The doughnut machine might very well have been real. When I was a kid (a very long time ago), there was a Sears Roebuck store in Washington DC with parking on the roof of the building. Just inside the roof entrance, there was a fabulous doughnut-making machine, and I spent a lot of time just watching it do its thing. At one end, circles of dough were plooped into a container of hot fat shaped like a spoked wheel, where they slowly revolved as they cooked. Halfway around, a lever popped up and flipped them over. When they completed the circle, they were flipped out onto a long metal-mesh conveyor belt, and they moved along in full view while they drained and cooled, before being tipped onto trays at the end of the belt. They were good donuts, too -- we ALWAYS bought some. I wouldn't be at all surprised if McCloskey had encountered a similar machine at some point. It's a great and funny story in any case.

Last summer, Down East Magazine had an article about McCloskey and Bucks Harbor, the setting of "One Morning in Maine." They reproduced the illustration of the street scene showing Condon's Garage and other buildings, along with a photo of the same scene today. Amazing.   Condon's is still there, having changed hardly at all. I was in Bucks Harbor shortly thereafter, and it really still looks exactly like that drawing. The storekeeper in town says many families stop in when their children recognize the scene.

There's a statue of a family of ducks in Boston, commemmorating "Make Way for Ducklings."

Robert McCloskey was 88 when he died. His wonderful stories and illustrations are a magnificent legacy for generations of children.

Nancy