Ralph Heath is back!

In actual fact, he is not making new cartoons that we know of; we are simply running his cartoons from his treasure of 30 years of hilarious and insightful cartooning about Stowe, Vermont and life. We’ve been pulling them from his new book, “Local Color in Black and White, Cartoons from the Stowe Reporter.”

The book, which retails for $20, is only available at the Stowe Reporter office, which is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Heath pulled together the cartoon book over the past two years after taking a leave from cartooning for this newspaper to deal with health issues.

An immensely creative soul, along with the cartoon book Heath compiled a book of poems, many of them about Stowe and Vermont and its people and personalities. The book is titled “Reflections of a Country Poet.”

Heath accomplished all this while wrestling with serious medical problems. We spoke with him this week and he said he is doing well.

Both books are filled with Stowe history. The cartoons reflect Heath’s years of observing the Vermont scene, education funding and Act 60, foliage tours, the growth of his hometown Stowe as a popular destination, the area’s struggles with growth, community issues, and his love of life in these hills.

Heath’s poems are profoundly and openly personal, as much about living a life that matters as about old friends. He writes about the North Country Animal League, Stowe Rotary, the Riverbank Cemetery, Peter Beck, Lefty Lewis and Willie Noyes, the Lake Mansfield Trout Club, the Kirkwood and much, much more. He writes about veterans and about love. And about Stowe.

The poems, some accompanied by photographs, are like Heath himself: thoughtful, uncomplicated, sweet and optimistic. His poems also are on plaques around town, outside the Stowe Area Association and in Thompson Park on the Rec Path.

These are books that Stowe people — particularly long-timers who’ve seen a stretch of life here — will cherish. They’re treasures straight from the soul of a sparkling character, and a wonderful man.

— Biddle Duke,

Stowe Reporter publisher

Carpe diem

Do not take the time to reflect

Reach out for what you will

For life will pass you by, my friend

The moment you stand still

The dream that’s never realized

Is mankind’s greatest sin

As there’s no greater sorrow

Than to miss what might have been

By Ralph Heath