Unlike George Castanza, I love it when my seemingly unrelated worlds collide.

Mr. Roy Langenberg, who is currently living in Arizona, but whose family can be traced back to Dr. George F. Merrill in Kennebunkport, recently donated some marvelous paintings to the Kennebunkport Historical Society. One Louis D. Norton woodland scene and a small Abbott Graves tropical scene were acquired in Kennebunkport by his ancestors. Mr. Langenberg purchased the two larger Abbott Graves oil paintings that he donated to us at Vose Gallery in Boston many years ago. He clearly loves the art of Abbott Graves.

I wonder if he knows that long before he was born, his great grandparents summered at the Durrell Cottage, two doors down from Abbott Graves’ new prairie style house on Ocean Avenue. Or that little Louis T. Graves, for whom our library is named, was a ribbon bearer at Hazel Merrill’s wedding to Roy Langenberg in 1905, with Mr. and Mrs. Abbott Graves in attendance. He did mention that his great aunt, Elizabeth Garand, lived where Dr. Merrill’s medical office and home were in the Benjamin F. Mason house on Spring Street. Her name sounded vaguely familiar to me.

While preparing for tonight’s Cape Arundel slideshow, I decided to add a few different Cape Arundel pictures to keep the presentation fresh. I randomly (or subconsciously) chose to peruse a photo album from our collection that was put together in 1980 to celebrate a local woman’s 100th birthday on January 6th. Imagine my delight when the woman in question turned out to be Roy Langenberg’s great aunt, Elizabeth Merrill Garand. And if that wasn’t enough colliding, Beth Garand and I share a birthday.

See you tonight at 5pm at the schoolhouse.