What's Really Important to me (even more than microbiology!)

                                    "Mainiacs away from Maine are truly displaced persons, only half alive,

                                    only half aware of their immediate surroundings. Their inner attention is

                                    always preoccupied and pre-empted by the tiny pinpoint on the face of

                                    the globe called Down East. They try to live not in such a manner that they

                                    will eventually be welcomed into Paradise, but only so that someday they

                                    can go home to Maine.”   -- Louise Dickinson Rich 1903-1991

These are images of the old one-room school house in Pleasant Ridge, New Brunswick Canada where my mother used to teach in the early 1940's.  We lost Mum in April of 2008, and even though she ultimately went into a career other than teaching, I think of her teaching in this building many times when I'm in the classroom pretending to be a professor!  It helps me feel connected.
Ann and I spent the 2007-2008 academic year studying and working (and playing!!) at University of California at Santa Barbara.  I still miss my friends and labmates there terribly and we especially  miss the beaches and mountains.  These are a couple of the hundreds of beach pictures we took.  Sometimes it's hard to imagine how we ever left that place!
You just haven't travelled until you've driven 3000 miles coast to coast (and back!) with two cats and two people in a Hyundai!  Not only did Ann (that's the wife!) help with driving, but Rosa (shown here) was a frequent co-pilot!!
This is my wife Ann, ready for a boat trip on the St. Croix River.
This is Baxter as a kitten. His name comes from our favorite park, Baxter State in Maine.
This is Rosa as a kitten. Her name comes from Ann’s hometown in Alabama! (If you haven’t guessed, animals are pretty important to us!)
This is the most northerly light house on the US Atlantic coast. It is near my hometown of Calais, Maine.                                                                                                      
These 3 photos are from one of the most important places in the world, at least to Ann and me: Baxter State Park, Maine.  These photos are of Katahdin, Nesowdenhunk Stream and a Spruce Grouse.
These are Puffins and Razorbills on Machias Seal Island off the coast of Maine and New Brunswick Canada.
I  lived for a time on a National Wildlife Refuge in Maine while in high school.  The Moosehorn is still where I spend much of my free time while home in Maine visiting family.
This is the St. Croix river.  It forms the eastern border of Maine and New Brunswick Canada.  I traveled back and forth  frequently as the largest portion of my family still lives in Canada.
I have been a birder since I was a kid, but I don't get to as often now as I'd like.  Ann and I are also avid vegetable gardeners.  This is NOT a picture of our garden.  Not even close.  Our garden/weed patch this year is pretty pathetic!
Click here for old photos of me (before I was a professor)My_Albums/Pages/Photo_Contest.htmlshapeimage_13_link_0

Ann and I were married on Monhegan Island in Maine.  It’s a place we adore and return as frequently as possible!

(here’s a wedding photo from 1994; we look even better today!)