Category: Maine

Maine Writers Today

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COMETH FALL

Afternoon light on Little Christmas Cove

The past few days have been breezy and cool with some sun.  The light is different, the air is clearer and drier.  Fall is sneaking up on us.  Masses of goldenrod line the roadway and here and there a lone red maple leaf lies in the dirt.  I see only tall pines when I look around, but surely a maple tree hides somewhere about. 

The coming of fall for me always prompted a return to focused work.  I liked the sense of buckling down, tackling new projects, and turning more inward.   Autumn in the Northeast encourages this.  In a week, I’ll be back in Florida where sunny warm days invite one to linger outside, to defer serious pursuits.  Florida’s fall doesn’t ever arrive until November.  I miss the pronounced change of seasons.

Richard Russo (authorsguild.org)

MAINE AUTHORS

Part 1:  Contemporary Writers

One of my regular readers reminded me that novelist Richard Russo lives in Maine in the Boothbay region and encouraged me to mention this in a blog post.  Russo won a Pulitzer for Empire Falls, which is probably his best-known work.  I’ve not read that one, but have read his first novel, Mohawk, and highly recommend Bridge of Sighs, published in 2007.  A 60-year-old man who’s lived all his life in a small-town, travels to Italy, partly to visit a childhood friend who escaped to the wider world.  It’s an expansive, totally engaging book as Charles Lacy and his wife embark on an odyssey of adventure and reflection.  Much of Russo’s writing is semi-autobiographical in nature.

Stephen King is undoubtedly Maine’s most famous and probably most read author.  He lives in Bangor, but spends winters in Sarasota, Florida.  Consequently, his book signings and appearances are regularly announced in my local newspaper.  I am not a fan of either horror or supernatural novels and admit to never having read him.  Author of 53 novels, with his best seller being The Shining from 1977, each new book is greeted with long lines of eager purchasers.  

Stephen King (nme.com)

Without a doubt, my favorite contemporary Maine author is another Pulitzer Prize winner, Elizabeth Strout.  I have read many of her novels from the first one, Amy and Isabelle about a mother’s fraught relationship with her teenage daughter to Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton to Olive, Again.  Strout delineates the complexities of small-town life for those with meager means and limited opportunities.  The Olive books are sort of linked short stories with some characters appearing more than once. The second book finds Olive dealing with the exigencies of aging.   She is a sometimes crochety and cantankerous woman, but offers occasional doses of compassion.  I found her an intriguing companion.

Elizabeth Strout (goodreads.com)

On a different note, Paul Doiron explores backwoods Maine in his crime series about a game warden named Mike Bowditch.  A former editor of Down East Magazine, Doiron has now penned twelve novels in the series. A few years ago, I read his first book, The Poacher’s Son, and gained an appreciation for aspects of rural life in Maine that many tourists don’t experience.  Doiron lives in Camden.

(pauldoiron.com)

Another current Maine writer, whose books I have noted on bookstore shelves, is Tess Gerritsen.  Researching her for this blog, I discovered she has both an interesting heritage and an unusual path to authordom.  Born in San Diego, she’s the daughter of a Chinese immigrant and a Chinese American chef.  Prompted by her parents, she pursued a career in medicine and became a general physician.  Early on, she liked reading romance novels and so tried her hand at writing and publishing a short story.  Initially she wrote romantic thrillers and then medical thrillers and more recently, a police detective and medical examiner series called Rizzoli and Isles.  Prolific in output, her books have sold more than 25 million copies!  Gerritsen also lives in Camden.  What have I been missing?

Tess Gerritsen (amazon.com)

Who are your favorite Maine authors? What do you prefer reading, fiction or nonfiction? If fiction, which genres?

Note: Nature photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Magic Moments in Maine

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FUN WITH GRANDKIDS

This past week our son and family made their annual visit to Maine, always a high point of the summer.  We all visited the botanical gardens where the girls, 9 and 5, love the children’s garden.  The small playhouse is their first stop, followed by getting in the rowboat and trying to work the oars.  This time they also flexed their muscles to hoist a lobster trap from a small pond.  Next is a walk along the shoreline path to spend a few moments at the fairy village and, on the way back, a last chance for the playhouse.  On the way into the gardens, we paused to view Roskva, one of the giant trolls, but they weren’t particularly drawn to it; thus, we skipped seeing the other four.  

Roskva troll by Thomas Dambo

Another favorite attraction is the Railway Village Museum on the outskirts of Boothbay.  It was closed last year due to Covid so this was a return after two years. The biggest hit here is riding an old train on a loop around the village property.  Dotted with historic Maine buildings from the mid-1800s to early 1900s, the village includes a schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, and a furnished house.  The electric washer with a hand wringer proved to be especially fascinating.  And old black locomotive and a caboose add to the overall experience as you can clamber aboard.  Also appealing to our girls was the extensive model railroad exhibit with numerous trains on multiple tracks midst town and industry scenes.  And just to add live interest, the village boasts two goats. Railway Village is a fun place for all ages from toddlers to adults!

