LEE, Mass. — Now that we are in the throes of winter, and now that our seventh or eighth storm is moving in for Wednesday, we can no longer live in denial. It is winter in New England and there's nothing you can do about it. 

But there are a few ways to make the rest of this endless snowpile tolerable. Perhaps the most important is to break down and invest in some proper winter gear. I mean hardcore Arctic stuff. This past weekend, I came to the realization that we might be buried until April and that I had suffered enough. By suffer, I mean cold feet, cold hands, cold body, just cold, cold, cold. All of this has been cured thanks to a trip to Ben's on Main Street.

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — "Celebrating Pittsfield," a photography show including the works of nearly two dozen local artists, opened Friday night at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts.

The photographs represented the many people, places, events and landscapes which come together to make up what is, and has been for the last 250 years, the city of Pittsfield.

The juried contemporary show kicks off the city's yearlong birthday celebration — thus the name.

While the title of the show is perfectly adequate, I would venture to say a subtitle or postscript should be added:

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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The town is looking at more than just parades, festivals and car shows for its 250th anniversary celebration, which officially kicked off last month. 

It's sponsoring a good old-fashioned Beard Growing Contest in honor of entertainment of times past. Any "gentleman wanting to grow a beard" is encouraged to go to the Snap Shop on Railroad Street and have his picture taken. This, of course, will be the "before" photo. The judging for the contest will take place on July 10 at Sim’s Barber Shop on Main Street.

Unlike the application for queen and court, which is also part of the 250th celebration, the beard-growing competition

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Laurie Sawin has been serving up fresh seafood in Otis for nearly 25 years.

OTIS, Mass. – As a general rule, I never, ever, ever order seafood if I’m not sitting right on the pier/dock watching the gulls snatch up dinner. In fact, I have a dark fear of any seafood that can be found “inland.” And yet, as the snow flies and my mind turns desperately to summer and sunshine and the promise of Vitamin D, I found myself craving something, anything, with a bit of sand and salt and brine.

Driving up and down the harrowing, unplowed back roads of creation, watching giant dollops of

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STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Paul Strand, the modernist American who put photography on the 20th century art map, said the "artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep."

 While Strand himself found inspiration in the rooftops and streets of Manhattan, Norman Rockwell, the Berkshires' own "adopted son," found inspiration in the people in his community and the concepts of his time.

Now, thanks to some $2 million in grants over the past seven years from the National Endowment for the Humanities,

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