 |
| This family friend (with his wool crusher hat) shared so many interests with my father, including fly fishing, shooting, Glenfiddich, snake proof boots, pipes, and Hemingway. |
Northern Maine's wildness has been both starkly beautiful and a little scary to me. It is where each of us saw our first bear in the wild. Moose sightings became an everyday experience. I used to "swim with them" although they took more notice of the enormous swarms of flies around their heads. Eagles were always spectacular, but my favorite animals were probably the loons.
And seemingly everyone had a wool crusher hat. These doubled as oven mitts, emergency water buckets, animal traps, and storage containers. Each also soon became seasoned by personalized combinations of smells, including human; bug dope; wood smoke; pipe smoke; wet dog; pine pitch; coffee; whisky; and occasionally, pemmican.
Here are some photos taken by my father:
There continues to be great debates over the future of norther Maine (paper companies own millions of acres). It is heartening to me on so many levels that the strange bedfellows of sportsmen and environmentalists have come together to keep it as wild as possible.
23 comments:
Mmmmm . . . delicious photographs and evocative description make me feel like I'm there! "Weathered" is the word that comes first to mind. Thank you for this.
Beautiful photos. Pastoral, lyrical, and even slightly wistful, knowing that that way of life is softly but inexorably passing away.
Oh Muffy. You've made me so homesick.
It is interesting that environmentalists and sportsmen (hunters)are so often at odds despite having nearly identical interests. The antipathy for hunting among many environmental groups creates a mutual distrust. When they get together, they make a formidable and effective political bloc.
That last photo is just spectacular.
@Mike:
These groups do share commonalities, but they're superficial. Hunters see themselves and animals in a value hierarchy, environmentalists see them as part of an organic system, not to be divided between human/not-human, and not subject to domination by human beings.
Beautiful photos! I wouldn't mind a collection hanging on my family room wall! Thank you for sharing.
I love that Moose picture!
Great post, loved reading about the crusher hats. Another Maine-ism for sure.
Gorgeous stuff. Looks better than Wisconsin; great to see the elk.
I've been wearing a floppy wool hat the past two weeks and getting a few looks for it. But I'm at an age where there are fewer hairs on top of my head and I need the warmth.
Mike above is right about an effective political coalition of hunters and enviros: I was on a few of my state's conservation congresses and this connection can be a strong one.
The big problem is getting city people to admit that hunting is okay: in our case, the deer population seriously needs control. But people can be so gun-fearful, etc., that reason doesn't matter.
I don't hunt or own a gun (I fish), but I'm very glad there are hunters.
is that watch in the first photo a rolex submariner?
@Anonymous 10:17 - I know it is a Rolex, but not sure if it is the Submariner, although that would be my guess.
Thank you for these wonderful pictures...Isn't our country just incredibly beautiful!!!
Who says B & W is boring? Not me! In fact, I think in many ways B & W is a better tool for drawing out emotional responses to imagery than those that are ripe with color.
As these photos by your Dad show, B & W was, is and will remain a very valuable tool for, pardon the non-intentional pun, "focusing" one's emotions on the subject in the photo as well as the entirety of the image itself.
Your Dad was a very accomplished photography with a keen eye for composition. I still maintain you should publish his collected works!
Wonderful pictures! They bring back special childhood memories! Thank you!
Muffy, what color was your friend's wool crusher hat?
LL Bean only offers green, natural, or red.
Thank you.
I love Muffy, simply for the fact that she is not prissy. Most prople think of the term "preppy" , as a frue frue, prissy, almost wimpy term. Muffy shaters and stomps on all posers, with her not afraid of getting your hands dirty attitude. Its refreshing ,when class meets authenticity,with a little dirt and real world thrown into the mix.I wish i had the privlege of knowing her dad,and learning a thing or two. He seems like the kind of guy that would throw you right out of the boat, if you acted like you didnt want to get your mint green polo shirt dirty.Bravo Muffy Bravo!!!
@ Anonymous 8:14: Not necessarily. Most ancient peoples and some recent ones hunted (and gathered) to procure their daily food.
True environmentalists (I'm thinking of the philosopher Paul Shepherd here) staunchly defend the right to hunt.
http://www.cic-wildlife.org/index.php?id=18
Our responsibility as the species privileged to be the "top predator" is to use all resources carefully and preserve them for coming generations. Stewardship and "dominion" are two sides of the same coin.
Hunting and fishing for good food, with respect for those taken and in full appreciation of nature's gifts, I have no problem with.
"Trophy" hunting, killing only to feed the dark side of one's ego with no practical purpose gives me a BIG problem. It's a matter of motivation and intent. The former is to take our place as nature has decreed; the latter, a perversion of it.
Wonderful photos!
Last photo: 1971 GMC fleetside. I had a '71 stepside with the planked bed. I got it when I was 14--I think about it still. I'd like to get a '71 Jimmy or K5 today....
I wish I had a book of your father's photography. Always love these posts. "Fly fishing, shooting, Glenfiddich, snake proof boots, pipes, and Hemingway." Love it.
Post a Comment