Just when we thought we had seen the worst of it, whacked again!

These occasional “so-called” 100-year storms seem to be becoming a little more frequent. Somehow we have lost track of the timeline. Perhaps a new name could be “Seasonal weather dysphoria” – unlikely weather events becoming more likely!

Over 300 people attended the University of Southern Maine Hannaford auditorium on Sunday, March 3 to honor Kirsten Neuschäfer, winner of the Golden Globe Race, solo sail around the world. The Portland Yacht Club sponsored the event which allowed everyone to hear Kirsten speak about her experience accompanied by photographs from the race.

A very long time ago a friend gave me a book with photos and text by Ansel Adams, one of the most recognized and accomplished photographers of the 20th century. It was a random gesture offered partially as a bit of a joke at the time since I had no specific interest in photography. But the book made a big impression and sort of jumpstarted my curiosity about and experimentation with black and white film, its processing and printing. Mr. Adams’ work helped me see things in a different way which encouraged an adventure never imagined.

Life was normal and calm in the Hannaford vegetable display zone. Celery, carrots, avocado, apples with a small dash of organic romaine. Done! In the basket. On to the dairy area and then to check out. Items 14 and fewer, please. I was just under the limit – 13 items and a speedy checkout person. Happy camper to avoid the self checkout which causes me to return to the aisle for antacids! For the life of me I cannot explain why scanning so provokes me and frustrates all those nice people behind me in line to check out. It has something to do with my annoying attitude regarding computerized everything. This, I fear, is a never ending affliction. Please give me human contact and someone to pack things properly in my carry on baggage. I don’t care if it doesn’t fit in the overhead compartment.

In my senior high school yearbook, all students were asked to list clubs, sports, awards, etc., and to state what might be accomplished after graduation. We got all sorts of ambitious comments like skateboard to the moon and back; lay rubber down Front Street in my Falcon station wagon; eat 40 ZAGNUT candy bars while painting the principal’s pickup purple! You know, the usual. But then there were some of my more reasonable classmates who planned on going to college, enlisting in the Army (it was Vietnam time), traveling, mining, becoming a doctor or an engineer or starting a trucking business.

Black and white photography has always been a fundamental interest of mine. It’s where my interest in photography began as a child when I discovered my grandmother’s box camera, negatives and a stack of small prints in the top drawer of the candy dresser. I was smitten early on by how it was possible to make recognizable prints of my family using this instrument and the transparent product I came to know as negatives. My grandmother never really explained the process but was always happy to chat about the photos and their subjects. It was pretty cool stuff.

Over the years I have had the extraordinary privilege of photographing many great projects in the region. Constructions that have been built, repaired or restored by highly skilled craftspeople which, for the most part, once completed, have headed south to warmer places for much of the year.

Nothing like a few days without water to make a believer out of you!

Just when things started to settle down a bit after the storms we landed a new challenge -- a good old-fashioned water line from the well freeze-up. It's a little irritating. Reaching for the spigot and getting nothing is a very sobering experience. Carrying water to flush also expands one's horizons. My scheduled once a week shower, needed or not, got pushed out, too. It's a beautiful thing!

It’s kind of odd, isn’t it. To look out at the calm sea after all we have been through this past week. In sort of a weird kind of way it’s like someone out there said “Let’s go to work on the coast of Maine, now the job’s done, let’s rest.”

Well, we finally got it! And maybe then some. At 5 p.m., right now, it is still snowing. I plowed all our roads once around 1 o'clock thinking that maybe the weather folks might have an inside track. Everything got filled right back up and I'm not really sure when it will stop. What I do think I know from weather forecasters is that it will be 50F with rain on Wednesday! Won't that be fun?

Without a wintry look right now I thought it might be fun to dig out an image from a winter past. Not that I'm complaining, but there is only so much one can do with fog and rain, especially at this time of year. Don't get me wrong, fog and rain fall into my category of interesting, and I don't mind at all venturing out when things are a bit less cheery, but no need to subject the viewing public to reminders of what has been with us for this most recent time.

This will be the second installment of my season-enhancing attempt. Without the expectation of snow for the foreseeable future it only seemed right to offer a view from winter past. I hope you will all gather around a cozy warming device and enjoy some of the many things for which we can be grateful. In these times in the world maybe a small recollection of snow in the region will help to make the season bright, even though, for a substantial number of us, snow may not be a preferred option. So, without further ado, let us move along to my visual seasonal presentation.

As I sit here at my desk, such as it is, this morning on the 18th of December I can hear the wind gusts in the fireplace flu and get a healthy puff of smoke from the wood stove. The wind was relatively quiet overnight but now, at 8 a.m., it is evident that there is more power in the air. The trees along the driveway are swaying dramatically and the gulls are pitching about uncomfortably if they dare to venture out from a safe cove. The rain is intermittent but clearly inevitable in the way you can feel the moisture when opening the door to let the pup out for morning business. I hate winter rain!

You know, this wandering around that happens from time to time can yield some interesting results.

Quite a while ago after a job in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and stops with my sisters throughout the state, I decided to visit with our daughter Mae at Bennington College in Vermont. From my last stopover with sister number two I plotted a course to Bennington via Interstate 88, Binghamton to Albany, with some side trips along the way. No big hurry. It’s about a two-hour drive that took me close to six hours as I wandered about. Route 88 is fast but boring so slipping off to Route 7 was a lot more fun and interesting, and it is the road I took to get from Albany to Bennington.

One of the curious things about Facebook is how it remembers things and, from time to time, shares collected images recalled from over the years. One such memory I’ve shared in today’s adventure. Facebook’s memory, such as it is, often brings up stuff easily forgotten as time goes by. Some memories, as I have learned, are not always welcomed, but they, nonetheless, cause one to pause and reflect upon events and moments that may be significant.

I suspect, over the years, in one form or another, that almost everyone has some experience with the moon. We all got a dab of lunar learning in school. You know – waning and waxing, crescent, full, new, Blue, Harvest, eclipse, etc., etc. And this is not to mention all the references in many cultures throughout history that have drawn attention to, worshiped and explored various aspects of moon-related experiences.

Some projects are so vast and expansive it's impossible to imagine. Such is the case for the massively detailed 400-page book "The Kyrenia Ship" edited by Susan Wormer Katzev (Southport) and Helena Wylde Swiny, awarded the Best Archeological publication of the year by the Archeology Institute of America. The book's cover shows a photograph of Susan Katzev in full scuba gear with drawing tablet diving on the 2,300-year-old remains of a sunken ship off the north coast of Cyprus. It took 53 years to produce the awarding-winning first volume!

I hope my obsession with reflections is not driving people over the edge. It's just that I am totally captivated by how things are transformed by their appearance in water.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and pets of all makes and models, allow me to introduce “Leica,” our almost 3-year-old Labradoodle. She is full of beans, lots of energy, chases anything that moves, smells everything, plays tennis ball retrieving with a vengeance and is completely food motivated! Aside from these attributes, she is  pretty “normal” but is very attuned to her feeding times, both morning and evening. You can set your clock by her attentiveness as meal time approaches. And herein lies our dilemma.

Sunsets this time of year are pretty nice.

As the sunsets make the move from up Bath way down the Sheepscot River toward Seguin, they land, for a brief period, directly across the river from us in the vicinity of Grey Havens in Georgetown. And, unlike our power bill (3X increase), our insurance bill (up 25%) and cost of groceries (just up!), the sunsets are consistently consistent as the Earth circumnavigates. It really is a nice way to end the day for west-looking views this time of year.