Janie Matrisciano

by JanieM The picture is a blatantly obvious metaphor for the road ahead, with a wish that "we" (in the broadest possible sense) could turn a corner into sunshine. I have no hope, but it would be nice. Open thread. ***** The picture was taken almost exactly a year ago along Baldwin Hill Road in … Read more

by JanieM Thanks for the good thoughts in the other thread, everyone. I am safe at home, as is everyone among my family and friends as far as I know. It is 7:30 a.m., the next morning, and the suspected shooter still has not been found. Schools are closed all over central Maine, including the … Read more

by JanieM   GftNC: Sunt lacrimae rerum. The title of the post is from a poem I’m sure I’ve linked here before: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, by Wendell Berry. Another: Place, by W. S. Merwin. Easy for me to say “be joyful”; bombs are not falling on my neighborhood. But my despair won’t stop … Read more

by JanieM Hard to know where to start, so I won't.  Open thread. ***** The picture was taken in Belfast, Maine, in May of 2021. The gulls know whose territory it is. Bigger version here.  

by JanieM This little guy has been contemplating the universe, and sometimes fishing, at the Mount Vernon town beach for as long as I’ve been going there to take pictures. He moves around a bit now and then, perhaps wanting a slightly different view of the water in different seasons or weathers, or to stay … Read more

by JanieM The picture is of a section Water Street, the main street of Hallowell, Maine, on the Kennebec River just south of Augusta. (Bigger version here.) Signs of modern life: a brew pub next to a cannabis store. My topic is a different feature of modern life, perhaps the most characteristic of all: the … Read more

by JanieM In my love of springtime, I tend to forget how lovely late summer and early fall can be. July is the only month that consistently brings us stretches of sweltering weather here in central Maine; August is almost always moderate and pleasant. September is similar, if a little cooler, but because the kids … Read more

by JanieM Taking off from lj’s thread, I confess to some bemusement at the worry people express these days over children’s screen time. It’s not like screen time is new; we watched TV all the time when I was a kid. I could sit here all day listing the sitcoms and cartoons and TV dramas … Read more

by JanieM I could note the reality of details like the utility pole, the shed, and the float thingie that's sitting under a tree in the middle distance, but the feeling that the picture gives me is quite different from that reality. In my imagination, every time I look at it I think of a … Read more