collected on site). Bring your clothes to mend! And sewing tools you may have. Mending helpers will be on site to assist with all mending projects.
Advance sign up required. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.
6:30-9:00 Maker Cafe
Live Music by Craig Freshley and Frederik Schuele
Hot drinks, snacks, and light supper available. All ages, genders, and beliefs welcome. No Charge for thr Maker Cafe, donations welcome
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Please bring a project of your own to work on. Some knitting? Mending? Painting? Sculpting? Crafting? Carving? And if you don’t bring a project, that’s okay too.
Please don’t bring your phone or other screen-based devices. This is an offline place where we try to connect with what we’re doing and who we’re with.
Please join us for a Meeting-wide retreat, open to all, on Saturday, February 8th beginning at 9 a.m. and ending no later than 3 p.m.
With worship, small group discussion and artistic expression, we will examine how to prioritize the work and good functioning of the Meeting given our current numbers, and reaffirm our commitment to one another as a Meeting and as Friends. And have fun in the process!!
Lunch will be provided.
It is a great opportunity to listen and learn together and to connect with our beloved community. If you can only come for part of the day, just come!! We welcome you!
Please let us know if you will attend by emailing durham@neym.org. Everyone is needed!
The fullest and most up-to-date information about Maker Cafes at Durham Friends Meeting can be found at MakerCafe.org
MAKE A CRAFT. LIVE MUSIC. DINNER CAFÉ.
At Durham Friends Quaker Meeting we provide a welcoming place every month for folks to hang out, learn, and connect. We love to share our Meetinghouse with a wider community — a place for neighbors to meet neighbors and make things together.
The Maker Café is not religious and is welcoming to people of all political and religious beliefs, all genders, all colors, and all ages. Family-friendly.
Maker Sessions (5:30-6:30) are held prior to each café and require advance sign-up and typically a materials fee. All materials are provided and you go home with something you made.
Maker Cafes (6:30 to 8:30) are free although donations are accepted for the food, drinks, and for the musicians. The Maker Café is run entirely by volunteers. Please join us.
For questions or to volunteer, please contact Craig Freshley: Craig@Freshley.com.
MAKER SESSION: Learn How to Make Prayer Flagswith Nancy Marstaller, 5:30 – 7:30 pm on Thursday January 23, 2025
Advance sign up required. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.
For this session, $5-$10 to be collected on site.
Nancy will provide all materials and instructions. You will be able to take home prayer flags that you made yourself. The Prayer Flags Maker Session will go from 5:30pm until about 7:00pm when the Cafe starts.
CAFE: 7:00 – 9:00 pm on Thursday January 23, 2025
Hot drinks, snacks, and light supper available. All ages, genders, and beliefs welcome. No Charge, donations welcome
Please bring a project of your own to work on. Some knitting? Mending? Painting? Sculpting? Crafting? Carving? And if you don’t bring a project, that’s okay too.
Please don’t bring your phone or other screen-based devices. This is an offline place where we try to connect with what we’re doing and who we’re with.
Brunswick Area Interfaith Council invites one and all!
Notice this will be held on Martin Luther King Day, which this year is also the same day as the 2nd inauguration of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States.
Falmouth Quarterly Meeting will gather on Saturday January 25th at Portland Friends Meeting (1837 Forest Ave., Portland Maine). Friends are invited to arrive for fellowship at 9:00 for a full day together.
When asked: “What do we most need to do to save the world?” Thich Nhat Hanh replied “What we most need to do is to hear within ourselves the sounds of the world crying.”
We invite you to come and share about the life and spirit in your meetings. Our hope is that our entire time together is a time of worship, with laughter, business, connections and fellowship. All are welcome. Here’s the zoom link for those who would like to attend remotely.
The schedule for our time together is:
9:00 arrival, coffee, hot water, bagels and fellowship.
