UpCountry Update: Late spring

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UpCountry Update: Late spring

The days are quite long, skies darkening far past the dinner hour. Northern Maine weather has vacillated between gorgeous and stormy. Heavy rains have bitten down the ground and some trees in the Valley have fallen before their time. Locals are spraying dirt out of their driveways and shuffling rocks off their lawns.

Anglers step into waders and cast their flies into both still and swirling waters. Moose are running around with antlers growing in. I saw a cardinal south of here last weekend.

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Fiddlehead Time

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Fiddlehead Time

It's fiddlehead season here. I haven't picked any myself yet, but I'm hoping to venture out foraging this Friday with a good friend that's no stranger to seeking out these vegetative curlicues. ​

I usually prepare them the same way each year: boil, drain, and add a little salt and butter. Easy enough. ​

This recipe is only marginally more complicated and looks like it might be the right level of change for me - a change that is so subtle I enjoy the newness without getting freaked out by how it's different from what I've always known. 

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The 2013 Black Fly Writing Retreat

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The 2013 Black Fly Writing Retreat

I've been away. It sounds so classy. ​

I attended the Black Fly Writing Retreat in Grand Lake Stream over the past weekend. While there, I met some incredible people and was able to sit unhurried by the lake in the middle of the day.

​I only allowed myself one full hour of photography during the weekend, besides a random shot of groups here and there. I knew I had to write, because I'd set my mind to it and there was something to write about all over the place. 

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Have a listen to this song about the North Pond Hermit

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Have a listen to this song about the North Pond Hermit

You may have heard of him, the North Pond Hermit. A couple weeks ago, he was arrested by Maine law enforcement on burglary charges, after the police caught him on surveillance stealing from a camp in the Maine woods.

The North Pond Hermit remained unidentified until then, as locals had coined the term to describe the individual they suspected was robbing their camps but the police hadn't found who was responsible. Now the nickname has a face, one that prison staff say is friendly, smiling and warm. (Okay, the photo they took of him in jail doesn't look very smiley, but the news reports say he's smiley.)


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