"I have a weakness for birch trees ..."

 The photographer Richard W. Brown lives in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom where, in addition to compelling landscapes, he captures intimate domestic portraits of old Vermonters and their stoves and woodpiles and dishes and cats and gnarled hands that could only be made by a caring neighbor.  On his web site, Brown says, 

When I photograph Vermont, I am drawn to the last remnants of hill farm life, and the hidden, still wild corners of the state. I am especially moved by those mundane but telling moments that reveal simple truths about the day-to-day lives of the people who continue to nurture this beautiful but begrudging Eden. I am drawn to certain subjects and themes. I have a weakness for birch trees, barns, draft horses, cemeteries, landscapes with sheep or cows in them, bodies of water, still or moving, the moon, rising or setting, and anything old or decrepit that bears witness to past Vermonters' short time in this obstinate paradise … . 

   My own weaknesses to this point seem to include water birds, …

Asian bittersweet, …

and fresh snow.