Of Blizzards, Birds and Boats

Okay, I think Spring is like the tulip bulbs some neighbors have planted in their yards - daring to poke a little green head above damp chilled ground.  Why do I say that - other than the first green of tulips?

First, Dairy Queen is open again, ergo the reference to “Blizzards” which (I think – haven’t actually been to a Dairy Queen personally in several or more decades, but my memory of TV commercials says) is DQ’s trademark milkshake drink.  I went to pick up Ella from doggie day care today and passed Dairy Queen by - there it was, open again after the long winter off-season, with cars pulling in and out and people in line to order.  So - Sign #1.

Second, more birds are back.  Someone at Ella’s doggie day care said they had seen robins here.  I haven’t (I did see robins when in Connecticut last week – poor things, arriving in expectation of Spring and being greeted with 4 inches of wet snow).  But I have seen many more birds in our yard at our feeders, all of which I filled up recently.  The suet is almost gone.  Today gutsy European Starlings took on a small group of Boat-tailed Grackles at the suet cage.  I thought Starlings were large birds, but Boat-tailed Grackles must measure 16 or 17 inches.   They sparkle in the sunshine.  Their heads, necks and shoulders are blue-green deepening to purple and then to black.  Their tails are distinctive, I would say more like fans than boats, but definitely distinctive.  On my morning walks I am hearing Northern Cardinals, Black-capped Chickadees, House Finches, and others I can’t (yet) identify by sound and can't identify on wing or high in trees.  Birds, that's Sign #2.

Finally, this morning on our walk I saw that one of the Windjammers has been moved from where she had been laying in the water all winter, tied to a dock, covered with tarps (one of the several Windjammers at Ulmer’s Point that decorated their rigging with colored strings of lights at Christmas, one of which actually managed to hoist – probably by someone literally climbing or being hoisted up the mast - a lighted Christmas tree at the very top of her tallest mast).  This morning, this particular Windjammer had been pulled up on dry dock, some of the tarps removed. She's being made ready to sail - and she is Sign #3.  Here she is - not as beautiful as she'll be when she's back in the water, sails unfurled, catching the breeze, but still ...

I guess Passover and Easter are further signs of Spring.  David and I attended a Community Seder at the local synagogue earlier this week – which I have now joined as a dues-paying member!.  This coming Sunday we will join others from the synagogue and elsewhere to organize an Easter dinner as part of the on-going “soup kitchen” at a local church.  David has signed up to make 200 biscuits.  200 biscuits!  Too bad it will still be Passover so I won’t be able to enjoy one.  But other will - he made some for a prior soup kitchen and they were a BIG hit.

How lovely it is to walk outside in the sunshine, to have almost all of the ice and snow melted away, to come across sprigs of green poking up here and there, to see local businesses unshutter their storefronts, to watch the sun go down at a reasonable hour.  How lucky I am to be alive with another Spring ahead.

Peace.

Winter's last turn?

After a final dusting of about 3/4 inch of snow - which didn't seem to bother my little gang of Dark Eyed Juncos - see the evidence of their hopping around the snowy deck pecking for the seeds I had dropped there for them:

- the little snow melted away and we enjoyed a few beautiful warm (low 40's) sunny days in early March.   I could hear the songs of other birds - house finches? - as migrants began returning.  It felt like Spring could not be far away, and I made plans to go back to Connecticut for another visit to the office.  Then more snow was predicted on the day I had planned to make the trip.  So I moved the travel day to a day earlier and beat the snow.

In Connecticut we got about 4 inches, heavy and wet.  In Maine, David got about 14 inches.  I was away from Monday through Saturday morning.  A long visit.  Lovely to visit with H, see friends at work, catch up with D and V, but too long to be away.  I was so glad to get home.

