Gushes

The salesman at a local home improvement store who went above and beyond for us and found us a product to solve our problem.

— Anonymous

Gripes

My gripe is the use of the term "leaf peepers." People don't come to Maine to see a leaf. They come to see trees and hillsides of trees in full glory. The word "peepers" is even more ridiculous. To peep is to look through an obstructed view, maybe because you don't want to be seen. This puts leaf peepers in the peeping Tom category. We are glad to have people come to view our fall foliage openly. Call them foliage viewers, tree gazers, vista viewers. Call them anything but leaf peepers!

— Helen Decker

My gripe: those automatic seat-belt sensors. Ever try to move a box of books or lawn stuff and have the sensor trill at you? Irritating.

— Anonymous

Authors who pen a lovely series in an adult genre who end their series to move on to the cash cow that is young adult novels. Oh how I miss Richelle Mead and Kelley Armstrong.

— Anonymous

Apparently no one ever thought that those glass floors in some libraries would make it inaccessible to anyone with any sort of fear of heights!

— Anonymous

Gripes and Gushes offers readers a chance to chide and to cheer. Bring it on! But references to specific people, businesses, agencies, etc. will not be used, in order to keep us all out of legal trouble and to make the column general enough to appeal to all. Send your Gripes and Gushes to bmail@sunjournal.com or snail mail to Gripes and Gushes, b section, Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston ME 04243.