9:30 program – Sharing and exploring, both as individuals and meetings, what these times require. We hope to start by naming what we need, and what are we given. And then move to considering the question: How we, in this time, can do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with Spirit?
11:45 A brief question about the Quarter’s archives.
12:00 lunch & visiting. – There will be a pot of soup. Please bring whatever else you might need or would like to contribute.
1:00 Afternoon Listening and Visioning Session on our yearly meeting’s annual gathering (sessions) Recent years have brought many changes, both internal and external, to the context and circumstances surrounding NEYM Annual Sessions. These include increasing costs, diminished capacity to pay on the part of many Friends and families, reduced and shifting patterns of attendance, increased demand for supportive services and capacities, reductions in volunteer availability, and growing awareness of the need to focus and prioritize limited attention and resources.
In light of all of these changes, the Yearly Meeting’s model of programming, logistics, services, and funding for the event of Annual Sessions is in need of review and reimagining. We will hold a facilitated discussion to inform any future plans.
On Thursday evening, December 5, there will be a hands-on wreath making session at the Meetinghouse. Supplies will be provided (or bring your own). Also a light supper. Also Music!
Wreath making, 5:30 to 7:30
Makers helping all who come: Kim Bolshaw and Wendy Schlotterbeck
Cafe, 6:30 to 8:00
Light supper (feel free to volunteer to make something); Music by Craig Freshley
This will be the first of a series of Quaker Maker sessions on Thursday evenings at the Meetinghouse. Watch this website for further announcements.
As we all seek to find our own path forward in the current environment, we invite you to join us in reading Active Hope by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone.
We will be meeting on the 4th Sunday in January, February, and March at 9:30am.
A section of the book will be discussed at each meeting.
Where: Meetinghouse Arts, 40 Main Street, Freeport
Tickets:
$10 for non-members,
$5 for members,
Free for Teachers & Students (ticket still required)
What is the impact of history and education when more inclusive of Native peoples of this land? How do you bring it into your learning space? Chris Newell will examine these questions and more as he discusses the far-reaching work of himself and his partners at Akomawt Educational Initiative to bring Native content to all areas of education in our society.
The lecture will be followed by a screening of the short film “Weckuwapok (The Approaching Dawn).”
Chris Newell’s book “If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving” will be available for purchase.
Falmouth Quarter will meet on October 26th from 9:30 – 3 at Durham Friends Meeting
We invite you to come and share about the life and spirit in your meetings. Our hope is that our entire time together is a time of worship, with laughter, business, connections and fellowship. All are welcome.
Please plan on a brown bag lunch.
In the afternoon we will focus on Martha Shelden’s report on her experience as a Friends’ recorded minister and the queries she offers to our meetings.
Love Fritz Weiss & Wendy Schlotterbeck, co-coordinators, Falmouth Quarter
10:00 Land acknowledgement: We meet on land that is a part of the ancestral homelands of the Wabanaki. We are the beneficiaries of the brutal taking of this land by European Colonists. We acknowledge this and acknowledge that the Wabanaki are still here. We know and grieve that there are many whose names we do not know, whose stories we will not hear and whose sacred songs will not be sung again. We are responsible to the land and to our neighbors to attend to what has been damaged and to listen to what they have to tell us.
Sharing news from each meeting
Treasurer’s report (Leslie Manning) (attached)
Receive a report from Diane Dicranian, Quaker Representative to the Maine Council of Churches, with a call for financial contributions from Maine Quakers and Quarters. (see attached report)
Approve Budget for coming year (Leslie Manning)
Consider approving a Minute from Winthrop Center in support of Shirley Hager and an emerging Wabanaki Elder-in-Residence Program at UMaine attached. Both Vassalboro Quarter and Falmouth Quarter will be considering this request.
Confirm dates for coming year 1/25, 4/26, summer.
Suggestions re January Quarter program.
