Quote of the Day, ala' Maine

I love Mainers! They've got to be the most genuine, down-to-earth, stalwart folks I've so far encountered on the face of this planet. I admire their quiet perseverence tremendously, even though--as a born-and-bred Southerner and "adopted" Italian--there are plenty of occasions when their taciturn natures leave me at best flummoxed and at worst frustrated... You know who you are! :-)

That's why I absolutely devoured from start to finish a book I picked up at the airport less than 24 hours ago... The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw. After spending 17 years doing deep-sea commercial swordfishing, Linda returned to her birthplace of Isle au Haut, seven miles off the coast of Maine, with a year-round population of only about 50 souls.

Familiar not just with Maine but also with another island community which is being steadily depopulated by natives and constantly combats the threat of complete "touristization," I found that Isle au Haut also seems to share another quality with Venice... that of being a kind of magnifying glass for hopes, dreams and emotions, not to mention the at-times seemingly eccentric personalities of the locals.

So, anyway... in Michelle's characteristic way of making a short story long, all this stands as a preface to some "quotes of the day" for this week from Greenlaw's excellent book... assorted insights into island life, life lessons, and Mainers in general (who the "Islanders" seem to be par excellence!!)

Case in point...

"My father is so methodical in word and deed that he would surely drive the average amateur home repairman mad with frustration. The two old men [Greenlaw's dad and uncle] work well together because they share an overzealous enthusiasm for being neither zealous nor enthusiastic."

Sound familiar?? ;-)