We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
In recent years, we have had authors and commenters come and go. We're a voluntary commune. (nb: We encourage commenters. Please comment, readers, if you have anything to say even if it's not brilliant. Just show good manners, please. Polite disagreement - with hard facts - is always welcome.)
Our collective favorite Commenter was Marianne Matthews, a wonderfully-reflective Texan, a Barnard grad, a Taurus (the handy-dandy firearm, not the car) owner and a Greenwich Village folksinger in her youth who died in her early 80s with a pulmonary embolism. We miss her. She once mailed me, at my request, a CD of her recordings with a photo of her lovely self playing guitar. She loved NYC, but she loved her Columbia-trained oil-engineer husband more. She always wanted to come back from Houston after he retired, but was responsibly and lovingly caring for him there when I believe he developed a dementia.
Also missing - our old irascible pal Dr. Mercury. No mystery there. He's a ramblin' man, and rambled on to other things after a while (I do not know what) but left behind the useful Dr. Merc's Computer Corner.
Missing in Action: Buddy Larson, a popular and frequent Texan commenter who always brought something to the table, either deep, witty, or usually both. That's a mystery. I hope he is OK, and I hope we didn't do anything to piss him off.
Capt. Tom: He wrote posts for us for a while, but seems to have lost his writing desire. Writer's block? Perhaps the muse might return. I hope so, because he has lots of experience to share, and can write about photography, fishing, boating, engineering, guitars, and all sorts of things if he wants to. Maybe he is too busy living. He does find time to comment on occasion under his real name, Tom Francis. A Yankee, moved to the Carolinas.
Roger de Hauteville? Not to worry. He is around and healthy, but locked in the uninsulated attic for the moment. Those Norman barbarians need time-outs on a regular basis. He'll be back after the next war. In fact, we have planned a job of work for him which naturally involves Sicilia.
Bruce Kesler, our San Diego/New Yorker. He's sort-of on Sabbatical, but he is in touch with me almost daily and (among other emailers) contributes to our morning links, for which I am quite grateful. At some point, I think he may be back on the payroll unless he gets a better offer (he has had many newspaper op-eds published). And he has a day job plus young kids at home. Anyway, always take the better offer if you can get one!
Here's a poor recording of Marianne in New York, in her younger days (1950s), probably in some folkie den in the Village, long before Joanie, Bob, Phil Ochs, Sebastian, and all the others:
I still run into Buddy Larsen - or Luddy Barsen depending on his mood - over at the Belmont Club on PJMedia. I found Richard Fernandez's, aka, Wretchard, in the early days of blogging after 9/11. Richard has been consistently one of the best writers and observers out there and has had a regular following of highly intelligent and widely experienced commenters including Buddy.
I think Buddy has been very busy being a Grandpa...lucky little rascals.
I've missed Doc Mercury and I've especially missed Marianne. I've also missed Tom Francis who used to comment quite often...
I know it could probably never happen but Mrs. Mudbug (who lurks) and I have thought quite often how cool it would be to have a Maggie's Farm cruise or weekend retreat.
It was actually a Martin. C.F. Martin built a series of inexpensive six string guitars and Marianne purchased one to use an accompaniment.
It did have a wooden case which was unique, but when Bruce and I tried to get Martin interested in it, but they turned it down - they had several examples of the type. Very polite about it of course, but they weren't interested.
It's antique value wasn't much as there are so many examples of the type out in the wild.
I'm still here and I'm still reading, but time, Grandlids, Mrs. Capt. Tom and the two Amateur Radio clubs I belong to (plus my new boat) have been keeping me busy down here. I will admit that I've been lax in commenting which is my bad.
And I promised BD that I would do some stuff about a year or so ago which I neglected and now that I think about it, I've got some new and interesting things to talk about. I will get with BD over the weekend. WOOT!!
I do miss my long time foil (and friendly Arch Enemy) Doc Mercury - if there was anybody who I could get into a good fun, friendly argument with, Doc was the man.
And our dear Marianne - gosh, that brings back some memories. She was married to an oil man, but he was a well versed nature photographer. I even have one of his books on wolves.
Just wanted everybody to know I haven't left - just not commented.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Maggie's Farm ~ You are my first stop ~
love the randomness of the articles and the short info blog entries on birds and plants, music and religious readings and most of all - all the common sense that is articulated here.
because common sense is not so common anymore and to find it somewhere all amalgamated in one place is awesome
I dont post too often, unless I'm particularly inspired by the lectionary, or =*) particularly ticked off... but I still read & will miss Marianne.. Its so sad when you lose a blessing from someone's life, even if you never met in person, May God bless all those who miss her life & are sure to mourn.
& may God Bless all of those here who miss & mourn her in some way, and, thanks for sharing that tune of hers BD.
I do hope you DON'T get any special communist writers, as this is one of the few places I do go, to get away from some of the 'bad guys'...lol!! I know I may disagree with a poster once in a while, but rarely ever disagree with any of the regulars that I follow, mostly I love the BD.. & a handful of others, but do Read less now, as I'm not comfortable on the computer anymore, pain-wise.. had some inuries a few years back & even tho I've had surgeries performed, they barely scratched the surface on pain. As I said, I do enjoy of your 'stuff'. ~sm
I do apologize for not commenting. I love lurking in corners. I do l ove the diverse postings and the conversations they provoke. I visit several times a day for the latest.
I also miss Marianne.
Maggie's Farm is a must read site for me, usually daily. Top Grade Posts and a darned good commenting section.
I "met" the good Marianne at Lex's Blog, RIP he left us far too soon, which is how I became aware of MF's. MM also sent me a copy (treasured) of her Milwaukee performance (early 50's IRR). As with Lex, Marianne honored me with a few personal communciations which made me even more appreciative of their exceptional quality.
Sometimes I think I am kind of smart/intellingent/well read -then I meet and talk with a caliber of person such as Lex or Marianne, and I realize that I have a long way to go yet.
I would have loved to have had both of them as physical neighbors -they were the best.
Dr. Mercury is also missed. Hope he is doing well.
And a thanks to MF for introducing me to Sippican!
Erp, you might wanna consider luring some young writers to the club so we can have some new meat to play with. I, for one, would like to see what they think about. And, we all need a laugh. Maybe get a commie on board. Start up an internship thing. Get a government grant. Ask for special legal protections and subsidies for boring blogs. Present it as an historical/cultural preservation effort. Call it art. Heck, anything can be art.
I miss them all, but Marianne most of all. Nevertheless, Maggie's is still the best eclectic site around....I check it 2-3 times a day.
Live long and prosper.
I miss Marianne and Dr. Mercury-hope he is feeling ok. Buddy Larsen too. I love this blog and all the amazing commenters. I never cease to be amazed by all the knowledge to be found here.
As a near daily lurker (for longer than I'd care to admit) I'll take this opportunity to thank you for being here and making an enjoyable corner on the Internet. Maybe I should take up commenting as practice for an oncoming retirement...
I have been a lurking Farm hand for many years. Learned much from the varied posts and links at this site. I check in daily and enjoy the discussion . I hope we can see better days to come. Thank you all for your thoughts, humour and passion. I've enjoyed every day.
I've been reading daily for about a decade now, I forget who first linked me here to a picture that was an absolute hoot. I rarely comment anymore, here or elsewhere, because comment sections seem over time to become strange and annoying at most sites. Maggies have always had some good commenters, though, and I really appreciate all that BD and friends do to keep it interesting!
Wander through a few times a week, have for a few years. I don't comment all that much because I spend most of my time under another nom de cyber on a few writing fora and websites. And working.
