In Pursuit Of Maine: February 7, 2016 - Buried

Sunday, February 7, 2016

February 7, 2016 - Buried

It’s a continual reburying, when you’re already buried. It’s as if because it happens a first time, somehow now it’s open season. The old cemetery, with the flimsy little wire fence attempting to hold in all the old ghosts, long ago buried some town members. With them was buried their memories, their loves, their secret heart’s desires, their knowledge, and their accomplishments. In time, those who knew them in life were also buried. Then everything was hidden as well as could be hoped.

It requires constant vigilance, this reburying.

It was not enough, I guess, that they were buried once, but they must be continually reburied. Like our thoughts. The ones we tell no one about, sometimes not even ourselves. First we kill them and make sure we bury them. Then we bury them over and over. We bury them in shame. We bury them in fear. We bury them in laughter. We bury them especially in indifference and apathy.

And the snow falls down and down, year after year, reburying the buried, making sure that everything stays safely hidden. That’s why we put up the flimsy little wire fence, in case the snow doesn’t do as well a job as we’d hoped. We corral those ghosts into our snow-white fields, hiding all the dirt from the first burying.

Because, after all, you can never quite bury something enough.

"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.