Celebrating Muskie
Congratulations on selecting the late Senator Edmund Muskie for your thirtieth annual Down East Environmental Award in your May issue. There is no person more deserving. Senator Muskie was the leader in bringing attention to environmental issues in our country.

He also brought public attention to disparities for people in Maine in terms of gaining access to the legal system. After he left government service in the 1990s, he traveled from Washington, D.C., on many occasions and spent countless hours throughout the state of Maine holding public hearings and meeting with Maine bar leaders on the issues related to low-income people receiving legal services. This was done under the auspices of the Maine Bar Foundation. Senator Muskie was in a class all by himself in terms of his continual sensitivity to the needs of low-income persons.


Thanks for the article about Ed Muskie in your May issue. I've spent much of my life living beside rivers in New England, and his efforts to clean them up here and elsewhere were indeed a major accomplishment. When we moved to Maine a few years ago a college friend allowed us to live in her house over the winter while ours was being refurbished for year-round living. Imagine our surprise when we learned her house had been Muskie's summer home on Kennebunk Beach. We felt honored to live there, if only for a season.

Where to Eat
Kudos! I just finished reading your May issue. I think it is the best in a very long while. I adore Azure Caf` in Freeport (page 26), recently enjoyed a breakfast at Stones (page 64), and look forward to trying many more of the restaurants you featured. The article and excerpt by Richard Russo will be copied for a friend involved in hospice programs, and I must buy and send a full copy to another Maine friend, an artist, gourmand, and gardener.
This issue is a "keeper." Thank you.


As a somewhat esoteric point of difference, "riccarelli," as Aurora Provisions' Leslie Oster referred to it in the "A Baker's Dozen" roundup in your May food feature are actually "ricciarelli," a specialty of Siena, not Florence. Siena during the Middle Ages was a major stop for caravans on the trade routes and thus several of their traditional sweets have an Oriental flavor. Ricciarelli are very light almond macaroons that may be made either with ground almonds or almond paste and egg whites. They are incomparable in the cookie category.


Talking Trash
I've been an avid reader of Down East for many years. After reading Al Diamon's piece "Bitter About Litter" in the May issue, I have one more reason to love your magazine. It was so refreshing to see his anger, disdain, and bitterness toward those who dirty our world unleashed, instead of being white-washed because of politeness or fear of offending.

I do have one point of contention. Mr. Diamon's referral to these yahoos as "Neanderthals" is much too generous. An apology to all good Neanderthals is in order.


Truth about Tremont
As a devoted reader of Down East for decades, I was surprised to find the errors and omissions in your April "Tarry in Tremont" getaway. First, you did not mention the village of Seal Cove, with arguably the prettiest little harbor on Blue Hill Bay, but you created the village of Quietside, which as far as I know doesn't exist! Second, most of Tremont is not serviced by the propane powered bus network, and a very pretty part of Acadia National Park is located in Tremont. Finally, the featured dessert at Thurston's Lobster Pound in Bernard is blueberry cake, not pie!

Otherwise, keep up the good work.


Collecting Bottles
Your March article about decorating with antique bottles brought to mind my having found an antique bottle while picnicking on Sears Island in Penobscot Bay in 1969. The bottle's raised lettering indicated that it had come from an M. Radermacher at 9 Court Avenue, Boston.

I kept the bottle for about twenty years without thinking much about it, but on a trip to Boston in the late 1980s, I decided to find out where 9 Court Avenue was. I found there was no Court Avenue. With curiosity piqued, I went to the Boston Public Library, and through examining microfiche records I learned that the bottle had come from the brewery of Matthias Radermacher - and that it dated from 1876 to 1878. Mr. Radermacher also ran a saloon on Washington Street during that time. As I recall, Court Avenue ceased to exist in the 1920s or '30s - when the government center was built.

I've always wondered how a cork-stopped beer bottle from what must have been a tiny brewery in Boston ended up in a trash heap on Sears Island.

Where in Maine?
As president of the Colby Alumni Council, I can confirm that the terrific mystery photo in your May issue is Johnson Pond, on the campus of Colby College. I can confirm this view from the shore as well as, unofficially, from the pond itself, which we swam across one bright fall day after a particularly hot rugby practice. Unofficial - because we were told to deny having swum across the pond if caught.