During the first week of September mom stayed with Robin and I for half a week and the other half with her parent’s in Dexter. I took 5 days off, two Fridays, a Thursday and Monday. We tried to get out and enjoy the end of Summer’s weather which mostly was in the cool 70’s, by walking on the Orono campus trails of which Robin used to run on during her college years.

One day the three of us wanted to kayak so we loaded my kayak and our landlord’s tandem (two-seater) kayak on the car and drove down to Sedgeunkedunk Stream; Robin in front and mom in the back of the tandem and myself in my kayak. The weather was excellent that day with temperatures around 75 and a slight sporadic breeze. We made our way around way the first two bends in the stream that consisted mostly of thick difficult to traverse Water mill-foil; after that the water cleared up in the middle so that you could see down 4′ to the murky bottom. Robin called me over as she had spotted a young Painted Turtle basking in the sun while in the midst of algae- I was unable to capture it. Shortly after, I spotted another young Painted Turtle, but again was unsuccessful. We continued on, looking for any signs of wildlife and taking in the sun. We came across, what Robin and I had thought had passed for the year, a nice patch of Lilly Flowers. Later on, I spotted a female duck with two young offspring swimming behind her. At the half-way point, Mom spotted another turtle basking in the same manor as the previous two; I slowly paddled up to the turtle, it was a large male Painted Turtle- the second largest I have caught. Once I was next to the turtle in the water, it had submersed itself but I had reached down quickly to grab a hold of its shell. It’s carapace was in the process of shedding due to growth. I placed the turtle into my storage unit and we continued on our journey. Nearing the end of the stream a Great Blue Heron had swooped up in front of the tandem out of the cattail bushes and landed 15′ to the other side where I was able to snap a photo of it. We turned around shortly after; nearing our the last stretch, where I spotted a very young Painted Turtle, it must have been a year old- it was so light that it was sitting on top of a thick growth of algae which made it very easy for me to capture. We headed onwards where the same Heron was spotted earlier had relocated in hunt for fish. I was able to get a few shots of of the Heron up close and in the unsuccessful pursuit of fish. Once on land we stopped at a near by vacant house and took photos of the turtles to compare their size.

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We headed Down East to Winter Harbor for their 45th annual Lobster Festival; it was my first visit however since Winter Harbor is close to Prospect Harbor where Robin grew up she has been many times as well as ran in the race they have.

We arrived mid-morning and the streets were busy; stands everywhere selling different nick-knacks, etc. There were many different stands, a few which gave me an idea to possibly sell photos at events like this next year. We came across a tree that had been carved and painted to resemble a lobster claw, I thought that they did a great job. We met up with Robin’s mother and walked around for awhile until we decided to head to Schoodic Byway to look around and take photos. There’s an area that I know of that overlooks the ocean, the view can be seen while standing on a ledge of about 50 or so feet up. It has different holes that the Ocean as worn away at. It’s a beautiful area that not a lot of people know about and great for watching sunsets. This visit was more about exploring the surrounding area’s trails the lined the edge of the cliff rather than sitting at the edge together and watching the Ocean. We stopped at several other areas along the byway, one being a rocky shoreline that faced the East. We spent some time there looking for Crabs, Sandollars, Starfish and taking photos of the area.

Later on we drove to Corea and found a nice little scenic harbor view in which we took a few different photos. On the dock fisherman left their traps; we looked through them all to see if anything was left behind. We found a couple of Starfish that were alive at the time of the trap being in the water however when the traps were taken out and placed in the boat the Starfish limbs had dropped over the cages’ bars and hardened due to death. We looked around a bit, enjoyed the scenery and then headed home for the evening; I really enjoy finding areas like this that we can explore together and have a good time.

March has had several snow storms bringing in at least a foot of snow each time; Robin and I have kept up with snowshoeing through each storm. Unfortunately all of the snow storms either occurred during a work day or at night so we have not been able to snowshoe during a storm which is something I have wanted to experience again; there’s a different feeling in the air when you’re in the woods while snow is falling, sometimes so quiet that you can hear the flakes landing on top of old snow, the creaking and cracking of tree branches trying to bare the additional load.