Sharing about the Bible Half Hours from annual sessions (Jessica Eller)
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Martha Shelton’s letter and queries. One of the essential responsibilities of a Quarter is to pay attention to and nurture the spiritual health, experience and ministry in the monthly meetings of the Quarter. Last April Martha Shelden (Durham) submitted a report on her experience as a recorded minister with queries for Friends and Meetings. We set the report aside to engage with more deeply when we had an opportunity. Our plan for the afternoon is to do that.
The queries Martha shared are:
Questions for the Meeting on calling, gifts of the Spirit, vocation, Spiritual journey
Ubuntu. I am because of your love. Question for meeting and for self: Whose love brought you to where you are now?
Notice pivotal moments in your spiritual journey, moments in how you walked with God. One of mine was at Wellesley meeting. ‘You are very intuitive, aware of ministerial’ Thoughts began of going into ed or ministry. Ministry instead of counselling as I wanted to include God Spirit in the conversation. – What pivotal experiences have you had that have influenced your life to date?
What are your leadings?
What fears go in the way? What successes and joys encouraged you along?
Where had the Spirit taken you and where is Spirit taking you now?
What music makes your soul soar? When did you smile down to your toes? Who has encouraged you? To do what? How? When?
What do others see in you? Does it suit with your own assessment?
Is there a benefit in recognizing the gifts of the Spirit in IYM? Encouragement? Allowing for a person to focus on a leading of the Spirit?
Why are you a Quaker?
Ministry as vocation. Defines self. How much is your occupation your identity? Who are you when no longer in a job?
Maker Sessions — A Planning Meeting, October 4, 5pm
Craig, Leslie, Ellen, Doug, Kim, and Ezra have met a couple of times to talk about “Maker Sessions” — a way build community within and beyond Durham Friends Meeting.
Please join us to share ideas, hopes and aspirations at 5 p.m. on October 4 at the Meetinghouse.
A pot-luck “soup-er supper” will be served.
Details about ideas generated up to this point can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/55fea32z And you can always ask questions or send comments to craig@Freshley.com.
There will be a LACO Fundraising Dinner at Durham Friends Meetinghouse, October 5, 2024, 4:30 to 6:30 pm.
LACO is Lisbon Area Christian Outreach, a food pantry amd clothing bank supported by a number of churches, including this Friends Meeting, in and around Lisbon, Maine.
Meet Mary Rowlandson, presented by Quaker storyteller Katie Green
Friday, July 19 at 7 PM, Durham Friends Meeting
Based on her own account, Mary speaks of her capture by Native people during Metacom’s Rebellion, aka King Phillip’s War, in 1670’s Massachusetts.
This challenging narrative will be followed by discussion on issues that remain important today- racism, theocracy and right relationship with Indigenous neighbors.
It will also be made available by Zoom; please email durham@neym.org for details.
The theme for this year’s Sessions is Let us faithfully tend the seed. Rich with imagery, our theme both calls us to act in the world in ways that give voice to the Inner Light and also to let go of our individual truth and listen for the voice of God in others.
This Year’s Sessions at a Glance:
Dates: Friday, August 2 through Wednesday, August 7 Location: Vermont State University (formerly Castleton University) in Castleton, VT Sunday Plenary: Lloyd Lee Wilson, Friendship Friends Meeting, North Carolina (Conservative) Bible Half Hours: Genna Ulrich, Portland Friends Meeting (ME) Monday Night Plenary: Toussaint the Liberator, Stone of Hope Drumming (MA)
A conversation with Joyce Ajlouny, General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee, and
Keith Harvey, Director, AFSC Northeast Region
Saturday, June 29, 2024, 3:30 p.m., Friends School of Portland, 11 US-1, Cumberland Foreside, ME
Learn about AFSC’s life-saving aid in Gaza, support for immigrant rights, and ongoing commitment to confront injustice and promote healing among the Wabanaki communities in Maine.
(Click here for driving directions listed on the school’s website.)
This is a rare opportunity to hear first hand about some crucial and desperately needed work bringing our Quaker witness to life in the world.
