I also have music lyrics written years ago at Pine Lodge, possibly by my father who was a composer, or possibly by my Aunt Jackie or Aunt Peg or possibly by one of the guests. The journal was started by my Aunt Jackie on May 27, 1937. She was a very creative woman and a singer. She wrote a beautiful story/poem in the journal about Pine Lodge (above).

While growing up at Sandy Pond I learned an important lesson in life from my aunts.

Many mornings my father and I would go fishing. Time and again I would catch the smallest fish. My aunts would tell me that I needed patience and some day my luck would change.

One summer my father invited a business associate to Pine Lodge. I quickly recognized that he was a fisherman from the tackle boxes and poles he carried into the Lodge.

The next night, after dinner, we went fishing in our boat. My father's friend (a big man) caught the biggest fish, my father caught the second largest fish and, as usual, I caught the smallest fish.

When we entered Pine Lodge my fahter held up his fish for my aunts to see. At that moment I cried out to my aunts, "Why do I always catch the smallest fish? How do the fish know who is the largest or oldest fisherman in the boat?"

My aunts laughed and told me to have patience. That night I cried myself to sleep.

A few years later I was fishing from our dock at Pine Lodge. As usual I caught a small sunfish. I decided to leave the sunfish on the hook while I placed the canvas on one of the boats. I put the end of the fishing pole into one of the aluminum rings mounted on the dock to hold the boat.

After a few minutes my pole began to shake violently. I ran over to see what had happened. I picked up my fishing pole and to my surprise the small sunfish was gone, eaten by a very large fish that was struggling to get free of the hook.

We loaded the catfish into the boat and drove across the pond to Perry Bartlet's Marina. There Mr. Bartlet weighed and measured it. He said it was the largest catfish he had ever seen or heard of at Sandy Pond. It weighed in around 26 pounds and was over two feet in length.

And that summer at Sandy Pond, I learned an important lesson of life from three aunts - patience.

HAL JOHNS AND HIS CATFISH

Perry Bartlet (or Bartlett; I don't recall the correct spelling) had the bait shop on the southeast side of the pond. He was very kind and helpful to me. I used to walk all the way over to his shop to buy worms. He was a big man and always had a big smile on his face. I recall many tmes him using his large hands and fingers to move the black soil in an aluminum tray inside his bait shop to pull out some juicy worms for me. Then he would place them in a white paper cup and hand them to me. All of those juicy worms for only 10 cents and sometimes even free.

To the rear of his shop (on my right) he had many boat motors torn apart to make repairs. On the other side of his building (South direction) there was a boat-dock system. Cars and trucks could park along side those docks to transfer people and stuff into their boats. Many times we used those docks to load or unload people, luggage and supplies.

Of all my 14 years at Pine Lodge, that was the only time I did not behave myself. And to this day I remember my aunts supporting me, even when I was a little naughty.