by RJ Heller | Nov 15, 2022 | Life Downeast
A boat moored to holy ground waits, then waits some more. Traps on the hard remember old days and old ways. Fishing gear hangs in closets, basements and garages. The gulls are silent for they have no one to talk to. Painted buoys age dull in bright sunlight as a day...
by RJ Heller | Nov 3, 2022 | Maine Reads
“We didn’t come here to escape anything but to find something” – Roy Barrette I am now better for having read Roy Barrette’s observations of life lived on his coastal farm in Maine. The 77 essays in Islandport Press’s reprint of Barrette’s 1981 book, A Countryman’s...
by RJ Heller | Aug 1, 2022 | Life Downeast
“I am wanting to go and find Frog Rock,” my friend said with a sly smile. I waited to see if he was serious. He was. Now having spent seven years living here, there are few things that surprise me. But going to see a rock shaped over time and eventually named “frog”...
by RJ Heller | Jun 29, 2022 | Maine Reads
Two books found me. One took me back in time with black-and-white images of a city during a decade I often think about. The other informed me of “what might have been” by showing me in text and color images of what eventually became reality for a river. Both books,...
by RJ Heller | Jun 17, 2022 | Life Downeast
“Ocean in view! O! the joy.” — William Clark The other day I was looking at the ocean, remembering what famed explorer William Clark said upon seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time. I have always felt awe at the accomplishments of Lewis and Clark; as I get...
