In the far distance and to the right of the farmhouse, the Adirondacks filled the horizon. To the left, Mount Abraham looked like the mountain every 5-year-old draws. “Mt. Abe” was so close, it seemed like I could reach out and touch it. I was at my grandparents’ farm in Lincoln, Vermont, where my mother […]

“I am sick of looking on the bright side!” Thus spoke one of my daughters after being admonished to do just that in the wake of some childhood disappointment. Now all of us are too exhausted by the pandemic’s legacy of loss and anxiety to search for the bright side or even to believe it exists. […]

In July 1951, our family moved to Maine from New York. Even though not quite 6 years old, I would never actually be a true Mainer, according to those fortunate enough to be born here. Living in Buckfield, Maine, was quite a shock. Going to a one-room schoolhouse with attached outhouses took some getting used […]

Amid an urge to hang on to a dream,  I spill out into the night saying, “How great!” She says, “I’m sleeping.” It’s warm and soft and dark under the covers, but off I go. I limp downstairs in the dark to a cold thermostat, and up it goes from the 50s. Temperature wasn’t 55 quite, […]

Al Roker had just signed off from the Macy’s Day Parade. Ro and I stood for a stretch. “Is that a car in our driveway?” “Oh! It’s Deb!” We were expecting some potatoes. We had delivered portions of the annually requested shrimp and grits, and creamed onions, the day before to her, to Niece Elise, […]

It was the four of us, a Volvo 240 and a 20-foot U-Haul. We were moving to Maine. Originally, my parents had fallen in love with a charming cape in Bowdoinham. I remember that its interior was filled with unique nooks, like a kitchen pantry that felt like a secret hideaway. But, as the token […]

Walking out of a coffee shop on a dreary December afternoon last year, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a familiar face. My high school poetry teacher, Martin Steingesser, was walking through Portland wearing his signature cap and glasses. Shuffling through a disarray of paperwork, he seemed deep in thought as he […]

When I first started gifting new, free books door to door, I never expected I’d baby-sit a reader’s snake on the family’s front steps while the reader was busy ordering titles. But these are the kinds of surprising adventures that pop up in my day now. Walking Books Library, which gives new books, offers a […]

It’s a cool, cloudy Tuesday in late August 1966. Alone near dusk in the new park, I’m a lucky guy. I made it through my first year of college and have this summer job as a state park ranger in my hometown. They hired a bunch of us to help open the new park at […]