Maria and I are both strange, which is one of the reasons we are so happy together. It is snowing up here – finally- and freezing, it will snow all day until dusk at least, although not heavily. A couple of days ago, we decided we needed a change of scenery. Here has been an awful lot going on my life, I’ve been crashing to finish my book, working hard on the blog and Maria has been intensely busy as well.

We both decided we just needed to go somewhere for a day or so and seen the ocean, so I went online and found that the nearest ocean to us is a kind of tacky New Hampshire shore town called Hampton Beach. It’s a little over three hours away in good weather, although we will have to reconsider the scenic route, we might not get over those Green Mountains between us and them.

I found a cheap and clean-looking motel – and we were assured we would probably be the only visitors in town at this time of year. We were also assured there are no good restaurants in the town and nothing at all to see this time of year. Beyond that, it will be very cold, continuing the very odd weather patterns of the year.

We love the idea that on the only two days of the year we have picked for a mini-getaway, it is cold and snowing in April. Sounds like our kind of trip. Maria and I don’t really care about all that, we carry books, cameras, skechpads and one another. All we need.

The colder it is, the better excuse we have to lie around the motel room, read and hopefully, love one another. And sleep, too. I rarely sleep well at home, my head is too filled with stuff, I do often sleep well away from home. Sunday morning, I sent the (hopefully) final edited manuscript for “Talking To Animals” back to my publisher.

Thanks for all the support you have given to Lisa and Scott Carrino’s campaign to save their wonderful cafe and buy the building, which is up for sale. It is working, people are eager to do good given the chance. Community lives.

Thanks also for your kind and thoughtful comments about my exploration of my own possible crowdsourcing project to help me buy a new digital black and white camera from Leica. The responses were (mostly) overwhelmingly supportive and I am thinking about it. One or two people seemed to question the idea that I really needed such a camera, one woman scolded me for not making do with what I have. I did feel like a 10-year-old. But then, if I was really 10, I probably would have stolen the camera.  I  have evolved.

The great bulk of the comments urged me to go for it. I am thinking about it.

I looked back over my photo sharing files and see that I have given away or shared more than 50,000 photos. I am proud of that. I’m thinking that is worth something. But I want to take my time and make sure. If you ask other people for money, you need to be sure. I need to keep growing, to challenge myself, one way or the other. I’m going to collect some written estimates.

So yes, you do have to be a bit nuts to cross the mountains of New York State and Vermont to get to New Hampshire in the snow just to look at the ocean. But we are a bit nuts. That is not news. Maria calls me the “snow pussy,” I am nervous about driving in snow, she is fearless about it. I am glad there is a strong man in the family.