But you still need to activate your account.
Nancy Howland sets a brisk pace for her morning commute.
For 12 years, the 70-year-old woman has walked four miles daily to her job at the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor. At day’s end, her husband drives her to their home in the village of Hulls Cove.
The longtime librarian’s year-round, hourlong commute on foot takes her along busy Route 3 and through a peaceful section of Acadia National Park. She sticks to it despite cold or inclement weather, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s a true addiction,” Howland said of her morning ritual. “It’s a good addiction.”
On an overcast Friday, Howland set out from her Crooked Road house at 7:45 a.m., dressed in tidy white sneakers and a blouse and skirt. She walked along the shoulder of Route 3, avoiding the cars and trucks rumbling by.
Her slower pace gives her time to take in positive sights – like the bright flowers in a neighbor’s mailbox planter and the scenic view of Frenchman Bay – as well as less appealing ones, such as the empty oil containers and fast food wrappers scattered along the road’s edge.
“Look at this,” Howland exclaimed, shaking her head at the trash. “Friends of Acadia just cleared this up.”
Howland is surprised by the attention her daily walk draws.
“I’ve always walked,” she said. “My parents came from England, and that’s what people from England do – they walk.”
She uses her hour on foot as her “thinking time,” and even brings a notebook with her before the library’s huge August book sale in order to jot down ideas. As she strides along Paradise Hill Road, far above the constant traffic, she is in a whole different world.
“I come in on Paradise Hill and think about the people who have to commute for an hour through heavy traffic,” she said. “I’m looking out on Frenchman Bay. … It’s a nice way to start the morning.”
– Abigail Curtis
Comments
comments for this post are closed