1 comments about Walking the Maine Coast, 2nd Ed..

1. Outdoor types will love this guide to walking America's most dramatic coast, from southern Maine to the Canadian border. Different walks in many localities and lots of how-to-get-there information and concise trail descriptions get you started and home again safely. Highly recommended.

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1 comments about An Image of Monhegan, Platinum Prints.

1. The images in this book go right to the soul. It's not just the platinum technique that uniquely makes the highlights seem so real, nor is it only the natural beauty of this magical place, but, also, the artist's keen eye for proportion, composition and, what?, the quiet voice within that such places inspire. This book is truly a work of art and, personally, has become one of my "treasures."

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5 comments about We took to the woods.

1. A friend gave me this book when I was at a very low point in my life. My wife and I read it together, over a long weekend, and packed the car Monday morning. By Wednesday we had our old house listed and Friday we put in an offer on 40 acres with an old farm. We haven't looked back since; but we have given copies of this book to all of our old friends for Christmas.



2. "We Took to the Woods" is as charming and delightful a book as you will ever find. It's the story of a city woman living on a remote Maine river with her husband and children. She's not poor, nor a rube, nor does she display the eccentricities one associates with people who flee to the wilderness. Rather, she seems happy, well-adjusted, and full of sympathetic tales about the few -- very few -- people she comes into contact with in the course of her daily life. And she really did live in the woods --the nearest store was a long boat ride away and she didn't go "outside" for a four year stretch. Her township of Upton had a population of 182.
   
   The book is set up in chapters that answer questions: "Isn't housekeeping difficult?" or "Aren't you ever frightened." One of the better stories in the chapter, "Aren't the Children a Problem" tells about her husband delivering the author's baby in the dead of winter -- and greasing it with olive oil which he kept to dress his trout flies. The new parents discuss what they are supposed to do with the hot water always called for when a baby is being born -- and they decide to make coffee.
   
   For the modern reader, the highlights of the book are probably tales of the trials of living without conveniences. The Rich houses -- they had a winter and summer house -- had no plumbing. Heating and cooking were with wood. What you needed for groceries was delivered by boat once a month; the Sears catalog supplied the rest. For anyone who has ever thought wistfully of fleeing civilization, this is a humorous primer of both the rewards and hardships of such a life. It deserves a permanent place on the short shelf of Americana classics.
   
   Smallchief



3. This book is a great read for anyone who's ever had the desire to just chuck it all and head for the woods (a desire that seems to wax and wane like the tides, popular one decade [1970s, for example], totally passe the next). Today taking to the woods for many means building a $500,000 "rustic retreat" with pool, hot tub, and wine cellar included. For Louise Rich, back in the 1930s (the book was published in 1942), things were much different.
   
   For one thing, her house had no plumbing. Water had to be hauled to the house in buckets. Supplies and the mail came by boat. Life was no picnic for her and her family. But, of course, there were trade offs. The beauty of the place, for one. The living as one with nature. The need to be resourceful, and the feeling of pride and accomplishment that goes with it. Trade offs worth the hardships, Rich makes perfectly clear.
   
   Rich captures the flavor of her idyllic spot in the Maine woods a few miles east of Upton along the Rapid River (the swiftest river east of the Mississippi, even though it is only about four miles long). She describes what life is like there, how the busy summers are a prelude to the slow, long winters. She talks about her neighbors, the loggers, the animals they encounter, how one endures and enjoys life in the woods. She describes the effects of the hurricane of 1938 and the havoc is caused even there, so far inland. Her prose style is clear and direct, and she truly makes the reader jealous of her situation rather than sympathetic. It's an excellent book, one that I've read a number of times, always with an I-wish-I-was-there enthusiasm. Highly recommended.



4. It's hard to believe that Louise Rich's "We Took to the Woods" is decades old.
   
   Absolutely charming and totally original, Rich is the sort of author you wish you could meet in person. Her observations are fascinating, her writing is wonderfully engaging, and her point of view goes far beyond the usual country folksiness found in most books of this type. Most importantly, Rich doesn't preach. The book is simply a well written, entertaining account of her life in the Northwoods with her family. The writing is so timeless, I rarely remember that I am reading about a family from 60 years ago.
   
   I enjoyed "Woodswoman" books, and thought that in so specific a genre, I would find little else of quality. However, after reading this book, I realize that Rich is the original item, and the standard to which "I want to live in a cabin" books should be judged. It's just plain excellent.



5. this IS truly a BOOK FOR ANYONE WHO LOVES AND RESPECTS nature as the majority of us do here in BEAUTIFUL MAINE!!
   
   ALL of her books are super! This one tops them off!!
   
   MACHIAS, MAINE!!

1 comments about Camp fires in the wilderness: Valuable information for campers and sportsmen, with an account of travels and adventures in the wilds of Maine, New Brunswick and Canada.

1. Hello Sir/Madam,
   I now live in the Township of Machias Maine. . I have acquired some old local books "for" our Museum. . I would please, respectfully, request to kow who you are, a summary (brief!) of what you have written. For clarification I feel EXCITED to hear your wisdom as, you know, so many young people have no clue of life close to the earth. Very close.
   
   I am 55 years young, raised by Grandparents, GrandUncles, Aunts. From Virginia, Iowa etc. . before the war. . I'd love to build out "town's" history" with gifts to the Museum for posterity's sake. . FIRST however, I really want to read the book! I am a NORMAL selfish human being!
   
   His blessings and peace be with you and yours always,
   
   andrejrigoli@hotmail.com
   
   Andy Rigoli

No comments about New ABC's of Maine.

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