Summer Vacations

It was August of ’63, and my family drove to northern Maine to visit family, as usual. We always spent ten days to two weeks in Maine, driving up in summer-weather and returning to fall and school. The summer of ‘63, my father planned a day-hike to climb Mt. Katahdin...

Caledonia

Two weeks ago Heathcliff and I walked down the mountain road to pick up the mail—our usual routine on days when I work at home and the weather is favorable. I opened the mailbox, and there was a package from my Aunt Margaret. It was the genealogy of my father’s family...

Mothers

As I drove south on 29 to visit my mother last weekend, I thought about Vivian Gornick’s Fierce Attachments, a memoir about the author’s relationship with her mother. Though younger than my mother, Gornick also grew up during the Depression and War years and was a...