by RJ Heller | Jan 24, 2023 | Life Downeast
The 11 or so miles from town are a constant in a world that is forever changing. The drive in either direction is a mirror image of itself. It is a pure Downeast drive. Old houses dot the road’s periphery, piles of fishing gear camp out in yards, glimpses of water...
by RJ Heller | Jan 23, 2023 | Random Thoughts
“A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.” — Rachel...
by RJ Heller | Jan 13, 2023 | Life Downeast
A day is just not a day unless you see Lois and Vernon Sprague walking in Starboard. To see them walk the road together is like grabbing that first cup of coffee in the morning. The man is tall, broad-shouldered, always with his walking stick; the woman is petite, her...
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...
