The “Winter’s End” edition of Echoes magazine is on the newsstands in Aroostook County.
With titles like “Ode to a Pothole,” “As Winter Wearily Gives Way” and “First Spring Song,” poems in Echoes No. 116, illustrated with photos by Michael Gudreau and artwork by the late Gordon Hammond, celebrate the inevitable, if gradual, change of seasons.
The spring edition also introduces a new column by the late Winthrop C. Libby, a Caribou native who became president of the University of Maine in the 1960s. Thanks to Libby’s son Lawrence, Echoes received permission to republish some of the more than 800 columns Libby wrote for The Ellsworth American under the title “Thoughts While Shaving” after he retired in the 1970s. “Beware of Computers” in Echoes 116 reads as though it were written today.
“The Sky is Falling” by regular columnist Glenna Johnson Smith of Presque Isle also touches on contemporary themes, while Houlton native John Dombek reflects on the pitfalls of free will in his “Beyond Washburn Street” column.
An elegant cover photo of cobweb-draped lupine by Paul Cyr of Presque Isle wraps around 40 pages of features, life stories, poetry and essays. Features focus on an astronaut from Caribou, restoration of salmon in the Aroostook River and the work of writers at Leisure Village in Presque Isle.
Fort Fairfield native Jane Russell Stanford of Bangor remembers how her father Fred Russell made flour in an old wooden gristmill in their kitchen in an article generously illustrated with family photos.
Westfield native and photographer Ron Laing of Oxford, after a visit to his hometown, pays tribute to the buildings and farmhouses he remembers.
An excerpt from Bon Homme, a fact-based novel by Leonard Hutchins, takes readers back to the 1920s when it was a privilege for a young eighth grade graduate to be hired as a cookie for a logging camp.
Culinary writer Kristine Bondeson of Woodland anticipates strawberry season with a recipe for strawberry meringue birthday cake in her column Kristine’s Kitchen.
Dedicated to life lived simply with deep respect for nature, Echoes is published by Echoes Press with offices in Caribou. For more information, visit www.echoesofmaine.com.
