One of my great weaknesses is the fixation with the real-estate classifieds in Down East magazine.

There is no reason this should be.

I can't afford any of the properties.

And though they are expensive, Maine has always drawn the very rich, from the Rockerfellers a century ago to Martha Stewart today. (Nelson Rockerfeller was born in Bangor, as the family doubted the competence of the doctors in Bar Harbor).

Plus, my specialty is supposed to be "cabin country" and there aren't many ads for two-bedroom shacks in the woods in this magazine.

But still, I read the back pages of this enormously profitable publication each month. You learn things.

The estate of Kenneth Roberts, the great author, is for sale in Kennebunkport. The main dwelling is 6,000 square feet, plus there is a stone guest cottage. All on 13 acres of land "in the center of Kennebunkport." No price but I am figuring $3 to $5 million (it is not on the water).

Also, Welliver Farm in Lincolnville is on the block. It is the estate of the late artist Neil Welliver, and this farm plus 765 acres is going for $2.5 million. Also, a "little house farm" which was part of the estate is going for $745,000. The term "starving artist" didn't apply to Welliver, clearly.

There is a "very private" 6,500 square foot French Country Manor home on Branch Lake (near Addison) on sale for $1.7 million. It isn't the price tag that intrigues me. Nor the fact it looks almost new. This does: Who comes to Maine and puts in a manor estate with four bedrooms, five baths, and a setting so private it is on its own private island?

And one that really has me thinking is a "new vacant building" on Rockland pier that will house a waterfront restaurant and host 400 feet of docks. It is listed for $2 million. Since I am a former bartender at the Samoset Hotel in Rockland, everything about the city brings back sentimental feelings. Of course, Rockland has too many restaurants as it is. And no one buys more than a cheeseburger from January until May. I wouldn't even daydream about buying it.

But back to my point: There are so many amazing homes and estates in Maine, most of which now are well above $1 million.

Who buys these properties?

This spring Your Scribe will be adding photos to this "blog."

It's not really a blog, as I understand blogs.

Blogs seem to be controversial opinion entries that get people stirred up. Or a knowledgeable partisan will cruise the Internet, and enter links that coincide with his given subject.

Cabin Country is not controversial. And it is not my goal to purloin tidbits from other sites, though that is certainly possible.

This is more of an online column. And this spring it will have pictures to illustrate some of these columns.

There will be photos of my cabin, the river, the stand of trees that Bob the Reluctant Logger has declined to fell.

Also, I will be uploading photos of other cabins and locales that should add flavor to the site.

(An aside: I will be getting a digital camera. I have a terrific film camera - a Leica M-3 - with which I took many photos for the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram in the day. My cousin Ron Rusay gave it to me, evidently thinking that it was a damaged goods. Well, the carrying case was pretty weak. But everyone says an M-3 is as good as it gets when it comes to lenses. I hope to get a new digital body for the camera, and keep the lenses. However, my foray into digital photography will start with a cheapo digital found at most stores).

I am looking forward to adding photos.

I travel through many unheralded but beautiful parts of Maine, and I think sharing photos will be an asset to the site.

Come to find out a play titled "Almost, Maine" just opened in Boston.

The reviews indicate that it is composed of "linked playlets set in a fictititous remote northern Maine town," and written because the author "wanted to see a play about smart people that wasn't set in a city."

The author, John Cariani, grew up in Presque Isle. (An aside: Then why isn't his name French?)

The show debuted at the Portland Stage Company in 2004 but is back for another attempt at generating some noise, and perhaps making it to Broadway.

Your Scribe hasn't seen the show.

But as I think of the people that I run into in my sector of cabin country, I wonder if I haven't encountered a half-dozen characters in search of a play.

My cast and their motives:

Bob The Reluctant Woodsman - Likeable, talkative character - trained as a woodsman, skilled as a procrastinator - is reluctant to re-enter the forest because of "a dark secret." So he does a lot of fishing for white perch, and goes to every funeral in town.

Gary The Energetic Logger - This driven character is a maniac in the woods, clearing forests faster than spruce-budworm disease. What horrible event from his past is causing him to take down trees with the vengeance of a WWF wrestler? And will the DEP find out he's clearcut an area the size of Nebraska?

Clare The Mysterious Publisher - A new neighbor in the Big House on the Hill raises horses, and publishes equine magazines from her home office. She is beautiful, but haughty; driven, but she doesn't like to muck out her stalls. And her father - he sells Alaskan chainsaw systems. What's that about?

Burt the Builder - He was a poor handyman when he arrived in town, and now is a prosperous "builder" who operates a pickup with six seats, and a live-minnow business that provides a prestigious second income. He is known to loiter in the drawing rooms of desperate cabinwives longing for new piping for their smoldering stoves . . .

Theresa the Tour Guide - Ever since this bubbly, bouncy, bodacious brunette started her fishing guide business, the valley has been in turmoil. The guides say she is stealing customers, and in a connected move, their wives are seeking legislation to ban tank tops in vessels longer than 10 feet. The river is cold, but emotions burn like dried hardwood . . .

