Walsh: 'On a Ruffling Day' a great choice for local historians, photo lovers
"On a Ruffling Day" by Kenneth L. Gomez offers a much-needed escape from the hustle and bustle of today's society.
With contributions from his wife, Lisa S. Gomez, the unusual, oversized hardback is subtitled "Poems, Photos, Folk Art, and Nature".
Published by Mission Point Press ($24.95), it is an exceptional volume that covers a lot of territory in 105 pages, with bright and dark images from both Michigan and Maine. It emphasizes beautiful scenes taken during different seasons, with gleaming, spectacular photos that showcase the magnificent splendor that Mother Nature provides.
Gomez's poetry, often rhyming light verse, accompanies the graphics, appearing on the same page or opposite. He writes about many different subjects, including flowers, birds, Petoskey Stones, shipwrecks, lighthouses, wind damage, decoys and mill wheels.
Part of the book is devoted to supernatural elements, with a clear photo shot of a barn's spirit holes: "... Once superstition, religion, imagination's explanations, today, merely ethnic decorations."
Two pages, not written in verse, focus on the shameful treatment of members of a Maine fishing village in 1912, whose residents were forcefully removed. Graves were dug up — bones were combined, reburied elsewhere. All the dwellings on Malaga Island were burned to the ground.
Eight pages offer photos of Maine hand-carved wooden Indian folk art sculptures.
"On a Ruffling Day", by Leelanau County resident Kenneth L. Gomez, is a fascinating book, ideal for libraries and those who enjoy local history or photography.
Ray Walsh, owner of East Lansing's Curious Book Shop, has reviewed Michigan books and crime novels since 1987. His email address is raywalsh@voyager.net.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Walsh: 'On a Ruffling Day' ideal for local historians, photo lovers
