The beauty and adventure in our area is captured and shared abroad by many writers and artists. Three whom I know have books available for this holiday season. Norman Chartier, a frequent summer visitor to Southport and illustrator of many children's books, including the Sesame Street series, will sign his latest publication at Sherman's Books in Boothbay Harbor on Sunday, November 20, from 12 -2 p.m. "My Maine, The Coastal Watercolors of Norman Chartier" contains 90 color reproductions of Maine's coasts and harbors. This hardcover book is recommended by Publishers Weekly as a Christmas season's art/gift book. If you cannot be at Sherman's on Sunday, Norman will also be signing his work at Bookland in Brunswick, Saturday, November 19, from 2 to 4 p.m.

The second offering is from Sarah Sherman McGrail, author, and James A. Taliana, illustrator, who will introduce us to their new book, "The Littlest Tugboat," at the Southport Memorial Library on December 10 at 10 a.m. Look in last week's Register for a comprehensive story, including a picture of Sarah and James with Eliot Winslow, the encyclopedic source of tugboat data.

A third Christmas gift book possibility for elementary and junior high readers is "Weathering the Storms" by Terry Webb. This footnoted 44-page softbound book is the second in a planned series of four books about Louie Hollander and his mother, who are the lighthouse keepers on Two Tree Island in Windlass Bay. The first book in this series, "Manning the Light," tells how Louie and his mother apply for this position after Louie's father's death from a fall during their previous lighthouse service. Louie is 13, going on 14. The time is 1903. Although temptations are limited on an island, and Louie is kept in line by the many chores he must do, he and his friend Charlie, with a seagull and eventually a dog for pets, face many of the same frustrations, and pit falls today's young people face. Terry is the daughter of an Episcopal priest, who for many years was pastor at All Saints by-the-Sea, so she spent her summers on Southport. She brings her love of the area and her Christian perspective into the stories, along with extensive research that she has done at the Maine Maritime Museum, in Bath, and with Elaine Jones, the curator of Burnt Island Lighthouse in Boothbay Harbor, as well as Barbara Rumsey from the Boothbay Historical Society. The stories, vetted by her own grandchildren, are a good read, and if you do not know about the Maine coast, boats, or lighthouse life, you will learn a lot from the footnotes.

The artisans of bridge work have departed, their job completed. Our pale green bridge looks slightly different in the lighter hue. The deck was not deliberately painted but wears a design of strips and zig zags due to spraying paint from above on hard to reach sections below. I miss the time to stop and enjoy the scene, but not the intense noise that emanated from the compressor while the workers were sandblasting, hoping my car was well aligned enough to move straight ahead while I had my hands over my ears.

Caitlin Cronk and Dwight Lewis will depart for Africa on Saturday with others from the Baptist Church and the community to build houses in an orphanage there. I am sure we will hear more of their adventures when they return. I understand the high school Broadway Night was moved forward a day so Caitlin could complete her role before departure. I hope you can sleep on the plane, Caitlin.

Our Southport schoolchildren have also been travelers this fall, not so far as Africa, but to various sites around the state to augment their focus on the State of Maine. Recently they have been to the Montpelier Museum in Thomaston and the Maine State Museum in Augusta. I remember taking my students, when I taught in Washington, D.C., to the various Smithsonian Museums, and how much they learned from each trip, which, of course, was not just a ``walk about," but an instructed tour followed by assignments.

With sadness we report the death of Mason and Joan Britton's son Mason from lung cancer. Death is always difficult, and a death before time is especially so.