Thursday, July, 31, 2003
   It was another gorgeous day in Jackman on Big Wood Pond. A still day with huge fluffy clouds. The sun high in the sky warming the clear glass water. Along the shores of Big Wood a large flock of young long necked geese floated serenely by as I began to paint the distant blue mountains. Eleven or twelve baby loon looking birds were being trained by their mother. Scooting up and down the water. Diving under. Swimming fast. Swimming slow. A few canoes paddled by. Birds chirped in the background. Children laughed playing in the water.

   Then the two Skidoos started. Racing their motors. Flying up , down and around. 25 miles an hour, 50, 70. Engines grating with a high frequency like a dentist drill. There was nothing left of the peace & quiet on Big Wood. All there was was two Skidoos & their disrupting noise speeding back and forth, around and around and up and down with their high speed motors opened up full speed ahead. I got up from my painting and went inside. Even though I was trying to quit I had to have a cigarette. I came back down to the beach and there they were, the two of them. Two young men on their Skidoos. I called out. Are you from around here? They had to turn their motors off to hear me. No they said. Your loud noise is disturbing the whole pond I said. They said nothing and drove away.

    ~Sally Gorman, Jackman, Maine