GROWTH OF SPIRIT IN THE COLD MOUNTAINS
I remember as a girl, my mother liked to give me books she thought were important. One year was my “Nobel year” and all the books she gave me had won Nobel prizes for literature. Some were not bad at all. Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland (1915 winner) was incredibly long, but really interesting for a girl studying music because it is a fictionalized biography of Beethoven.
Jackman, Maine
Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun which won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920, was a rougher go. It was about trying to survive on a hardscrabble, cold and barren part of Norway. I sort of hated the book, but I can’t forget it, either. These were people who lived terrible lives. They were so miserable it was almost art in its own way.
Attean view, Jackman, Maine
This prompt is about growth and I wish I had pictures from that hardscrabble land in Norway. For all I know, it has since become a tourist mecca. It has been a long time since the book was written and the world has changed. We now vacation in places no one could live 100 years ago and we think it very precious to be in these places.
Not so different than all the years we went to Jackman, Maine for vacation. An incredibly beautiful part of the country where you can — these days — easily survive. But work? Assets? Unless you came there already wealthy, you won’t find wealth in those mountains.
Jackman, Maine
On the positive side, you may find a kind of spiritual richness there unavailable in easier climates, in softer environments. And so these are pictures from Jackman, at the top of the mountains in northern Maine. It is as beautiful a place as I’ve ever been and probably one of the most difficult places to live. In that roughness is growth of your spirit.
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Categories: #Photography, Mountains
STICKS AND STONES 
BIG, BIGGER, BIGGEST 
MOUNTAINS HIGH 
TWO MORNINGS IN PEACHUM, VT 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Amazing landscapes and stories to enrich our lives!
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Lovely photos and post, Marilyn.
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Thanks Bette. If it weren’t so godawful cold up your way, I think we’d have moved there long ago. But it IS that cold and we are getting cranky and bone achy. I miss it, though.
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Reading is a great way to acquire a good education, Marilyn.
Your comments make me wonder if the milder climates are not so character building. I’d really hate to think that.
Leslie
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We weren’t allowed to watch TV as kids. My mother didn’t want TV addicts so we became bookaholics. By the time my sister was born, though, she gave up. So Ann was raised in front of the TV, but I was raised in a pile of books. I probably would have been a reader anyway. I think that’s just who I am.
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Our TV viewing was limited too.
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That’s one inspiring post! Beauty as a spiritual component 🙂
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Thanks Paula. This is what I do when I don’t have the right pictures 🙂 Write a story, post whatever!
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🙂
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I was in Norway, but not so overrun with tourists inland. People mainly visit the Fjords by boat. Your photos show that luckily there are still places that human hand has not yet destroyed.
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I always wanted to visit Norway and the other Scandinavian countries. They look incredibly beautiful.
Maine is truly unspoiled. Most of northern New England is breathtaking. In my opinion, most places outside Boston and its suburbs are beautiful. Boston is beautiful in its own way — lots of old building and historical stuff, but it’s a city and I’m much too antique for living like that anymore.
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I visited Denmark and was impressed with its beauty. I saw a castle somewhere there. THAT was memorable…as was my trip to Scotland. Didn’t make it to Norway.
Maine, as Marilyn says, is largely unspoiled. But wouldn’t be my choice for living.
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