None of us, children, parents, and grandparents, ever tire of gazing at the waves crashing on the rocky shore, watching for lobster boats checking their traps, or stooping on the pebbly beach to collect shells and sea glass.  

Gazing at the tide!

The hardy souls in our family, our son and his older daughter, braved the cold water on the cove side.  Everyone told them the ocean water was much warmer this year than last; nonetheless, it’s very cold water.  Tim and E went swimming on the last day of their visit even though the air temperature was only 65!

The girls and I also colored the world map tablecloth (a companion to the U.S. one we had last year), played a game of riddles, watched F create a show starring two of her stuffed animals, read books together and separately, and did jigsaw puzzles.  F wrote slips with a different riddle on it for each of us to put at our places for dinner one night.  I provided the spelling, and she did the writing!  They also went miniature golfing one afternoon, walked a nature trail near the local beach, swam in a local pool, and made their annual pilgrimage to Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe in Camden, two floors of sugar-laden treats.  We all went out to dinner one evening and out to lunch another day to ensure that their mother had ample opportunity for steamed lobster and at least one lobster roll!

CULINARY CORNER

An honored tradition is for me and the girls to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  Each year E and F get more adept at measuring, mixing, and pouring the batter.  The result is tasty pancakes made with a big dose of love and served with real Maine maple syrup.

Our older granddaughter is a foodie and over the course of this past year has become quite the baker and cook.  She has made cupcakes and cakes on her own and is developing a repertoire of chicken dishes and other mealtime fare.  She’s also the proud owner of several cookbooks.  One of her favorites, exceptionally well put together with helpful details and illustrations, is The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs.  

With very little assistance, she tackled breakfast tacos.  They were a delicious combination of scrambled eggs, crispy bacon squares, salsa, and grated cheese.  

In July, the girls and their parents were on Long Island and learned to love steamed clams.  I was happy to turn over the kitchen to our son one evening.  He produced a wonderful plate of steamed clams over linguine.  The clams were Maine local and very fresh, and the dish was perfect!  Certainly, one of the best renditions I’ve ever had.  Including my memorable first taste in Trastevere, Rome, on a late summer’s evening thirty years ago!

Maine little neck clams over linguine

Time marches on, sometimes fleetingly, and the time we grandparents have with our granddaughters is so very precious. It’s fascinating each visit to observe how they’ve grown and matured, what their latest interests are, and how their views on the world and themselves have shifted. One of the best gifts is sharing just a bit in their lives, thanks to their marvelous parents!

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved)

Maine Moments: Fare for Body & Mind

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LOBSTER ROLLS

Last year we were disappointed in the lobster rolls we ordered, no one of them was outstanding.  Not only is the amount and type of lobster important, having the right kind of roll (split hot dog bun toasted) is key. On our quest this year for a great lobster roll, we are more pleased.

According to Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, “the lobster roll originated as a hot dish at a restaurant named Perry’s in Milford, Connecticut, as early as 1929. Its popularity then spread up and down the Connecticut coast, but not far beyond it. In Connecticut, the sandwich served warm is called a ‘lobster roll’; served cold, a ‘lobster salad roll.'”

Lobster rolls eventually spread beyond Connecticut and today are a New England favorite particularly associated with the state of Maine.  Anyone who cares about lobster has surely heard of the award-winning Red’s Eats in Wiscasset. Red’s has a great PR operation in addition to offering huge lobster rolls.  They started serving their lobster rolls as far back as 1970.  Drive by today and there is usually a line of eager eaters, often a long line, waiting to order.  A confession, I’ve never had a Red’s roll. 

We had very good cold lobster rolls at Coastal Prime last week and the other day at Harborside 1901.  We had intended to try Shannon’s Unshelled, an outdoor shack with picnic tables located near the Boothbay Harbor footbridge, but they were delayed in opening.  And it was very hot out.  We thought that the Tugboat Inn started lunch and lobster rolls around 11:00, but they didn’t open until 12.  Our last option, apart from waiting for Shannon’s to go live, was Harborside.  

Harborside lobster roll & cole slaw

We’d eaten there a few weeks ago but didn’t order lobster that time.  This was the day, and this lobster roll was probably the best all-around I’ve had this year!  Before we end our Maine time, however, we will try Shannon’s on a cooler day. After all, she advertises lobster from trap to table.

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

IMMIGRANT SCIENTIST

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Author Gyasi (penguinrandomhouse.com)

I was very taken with Gyasi’s first novel, Homegoing, even though it was a challenging read.  This novel about the immigrant experience is much more accessible and straightforward.  Gifty is a Ghanaian immigrant who moves to Huntsville, Alabama with her mother and brother.  Told in the first person, Gifty looks back on her early childhood in Ghana and then how she and her family stood out in the white South.  She is a Ph.D student in neuroscience at Stanford, obviously successful academically, but struggling to come to grips with her brother’s death from a drug overdose.  At the same time, her mother, deep in depression, is staying with Gifty.  

