In Pursuit Of Maine: January 20, 2016 - Blinding Beauty

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

January 20, 2016 - Blinding Beauty

Sometimes something can be so beautiful that it actually hurts your eyes. It’s as if your eyes are screaming at you, insisting you must look away because the beauty is too overpowering. You look away, you look down, you blink, and then you are drawn back. You must look at the brilliance even if it’s painful. You have to look. You have to remember something . . .

I chanced upon a dream . . .

The sun reflected off the clouds, off the water, and off the snow. It was a blinding sight down at the ocean today. The wind was incredibly fierce and cold, and I think that was to balance out the beauty of the scene. If it had been calm and serene, I might have suffered from beauty overload, and the wind knew that. This is Maine, though, and it is never calm and serene in the winter.

But it is beautiful. Like a dream. Like hobbits in the shire, the people in the small communities of Maine continue to live and work much as they always have. And that’s beautiful, too. If there is a “big bad world” out there, it exists only in stories told around campfires to scare children into behaving. Then it’s time to look back at the brilliance again and forget. The sun wipes the slate clean, and the magic continues.

"The Plain Maine Cookbook" is my own collection of vintage Maine recipes that will immediately bring you back to a simpler time, a less confused time. These recipes are more than just comfort food. They're family food, traditional food, simple food, plain food. One bite and you'll say, "Ah, yes! I remember my grandmother used to make this. I had forgotten all about it!" Recipes for whoopie pies, funnel cakes, fried fiddleheads, haymaker's switchel, coffee can bread, glogg, and much more are in these pages. There is even a recipe on how to render lard. So open the door and go back to some simple, time-tested foods you can prepare easily. You'll find that you save money and waste less by "making do" with commodity cooking. What's in the pantry or in the garden is what's for dinner.

"So You Want to Move to Maine" is an invaluable little book in helping people to make a permanent move to Maine. It will save you a ton of time because all the initial footwork is done for you, including 100 links on how to find work and living quarters, getting your driver's license, pet requirements, programs for people with disabilities, programs for senior citizens, getting married in Maine, hidden taxes and expenses, hospitals, health insurance, handling a real winter like a pro, etc. Stop being "just a number" or another face in the crowd. Walk away from the rat race. Become boldly individualistic and make your mark in life. You can still do that in Maine, one of the last holdouts of ordinary, old-fashioned, kind, and decent American living.

I’ve chosen 37 unique fairy tales that will be loved by both adults and children as they can be read and interpreted on many levels. But if you are looking for only sweet tales that end in joy and fairness, you may want to pass this book by. Some fairy tales are simply “dark,” and that is because sometimes life is simply dark. Not always, of course, but often enough. Sometimes the hero lives; sometimes he dies. Check out my book, “Fairy Tales of Maine,” in the photo link below. If you are brave, you might just meet yourself in one of these tales.