There. You see I've got some characters. Anybody care to supply a story line?

Your Scribe was reading reviews of a recent book by Norman Mailer, a Real Scribe who commented to one interviewer that the most beautiful places in America are in Maine.

He didn't identify his favorite areas.

But here is my list of some of the most picturesque places in the state, in no particular order:

Deer Isle. I am not the first to say it but the light and water of this area below Blue Hill is exquisitely beautiful.

Top of Sugarloaf. You don't have to be a great skier to enjoy the mountains. Standing atop this ski resort's peaks, one can see lakes, forests and streams for many magic miles.

Northeast Harbor. I remember the glory of this spot from the evening decades ago when I hitchiked up from Rockland to play a tennis tournament, then sat by the harbor in the sweet twilight after a satisfying first-round win.

Belgrade Lakes. Despite being close to civilization, much of the area surrounding these lakes is not built up. Lush greenery melds well with lake blue, as we know.

Mount Battie in the Camden Hills. A strange name for a mount, but it provides a breathtaking aerial view of Camden when you reach the heights. There is a memorial near a walking path marking the life of Edna St. Vincent Millay, the local-girl-made-good who rose to rock star status as a poet.

Cape Cod Hill, New Sharon. OK, so I'm biased toward the home environs. But this hillock near my cabin in central Maine has breathtaking views of the Blue Mountains and on a very clear day, Rangeley.

Goose Rocks Beach, Kennebunkport. It's true that this area gets crowded in summer, but why not? It's a clean sand beach protected by rock outcroppings, and because it does not have breaking waves it is perfect for taking the kids swimming and boating.

Round Pond. This is a small oceanside fishing town in the Penobscot region, though the name suggests it is a lakeside hamlet somewhere deep in Kennebec County. It has all you need: a lobster pound, a reasonably priced seafood restarant and bar, and a lot of friendly locals.

Moosehead Lake. It's intriguing to think that areas like Moosehead had twice the number of tourists a century ago than they have now. The old hotels seem to be going out of style, but the lake and its environs will never lose their beauty (unless Plum Creek is approved, of course).

Rockland breakwater. Sentimentality enters here. My first job in Maine was at the old Samoset Hotel, and it was a glorious site indeed to look across the harbor every morning. The breakwater is in good shape these days, and visitors are still awed by the walk along the breakwall's crest. (An aside: Few realize how far it is to reach the end, and how long it takes).

Those are my favorites. (I haven't asked Norman about his).

What are yours? Please send a few suggestions in case I've missed some key worthy spots.

A few thoughts while waiting for the early spring the Groundhog predicted:

- My mother advised me never to become a minister or a farmer.

Those in the ski business this weekend find themselves practicing attributes of both those vocations, to wit, praying for seasonable weather.

By seasonable, I mean snow. The recent flakes notwithstanding, this is a winter when the lack of snow is killing those in the "cabin country" of the western mountains.

Ski resorts are making snow, but even the big mountains are fessing up that up to a third of their trails are without snow. Receipts have suffered accordingly.

And ski gear and apparel went on sale in mid-January because so little of it had been sold.

Maine already has two of the most difficult-to-make-money-in vocations: logging and fishing.

Working in the ski industry seems to be emerging as another.

Think of the proposition: trying to convince people to travel long distances to spend a lot of money for an experience that can be very disappointing in poor trail conditions.

Mom, I didn't become a minister, farmer or a ski-industry operative.

- Is there a Maine college or university that has an accredited Hotel Management degree?

I ask the question because I am still fixated on the supposition that there are 44 million tourist "visits" to Maine each year, according to the state tourism bureau.

Given this eye-opening stat, you'd think that some schools would develop a program to enable young people to hit the ground running following college.

The University of New Hampshire has a major-league program, as does Cornell University. The old SMVTI had a form of hotel and culinary arts, but I don't know of any university that offers a major degree.

And with the aforementioned logging, fishing and skiing industries going through a sinking spell, tourism will be the big industry in the state's future.

(An aside: State economic officials are rightfully trying to develop high-tech and life-science industries, but convincing companies to skip the Boston market to come to Maine is a tough chore to accomplish.)

- Susan Collins has been more visible in the past six months than in all her years in the Senate.

As a Republican, she is fighting for her life to be seen as a moderate as she prepares to face tough Democrat Tom Allen.

On Iraq, especially, she is publically breaking with President Bush on the future course of the occupation.

Both national parties would love to land this seat in 2008.

In a subtext that doesn't matter but about which I muse is that Collins appears to be a "true" Mainer with modest academic credentials and a tepid political resume.

Allen, meanwhile, is a Harvard product, a former Portland mayor and an ambitious politico who has been waiting in the bushes for a decade to run for higher office.

I suppose I should have a "cabin country scorecard" against which to judge the candidates.

And maybe I will, for I certainly have time to develop one. Despite all the positioning, the election is almost two years away!