Keith Harvey, AFSC’s Regional Director, will update us on AFSC’s work in the Northeast, especially its advocacy on immigration and the rights of indigenous peoples in Maine. Joyce Ajlouny, AFSC’s General Secretary, will speak about AFSC’s work globally, including an update on the work our Meeting has been supporting in Gaza.
Also, we welcome some help! We could really use 2 set-up helpers, 2 break-down helpers, and those of you who feel led to hold this very important AFSC mission and presentation in the light, to do so in person. If you can be one of those helpers, please contact Becky (steelebecky@gmail.com) or Doug (douglas_mccown@yahoo.com).
Maine Immigrant & Refugee Services (MEIRS) is holding its 2nd Annual gala, themed “Connecting Cultures, Creating Community,” on Saturday, July 12, from 6:00 to 9:00 pmin Lewiston at the Agrora Grand Event Center.
Bopnnie Lewis (MEIRS) wrote Wendy Schlotterbeck, “Here is the Gala information for your crew! Let me know if they are interested. I think everyone would have a wonderful time and they would get to meet some incredible people who are new Mainers! Along with the fabulous food there will be dancing and music!!!! We would ask you to come as our guest!”
Thopse interested in attending should contact Wendy. More information on MEIRS available here and also below.
Falmouth Quarterly Meeting will hold a community gathering on Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 3pm at the Durham Friends Meetinghouse. All are welcome. We will plan family fun, some worship, purposeful connection time and singing.
Potluck- Quaker Feast at 5:30.
Please come for any or all of the day on Saturday- “Sing and rejoice, ye Children of the Day and of the Light” (G Fox)
Brian Drayton (Souhegan) and Noah Merrill (Putney), following a concern, invite Friends active in gospel ministry to gather for worship and conversation at the Durham (Maine) Friends Meetinghouse from 10 a.m. to mid-afternoon, June 8th, 2024.
You may travel in ministry, or your service in speaking as led in worship may be primarily in your own meeting. If you contribute to the vocal ministry under a sustained sense of duty and concern, you are invited to join us.
If you hope to attend, or have questions, please email Brian and Noah.
The Memorial Service and Potluck for our member Diana White will be held Saturday, June 22 from 11-2 at Durham ME Friends Meeting (durhamfriendsmeeting.org) and available on Zoom.
The memorial service will be from 11:00 to 12:15, with the potluck lunch to follow.
Diana, formerly of Farmington and Portland Meetings, was also a clerk of Friends Committee on Maine Public Policy and active in New England Yearly Meeting in several leadership roles. She was the first woman to serve as Treasurer of the Yearly Meeting.
Due to a major broken water pump at Betsy’s cottage in Georgetown, we need to cancel the Family Campout scheduled for next weekend- June 8-9. Instead, we invite Friends to gather at Durham Friends meetinghouse on Saturday only (no planned events on Sunday)
At 3pm all are welcome to a FQM Quaker Community Gathering at Durham Friends Meetinghouse. We will plan family fun, some worship, purposeful connection time and singing.
Potluck- Quaker Feast at 5:30.
Please come for any or all of the day on Saturday- “Sing and rejoice, ye Children of the Day and of the Light” (G Fox)
Peace and Social Concerns Committee will be showing a film, “Common Ground” at the Meetinghouse on April 26 at 7:00 PM. More on the film HERE.
From the film’s website:
From the filmmakers of ‘Kiss the Ground’ (Netflix) comes the follow-up documentary ‘Common Ground’, winner of the Tribeca Film Festival. Common Ground is an important new documentary film featuring Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Woody Harrelson, Ian Somerhalder, Donald Glover, Rosario Dawson, Mark Hyman, Gabe Brown, and many others.
Directed by Josh and Rebecca Tickell, Common Ground provides hope for future generations with concrete ways to fix a broken planetary system. The film explores how regenerative agriculture can help heal the soil, our health and the planet.
