Maine resident chronicles life in gazebos N.J. native sets tale in adopted home state

THE GAZEBO, written by Ethel Pochocki, illustrated by Mary Beth Owens, Downeast Books, Camden, 2002, hardcover, $15.95.

Growing up in Bayonne, N.J., writer Ethel Pochocki treasured a dream of moving to Maine. But it wasn’t until she was divorced with four teen-agers that she was able to achieve her goal.

“It made all the difference in the world,” she said. “It was everything I thought it would be and better.”

Over the next 27 years, Pochocki’s children moved away to pursue careers and raise families of their own. She wrote many gentle, sensitive children’s stories. Probably the best known is her Valentine tale, “Rosebud and Red Flannel,” about an unlikely romance that evolves between a refined lacy nightgown and a common but gallant suit of red flannel long underwear.

Pochocki’s latest book, “The Gazebo,” beautifully illustrated in pastel watercolors by Walpole’s own Mary Beth Owens, chronicles the evolution of a foreign ambassador from idyllic childhood to contented retirement. Mary Rose is a companion who gives her parents much pleasure as they enjoy the rich cultural events of a grand city. She lacks for nothing but a back yard and a gazebo. Finally, at their summer cottage in Maine, her family surprises her with her first gazebo, Rose Cottage, woven from willow and alder saplings and decorated with honeysuckle and morning glory vines.

Traveling as a diplomat, Mary Rose stays true to her childhood passion, carefully sketching the unique gazebos of each country she lives in. Eventually, tired of the fast pace and need to wear “pearls and a hat every day,” she retires to the family island cottage to write. When she decides to build a gazebo and finds out that none of the models in her sketchbook seem quite right, she creates her own that is perfect in its grace and simplicity.

Readers familiar with Maine literature will note that “The Gazebo” is dedicated to Sharon Lovejoy. Lovejoy, who cherishes summers in our state, has done much to empower and encourage parents – especially ones who fear they have no talent for it – to reap the rich rewards of gardening with their children. Leafing through Lovejoy’s “Sunflower Houses,” Pochocki was inspired by her description of an apple tree gazebo.

“The idea stuck in my head,” she said. “I had to write a story to go with that idea.”

“The Gazebo” was one of the books Pochocki had to work the hardest on. As with “A Penny for A Hundred,” where she had to do research on the World War II internment of German prisoners in Aroostook County, she had a lot of reading to do. She learned about gazebos: their background, their history, and the wide variety of ways in which they are constructed around the world.

“Some fairy tales can just write about themselves,” she said. “They’re all out of one’s head. This time I had to know what I was talking about.”

At the end of the book, Mary Rose enters her retirement years with a wonderful balance of contentment with her past and zest for her future. Pochocki’s own life exemplifies this equilibrium.

“It was wonderful being the mother of young children,” she said. “Now that they’ve all grown and gone other places, I still love my life. Something happens every day.”

Pochocki hopes that children and families reading “The Gazebo” will come away with a message. One can accomplish a lot with gentleness and determination. Apply yourself and follow your passion.

She intends to follow her own advice. Come fall, when visiting family members have departed and firewood is stacked up to ward off winter chills, she will cozy up with her beloved cat companions to craft more of the tender, thoughtful stories that will be treasured long after today’s action-packed “must-reads” have faded into well-deserved oblivion.

Ethel Pochocki and Mary Beth Owens will be doing a book signing at 11:30 a.m. Friday, July 12, at the Briar Patch, 27 Central St., Bangor.