The Mattress Factory

My favorite room in my favorite museum.

The Famous Enon Valley Auction

The famous Enon Valley Auction is a place where local farmers, many of them Amish, would meet to do business on Tuesdays.

The Zenith in Pittsburgh

I went to get the $10 brunch buffet Sunday at The Zenith on the Southside of Pittsburgh.

Saturday in Pittsburgh

On Saturday I hung out with Luke and Temisan and eventually ended up at the sold-out Girltalk show in my once-hometown of Pittsburgh.

Maine in the Rearview

It has taken me less than a week to leave my once well-furnished apartment spic-and-span and totally empty. Skipping the Maine winter this year. (Keeping the snowshoes.)

Great and Affordable

The Villager Restaurant in Waterville, Maine.

Economic Special

The A-1 Diner in Gardiner, Maine.

Driving to Walk

Pictures from Yesterday

The newly opened Waterville Goodwill located downtown on the Concourse appears to be a church with the steeple of St. Francis de Sales rising in the background. Both churches and Goodwill stores are likely to see an influx of people this the holiday season. According to a recent New York Times article, in the first eight months of 2008, sales at Goodwill stores in the United States and Canada increased by 7 percent over the same period last year.


The steel hull of an unfinished sailboat sets in Mike Lessard's yard on Lower Water Street in Waterville Wednesday afternoon. Lessard started its construction over 3 years ago but has since been injured in a car accident and has abandon the project.


David Turnage, Alfond Youth Center aquatic director, instructs some of the 141 swimmers ages 6-18 who are members of the Mid-Maine Dolphins swim team during practice Wednesday afternoon. The Dolphins will have their first YMCA meet of the season when they host the Portland YMCA in Waterville this Saturday at 1 p.m.


The moon is seen shining Wednesday night behind "Ticonic" a statue on the Concourse sculpted by Roger L. Majorowicz that was commissioned in 1997 "for the city of Waterville and the citizens of Maine."

New Phone Camera

At the top of Mt. Megunticook in Camden, Maine on Tuesday evening.

233 Years Old

Woooooooo! Older than the United States, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, smells like stale beer and gun powder -- it must be the 233rd Marine Corps Birthday!
Here is an old picture with some of the Mudjahadeen (what they called themselves, we actually referred to them as the Southern Alliance) I was patrolling southern Kandahar with back in 2001. My mustache was the envy of Kandahar. (Even amongst the Talibs!)

Chainsaw Safety

Pete Tracy, a Maine Licensed Forester and Certified Logging Professional was at the Lake George Regional Park Saturday afternoon to educate Mainers in the safe use of chainsaws. Here, he demonstrates cutting a wedge to ensure the angle of the tree's fall.


Course-takers watch a falling tree Saturday afternoon at the Lake George Regional Park during a chainsaw safety course.


Here, Tracy demonstrates the proper way to relieve tension from a "spring branch," a branch caught under the tension of a fallen tree, which if left unattended could result in injury. Tracy has been providing chainsaw safety training since 1985 in Maine, New Hampshire, and Canada.

Skowhegan Dam

Here is a picture I took today that I like better than a similar one that ran in the paper.
Caption:
Construction workers from Bancroft Contracting Corp. work on scaffold to refurbish and reinforce the Weston Dam and its concrete and steel columns on Friday afternoon in Skowhegan. The island in the middle of the Kennebec River on which the dam is located divides the river into two channels and acts as a natural pier and as a site for mills.

Maine Dancing

I took a lot of pictures of people dancing today. A good winter activity.
Caption:
Erica Nelson and other ballerinas at Bradley's School of Dance in Skowhegan practice a move called a passe Thursday afternoon during Audrey Rea's ballet class. All of the students in Rea's class have been practicing ballet for over 10 years.


Clare Beverage salsas with Santa at the Waterville Maine Street "Salsa for Santa" silent auction party at Cancun Mexican Restaurant in Waterville Thursday night. The auction's proceeds will benefit activities for the annual Kringleville celebration and year-round Waterville Main Street programs.


Jake and Deb Primmerman, mother and son dance team, practice a soft shoe dance done in tap shoes Thursday afternoon at Bradley's School of dance in Skowhegan. The two will be involved in a Dancing with the Stars take off event in Skowhegan.

Contaminated Beavers?

I came back with ticks, scratched, and burrs after trekking into the woods for this picture, today.
Caption:
Waterville officials plan to apply for a federal grant to clean up contaminated wastewater lagoons on West River Road that contain effluent from the former Wyandotte mill across the road. Here, a beaver dam is visible in one of the lagoons with the mill visible in the background.

Waterville Girls Soccer

Here's a pic I took yesterday. It foreshadowed the outcome of the game.
Caption:
Waterville Senior High School team mates cheer after they scored their first goal in the Eastern Maine Class A regional championship against Brunswick High School on Wednesday afternoon at Webber Field. Waterville defeated Brunswick 2-1.

Election Day Video

Here is some video I shot during election day that our newspapers' web master Ben Sturtevant edited together.

Maine Voting

Colby College student Zak Rich, right, stands the legal 250 ft from the polls collecting a signature from another Colby student Nick Bromley to help the organization Equality Maine promote the legalization of same-sex marriages. The activists were out petitioning voters on Tuesday afternoon at the Bouque-Lanigan American Legion Post 5, Waterville's polling station. According to Rich, by 2 p.m. Equality Maine received more than enough signatures to get their measure on the ballot next election.


Registered voters wait in line Tuesday evening at the Fairfield Community Center in Fairfield. In the evening voters were moving swiftly, although the line still began out the door.


Voting clerk Lindsey Boucher searches through voter registrations on Tuesday night at the Bourque-Lanigan American Legion Post 5 in Waterville. The voting lines were moving swiftly, Boucher said the registration lines were the real wait. "It's like no one decided to register until today," she said. "... A lot of Colby College kids."

Vote for Barak Obama

My kitchen window in Maine wants you to vote for Barak Obama.

Halloween Street

When I was a kid I remember having so many layers of fake blood, red paint, and scar tissue on my face, that when I was peeling it off after trick-or-treating, I thought I had peeled off an actual piece of my forehead and freaked out for a second. I don't remember seeing any bloody costumes out on Halloween in Waterville. Except for that reaper's scythe.
Caption:
Trevor McClure, 10, aka the Grim Reaper is out collecting candy Burliegh Street in Waterville on Halloween. The street is known for it celebration which drew McClure from his home in Benton, and Waterville police close the street to traffic for the safety of trick-or-treaters.

Early Vote

I voted on Halloween, when I took this picture. It looks like most early voter are going strongly leaning towards Obama.
Caption:
Early voters head to the polls at Waterville City Hall on Halloween. According to Deputy Registrar Suzanna Beane approximately 3,100 of the 10,245 registered voters in Waterville had already cast their ballots prior to Halloween.