Gifty is a scientist, but she’s also a product of evangelical Christianity who puzzles over questions of faith.  She reflects on how the hymns and Bible stories taken literally as a child might become meaningful in a different way as an adult.  Her research with mice on reward-seeking behavior grows out of her strong desire to understand her brother and her mother.

In many ways, this is a quiet novel.  And although it’s Gifty’s voice the reader hears, she keeps herself at a bit of a remove as if she needs what appears as detachment to process her extreme grief.  Recommended! (~JWFarrington)

FRIENDS AND LOVERS IN ITALY

Lizzie & Dante by Mary Bly

Just as classical musicians sometimes transition to pop music, so authors of one genre take up a different genre, often with a pen name.  J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame wrote as Robert Galbraith when introducing a new detective series for adults.  So successful was the first Cormoran Strike mystery, The Cuckoo’s Calling,that she wrote four more.  I have just started this series but am reserving judgement until I finish the first book.

Mary Bly is a professor and Shakespeare scholar at Fordham University.  Some years ago, she began writing historical romances set in the Georgian era in England under the name, Eloisa James.  She purposely used a pseudonym to not intrude upon her academic reputation.  These books gained wide readership and after a while, she revealed her identity.  

This novel is set in the present and the first one published under her real name. Thirty-two-year-old Lizzie is a professor and cancer patient who travels to Italy with two male friends, a novelist and an actor, to assist with research for a film of Romeo and Juliet. There she quickly meets Italian chef Dante, who has a 12-year-old daughter.  

Lizzie and Dante are the center of this love story, but not the entire focus.  One element is Lizzie’s reflections on what approach to take to living her life. Other elements, which add to the novel’s richness, are the rounded depiction of the secondary characters, Grey, Rohan, Etta, and Ruby, and the role that singing and poetry play in their individual lives.  A quick read! (~JWFarrington)

Note: Lobster roll photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Maine Moments: First Days

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MAINE IN 2021

On Saturday, we traded hot Florida sun and humidity for cool gray Maine.  Due to airline schedules and a cancelled flight to Portland on Friday, we flew into Boston’s Logan Airport.  Waiting for our bags and then dealing with the scrum of people all pressed together waiting for the bus to the rental car center was one task. Getting ourselves and all our many bags onto the crowded bus was another!  Thanks to a mother with a young child on her hip, we and our bags made it on board.

Masks were required in the airport and on the airport buses.  Once in the rental car garage, few masks were in evidence; those that were, were mostly on young kids.  Social distancing is still encouraged and urged, and you are advised to wear a mask entering any business or store if you have not been vaccinated.  This means we’ll be able to freely socialize with our friends, inside each other’s homes and without masks.  

The bigger issue is the hit that restaurants and other businesses have taken due to the Covid epidemic.  Many restaurants are unable to find and hire enough staff to cover all the hours they wish to be open.  Add to this missing, delayed, or shortchanged food deliveries given staffing shortages at the large distribution warehouses, and you have another reason for their shorter hours.  Several local restaurants are closed a weekday or two, and some didn’t open at all this season.  But there are more tourists here than last year and so the demand for tables makes reservations essential!  Even the general store on this island is now closed all day Sunday and only open until 4 pm the rest of the week.  

Our first full day here, it teemed rain on and off all day, and the high only reached 64.  Despite that, it’s good to be back!

MONDAY FORAY TO PORTLAND

It’s a complicated story, but we had to drive down to Portland to deal with paperwork related to our rental car.  That errand was blessedly quick and gave us the excuse to go to downtown Portland and spend a bit of time in the Old Port area.  I was able to replenish my supply of note and greeting cards at Sherman’s.  We then made our annual visit to Le Roux Kitchen, a longtime favorite, where we picked up several thematic Maine mugs (simple white with blue and gray whales), paring knives and a grater, and several styles of cocktail napkins.  

Alfresco dining at Duckfat

The high point of this expedition, however, was an indulgent lunch at Duckfat, a casual eatery on Middle Street specializing in Belgian fries and local charcuterie.  We ate a wonderful lunch here two years ago and the return visit was also special.  All seating this year is outdoors under a robust wooden structure outfitted with picnic tables.  We ordered the fries, of course, a glass each of Albarino, the blistered shishito peppers, and the charcuterie board of ham, duck, and smoked salmon with appropriate garnishes.  

Very tasty!  When asked if we’d like doughnut holes for dessert, we couldn’t resist!  A small metal cone of six holes arrived along with a caramel dipping sauce with overtones of maple.  The holes had been rolled in cinnamon sugar and the interior was accented with citrus.  Yum!  Even better than churros and chocolate!

Doughnut holes!

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).