It's Magnificent, But So's Maine

I like rock songs that capture a sense of place (e.g., Lucinda Williams—“Crescent City” captures the spirit of New Orleans; the B-52s—“Deadbeat Club” does the same for a bygone era in Athens, GA; and Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen are masters of this). One of my favorite place songs is "New England" by Jonathan Richman. In his typically cheeky style, he recounts how he's traveled to lots of amazing spots, but loves New England best. Throughout the song, he mentions famous locales that he's seen, but counters their beauty with New England sites, as he does here...

I have seen old Israel's arid plain

It's magnificent, but so's Maine

And he's right! Maine's got a ridiculous amount of natural beauty. We've been here a month now and have barely scratched the surface. Our rental is about 3 blocks from the ocean and we've done walks along the coast almost every day. Within maybe a five mile radius of our place, there are numerous nature preserves for short walks through stunning forest, often with at least one great coastal view. The natural greens--in beautiful pines, ferns, and meadows--are vivid, and blues--in the ocean, bays, ponds, and sky--are vivid, too. Even the fog is lovely (and seems to be frequent).

The photographs below show some of the beauty here better than I can explain it. And I've started doing some Maine artwork too, posted on my drawings and photo site, when I'm not doing nostalgic drawings from our international travels. More Maine photos are also on that site.