And while there is still some snow on the lawns and in the piles where the city plows shoved it from the streets, the snow is melting and the sun is back out again.  It's hard to put my finger on it exactly but there's a sense of something stirring, getting ready to move if not yet moving.  It's going to be interesting to see how the "Season" affects the town, and life here generally.  David saw an add seeking "seasonal" help to fit out a schooner.

This morning I returned to my dawn-time walk with Ella.  One of the fishing boats at Ulmer's Point that had been shrouded in a plastic enclosure had been uncovered.  A real harbinger of springtime in a mid-coastal Maine fishing town:

While away I learned that Sam and my older grandson are going to visit during my grandson's spring break - just 2 weeks away.  I can't wait.  Here are some of the things I'm thinking we can do together while they are here for a few days:

** Walk out on the breakwater - if it's a warm day, not raining and not too windy

** Take the ferry to Vinalhaven, taking our car and driving around the island and then home again

** Visit the Rockland Public Library - they have a good children's section and Cacaho can take out books; they often have programs for kids - maybe they will while Cach is here

** Play in the little park near our house and take Ella (since dogs are permitting in the park from October 1 through May) and throw a ball and frisbee for her, and climb on all the neat devices they have for climbing on

** Go to the Lighthouse Museum in Rockland - David and I went when we were here to look at houses, after we made an offer on this house - but we didn't have a chance to stay long.  They have really neat exhibits, a lot of parts from real lighthouses and photos and videos.  Very cool.

** Cach can see and maybe help David with his re-fitting work on his kayak and the other work on the parts from my sailboat.  We have a real woodworking workshop in the basement these days.

I'm sure we'll have fun.  I just wish it were going to be warm enough to take Sam and Cachao kayaking and sailing, but not in midcoast Maine in April.  That's definitely summertime activity up here.

But one step at a time.  If we've seen the backside of winter, Spring is looking pretty good right about now.

Peace.

March arrives...

It's March and what appears to be the beginning of Mud Months in Maine.

We have had several days of "warm" weather - high 30's, even low 40's.  Cloudy damp days, drizzle or sleet-ish precipitation off and on during the day, turning to snow showers in the evenings.  We awake to find a slight cover of new snow on the deck, which melts away during the day.  We're making plans for adding paving stones to what an overly generous description might call the "path" between our back deck and the driveway.  Currently the "path" is basically mud, and to get from the house to the car, we - and I include Ella here, who seems not to want to get her feet muddy - try to walk along the edge of the backyard where there is still some leftover snow piled up.  I think I may soon need to get out my rubber boots.  I have a feeling they will be getting a lot of wear.

Meanwhile, life proceeds.  An art gallery in nearby Belfast is holding a show during March for local artists.  Anyone living within 30 miles of Belfast (we live about 25 miles from there) could enter up to 3 works of art, paying a registration fee of $5 per work.  David entered 3 of the cigar-box guitars he has been making.  The show openings were this past Thursday and Friday evenings.  If works are purchased, the gallery takes some percentage of the sale price, of which they are donating a substantial portion to a local food bank, I think.  We attended one of the openings and I took some photos.  First, a couple showing  2 of David's guitars hanging among other works:

Next, the third of David's guitars hanging below the only other musical instrument submitted to the show, a fiddle:

Finally, a close up:

This afternoon we plan on attending a local "Meet Your Farmers & Fishermen Fair" where local farmers and fishermen will have information available about CSAs (community supported agriculture) and similar "shares"of fishermen's catches.  

I'm including below a link to this week's column in The Free Press by Eva Murray.  (She's the writer living 23 miles off shore on Matinicus Island.  I mentioned her in an earlier post; David and I have attended a local "reading" where she read from her latest book about one room schools.)  I love this latest column in particular because it conveys such a feeling of what I have found Rockland in particular, and Midcoast Maine in general, is like to live in.    

http://freepressonline.com/main.asp?ArticleID=24681&SectionID=50&SubSectionID=72

Okay, got to go put more suet in the suet cage.

Here's to blue skies and peace.