Our son-in-law Andrei grew up in Romania. He, his family and many friends commonly did their own mechanical work. There were not a lot of resources during Communism which forced the population to develop alternative systems for keeping things going.

They are not saying good-bye, they are saying hello.

I didn’t know that Oliver sold bicycles. When Janet told me this I thought she said “Oliver stole bicycles.” Then I remembered that Oliver grew up in Newcastle, Pennsylvania. My freshman year college roommate was from Newcastle, and he did steal bicycles!

Before exploring the Cunningham farm, I’d like to share a brief experience regarding my flawless memory!

Several months ago I lost or misplaced my favorite Ray Ban sunglasses. I was very sad. They are great glasses. A few days ago I popped the hood on my 2003 VW Jetta to check the oil. Right there, on top of the air cleaner cover, sat my glasses, 3, 000 miles after oil changing. It was a long and winding road my friends. I’m thinking maybe I should just keep glasses there until my next oil change so I won’t know where to find them!

Line cook Roxroy Smith has been working in the food service business since his teenage years. He has spent over 10 years aboard cruise ships cooking his way around the world. During his time aboard ships he has visited 115 countries, often with as many as 2,700 staff from 88 nations, who all must speak English. This experience has not only afforded him a great opportunity to learn, but allowed him to build a flawless reputation for reliability and credibility. His credentials allow Roxy, as he is hailed by coworkers and friends, to travel without question and to work in highly desirable settings here in Maine, around the U.S. and internationally.

Last week we wished bon voyage to our family friends Kate, Sage, Jim and Jenifer Elderkin-Wickline as they prepared for their return to New Zealand. This week we continue our worldly adventures with another local traveler.

Nikki Brooks has spent a large portion of her adult life away from the Boothbay region. Her first trip abroad was to Paris with her father at age 16. It was all she needed. Since then Nikki has visited, traveled through and worked in China, Russia, Chile and Peru. Also, after she finished college she and a friend backpacked through Europe. I believe its fair to say that Nikki enjoys new adventures. She has visited many countries around the world.

When Googled, Maungatapere is described as a settlement in Northland, New Zealand. State Highway 14 runs through it. Whangarei is 11 km to the east, and Tangiteroria is 18 km to the southwest. A mountain called Maungatapere with a summit 359 m above sea lever is southwest of the settlement.

I don't claim to be a writer. I have known quite a few writers and they are well educated, smart and disciplined. I have been disciplined, but it’s usually for being a bad boy! I prefer to think of myself as a describer, sharing things that interest me, people I know and stuff that I've done over the 40+ years of our lives here. There have been plenty of opportunities to accumulate material. Wonderful people. Fascinating adventures.

“Where's the beef?” Silly bird!

I know I have mentioned many times the wonderful photographic coincidences encountered while doing non-photographic things. Carrying a camera with me when out and about is pretty much standard operating procedure. In fact, after all these years of work with cameras, I feel a bit unsettled without a lens. Has sort of become an acquired appendage.

Too Hot!

So consider this.

Your kitchen is a small wooden building at the side of a busy state road with perfectly lovely out in the open exposure to everything. The temperature outside is pushing 90 (maybe higher in the direct sun) and the humidity is creeping.

I feel like this photo could be a “Where's Waldo” puzzle. Only to make it more fun, it could be a summer puzzle for a fog/rain day on a rental porch with a cool iced tea and a mosquito zapper racket.

Anyone who visits Blue Tin Farm (always call ahead) will instantly notice the soothing karma of happy animals. You very well may be greeted, as you enter the driveway, by two enormous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, Rosie and Charlie. Believe it or not, this breed of pig was so diminished in number that they were considered critically endangered. This lucky couple, often found reclining in cool, soft earth, is far from endangered. They are wonderfully docile and curious and friendly. The breed is recovering here in the U.S. and in Great Britain. In 1995, The Kelmscot Farm Foundation of Lincolnville, Maine, organized the importation of 20 Gloucestershire piglets to reestablish the purebred population in America. Blue Tin Farm has helped to support their come back.

Some photographs need no explanation. They are just what they are—a moment in time that is. Little else.

So that is why I won’t bother you with how I came to make this week’s image completely drenched on my way home to Southport from a trip to the dump, oops ... dating myself — refuse disposal facility.

Occasionally, when I am not looking, something will slip into my field of view unexpectedly, and with it will come a batch of recollections. Memories. And there will be a moment of remembering about a time or place or an event not thought about.

What a wonderful stretch of days! The weather. The weather. The weather. It seemed so much better, too, because of constant wet and chilly. A welcomed change.

I first met Ella Beauregard at Hendricks Head Beach on Southport. I was enjoying low tide and making some photos when Ella came walking down from her house with a chicken under each arm. Ella and her parents, Mike Beauregard and Pam Pearce, lived in Ruth Gardner’s place, now better known as “the land for Southport’s future.”

I was “working out” on the riding lawnmower (where I do much of my “creative” thinking) the other day, and recalled how many times I thought it would be fun to do a picture book about the Browns, and browns, of Maine.

The Jacob Pike will be 70 years old this year, just like me. Happy birthday to us. But, unlike me, Robbie Begin, Linc Simmons and a crew headed by Tony Finnocchiaro, the Jacob Pike can be reconstructed. I'm afraid it would take more than a few new planks to help my career!

We headed over town from Southport around 8 o'clock in the evening Sunday, amazed by how much light there still was in the sky. We spend winters in our bunkhouse/barn on the property which is surrounded by trees. We sort of lose track of how the sun moves around now.

I’ve been trying to remember when I first met Rupe Neily, and I can’t. But, in one way or another, we have crossed paths many times over the years, initially through his father, Rupe, at Mainco Realty and the YMCA.