Normally whenever mom is scheduled to visit from Virginia during the winter her flight is delayed however this year it was not; in fact it was a few hours early. I picked her up from BIA late in the evening; she stayed at our apartment from Thursday to Sunday morning and then came back later in the week. We went for a walk on the Bangor Trails; the weather was in the 40’s. We walked for about a mile in search of the Great Horned Owl but were not able to spot it; I read in the paper that people have been attacked while walking and skiing the various trails. I have not yet photographed an Owl and is something that I’d like to spot in the wild.

Later in the week we bowled at Brewer/Bangor Bowling alley; none of us knew the proper method of keeping score, so whoever knocked down the most pins won. Mom knocked down 74, I knocked down 55 and Robin knocked down 54. I treated us to dinner at Governor’s before mom was scheduled to fly out. We didn’t get to do a lot but we had a good time while mom visited.

This year is Robin and I’s first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years together as a married couple. We visited with my side of the family (Wintle) on Thanksgiving. This year a lot of the family came, the head count was 36 and that does not include everyone. Every year we meet at my grandparent’s house in Dexter, talk, eat and then make crafts; however the past two years I have not stayed for the crafts as I now have an additional stop to make, Robin’s parent’s. I invited Dad to Thanksgiving dinner, he came and it was good to have him there as we had not eaten Thanksgiving together for a few years. Shortly after eating we drove two hours south west to the coast where we ate with Robin’s family at her brother’s new house. We had a good time socializing and playing Scatagories.

A lot has been going on for Robin and I, we are searching for a house and adjusting to married life-which is great by the way! We are starting to figure out what our spending habits are as a couple for groceries, gas, etc. We had to de-claw her cat because she kept scratching my leather furniture; I did not want to go to that extreme but after multiple failed attempts to curb this habit it was the only option. The first few days were hard on Marbles; she kept licking her paws which the Vet said not to allow so Robin created a home-made lamp shade and wrapped her paws with gauze. After about four weeks Marbles is doing much better; she is back to her peppy, chatty self.

I love taking photographs of wildlife as well as landscapes that are full of color, I normally do not take many photos during the winter due to the temperature and lack of colors, however this year I am going to attempt to take some photos of the snow- most of the time when the scenery is pretty is when I am on my way to work and don’t have much time to stop. I have had the chance to photograph a beautiful cold morning outside of our apartment, a very cold stream, a couple of Bald Eagles, an icey river and a -21° steamy sunrise.

Mom was scheduled to fly up the Wednesday before Christmas week but was delayed a day due to snow storms. She stayed with us for a few days and also stayed with her parent’s for a few days. We shopped for present’s one day and spent most of our time around the apartment due to the weather we had during Christmas week. The first evening mom was here we had a mini-blizzard; snow started falling heavily early evening and fell throughout the night; before we went to bed, I decided to take a few photos of the snow storm outside; to my surprise portions of my car was covered in 4′ snow. The next morning the snow had subsided and everything was calm, peaceful; you could hear the birds flapping and chirping in the cool silence. I decided to take a few more photos in-between shoveling our cars out.

Robin and I are looking for a good deal on Snow Shoes in hopes that we can enjoy the winter wonderland together this winter and hopefully be able to spot some wildlife. We had a very good holiday season this year, visiting with family, celebrating Christ’s birth and opening wonderful gifts with each other. One of Robin’s gifts was a nice Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, she has been learning how to use the shutter speed, aperture, and exposure properly and has been taking some really good photos lately too.

My New Years Resolution is to not be as judgmental with people, that is one of my downfalls that I want to change. Robin is one of my inspirations with this, she is so caring for other people which is something I’m very attracted to. My other inspiration is from Brandon Heath’s song, “Give me Your eyes“. I’m reading through the Gospel Books right now, which tells about Christ’s ministry which is a major source of inspiration.