Scenic Overlooks C

Forget

Forget Me Nots

alendars and financial institutions o en show Portland Head Light from the outside. But please be our guests and step inside with us. It’s our mission at Portland Monthly to reveal interior lives.

Because lighthouses have feelings too.

Scenic overlooks can’t perform miracles alone. It’s what we (and you, our readers) bring to them.

If you’ve read Harlot’s Ghost, you can better see the view of Otter Cli at Acadia National Park than if you haven’t. Norman Mailer whispers into your ear. He points down the sheer face of the cli and says the rocks below hiss and steam like a gas-station oor.

Let Edna St. Vincent Millay be your guide to the top of Mt. Battie in Camden this summer with her hypnotic “Renascence”: “All I could see from where I stood / Was three long mountains and a wood; / I turned and looked the other way, / And saw three islands in a bay.”

It’s fun to travel in good company, though both of the snarky scribes above would probably bum a cigarette from you, no butts about it. Smokers are geniuses at prolonging the moment by ceremoniously lighting up in the presence of astonishing natural beauty. Smokers...they were just here e Unrushed, Endless Summer. We deeply crave it and deserve it. Reading makes the present resonant. For informed consent to beauty, all you have to do is turn the page. Otherwise, to overlook a scenic view is to forget it.

Forget

Class Act

I thoroughly enjoyed your interview with Julie Parisien [“2nd Act,” February/March 2023]. One year, when she competed on the pro tour, she trained at Sugarloaf, one of her sponsors. It was my occasional pleasure to meet her before the li s opened, transport her by snowmobile to wherever she was training that day, and bring up whatever equipment she might need. I'd hand her poles as she drilled holes to set gates and then assure her I'd be back to bring everything home to the Competition Center. No matter how cold the early morning was, Julie was ready to work and could not have been kinder and more pleasant to the folks on our crew. A champion and a class act.

Bruce Pratt, Swanville

Down By The Lake

[“Mr. H,” February/March 2023] is wonderful, and it's such a lovely issue of the magazine —congratulations! It was such fun to travel back in time to 1962 and learn about Horowitz's visit and memories of the sta ers from those days; it's special to us to be a part of this interesting history. Seeing the camp issue de nitely has us longing for summer on Lake Kezar and the sounds of music at Quisisana. Counting down the days...

Nathalie Orans, Quisisana Resort

Refreshing Read

Having received Portland Monthly Magazine for the last few years, I would like to share a few thoughts I have. I always nd articles that deeply interest me in each issue. ey illustrate why Maine is so wonderful to live in and highlight the people, places, and history of Maine. e Refreshment section is great to read as well. e quality of the paper used is far better than many magazines, and that makes a welcome addition to any co ee table. Keep up the great work!

Larry ompson, Gorham