I’ve been remiss about writing here lately, and have had my knuckles slapped for it (thank you Savta Susan). I guess I worry sometimes that my posts have devolved into too many photos of “scenery” and maybe I just don’t have much to say that could be very interesting to anyone else. Part of my absence has been due to work, which has been particularly intense for the past couple of weeks. Then there’s also been the crazy weather. Snow storms alternating with “heat waves” that melt the snow followed by cold snaps that turn the melted water to ice. I think we’ve had at least 3 snow events that required shoveling since I last wrote. I was also being kept busy going to the gym pretty regularly - until I woke up one day with a very sore knee. That - and the weather - caused me to pace my visits a little more. Of course, as a result of all the foregoing, I ended up with a cold this week. So far, just a head cold but that has further slowed me down. (Do you get the picture of an gimpy nose-blowing old woman crawling through her days… fairly close to reality.) All right, enough self-pity.
The next to the last snow event (I’ve decided to call them “events” rather than “storms” in protest over the new trend on cable TV to name winter “storms” - apparently the one we just had was “Winter Storm Pax” ??!!), on one of my morning walks with Ella, I took a few photos. Here they are:
I liked the way that snow clung to these two flower deadheads poking up through the new blanket of snow.
Photo of boats under shrink-wraps with blankets of snow. It won't be that long before they start unwrapping these boats and putting them in the water.
This a photo of Ella attacking a slump of snow during our walk. Every time it snows, one of Ella's favorite activities is to find and jump on big clumps of snow, which she then attacks with teeth and claws, tearing the clump apart and leaving little lumps of snow behind.
And here's the Rockland harbor - this is the view my heart calls out for every morning when I rise from my warm bed, cast off the blankets, pull on boots and "Stabilicers", add 2-4 layers, hat, gloves and scarf (depending on the temperature variant which has varied from -10 to 40 degrees) and walk with Ella 3/4 mile down to the waterfront to see the sun rise (if we're on time):
Last night David and I drove to Warren, ME - 11 miles south down Route 1 - and went to the Warren Baptist Church to hear a local bird expert, Don Reimer, give a talk about “spring birds of Maine.” He writes a weekly column in our local paper, the Free Press, which I avidly read. There are always great photos with his column. Here’s a link to the current column: http://freepressonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=68
Notwithstanding the title of his talk, he began with photos and some information about the “eruption” of Snowy Owls in Maine and elsewhere in the lower 48. Apparently these birds live on the arctic tundra, and because there was a super-abundance of lemmings (lemmings?) this past year, the owls give birth to more than usual young owlets (he said female snowy owls can regulate their reproductive output, if there is an abundance of food, they will lay more eggs, if less food, fewer or even none). So because the owls up in the tundra had so many offspring last year (because of the abundance of those yummy lemmings!), some of those offspring are down here in Maine looking for food over the winter. That’s what I understood him to say - of course, not as elegantly stated as he put it last night.
He also showed numerous wonderful photos of spring birds. It turns out there are more than 200 species of birds that can be seen in Maine, either passing through or staying year round. Of the +200, about 100 are birds for which Maine is either the northerly most point of their annual migrations or the southerly most point. I learned that the red-bellied woodpecker that visited my feeder not too long ago is a fairly rare visitor to Maine - so that was exciting. And I saw lots of photos of other birds I’ve not yet seen here (or perhaps haven't yet noticed), that now I will be looking out for.
David has signed up for a class starting Monday night at the Camden Opera House (we’ve been there a couple of times to hear music; “opera house” is a bit of a misnomer, but it seems as if it’s a center for teaching music and local musical events) to learn to play the ukulele. He’s excited about it and about having the opportunity to play music with other people, facing his own nervousness about playing with others. I’m excited for him. A couple of years ago I bought a keyboard instrument on eBay and began to try to teach myself to play piano, which I admit has been a life long dream/fantasy of mine. I got fairly well into it and then got stuck. At a certain point, I put away the keyboard and the dream for at least a while. Now I’m thinking that at some point, I’ll go back to it, only this time, perhaps I’ll also take some classes. The thing is, I want to succeed this time - and I don’t think I have time right now. Maybe this is something to look forward to doing when I do retire.
Speaking of retirement, I find myself thinking more and more of it. This year I will be 64. It would be very good for us financially if I could keep this job for at least 2 more years, but I just don’t know. It gets harder. I still enjoy the actual work I do, but the pressures feel different. The job has changed - there has been almost a 100% change in the people in my own immediate “team”. Only 3 of the 8 or 9 of us remain, and of the 3, I’ve been there the second longest. I very much like the new people, but there are differences in the way we function now, and there are always new pressures and new stresses in change. The company has changed, too, as I guess is happening everywhere. And the changes are not necessarily all bad; in fact, a lot of it is good or at least inevitable. That’s not the issue for me personally. For me the issue has become: facing up to looking down the road to the end of my life and knowing my time is limited. What do I want to do with the years, months, days and even hours I have left - especially in the short run, because NOW (versus 5, 10 or 15 years from now) is when I have my health (a fact I am supremely aware of and grateful for every single day I wake up and get out of bed), when I am still (more or less!!!) mentally acute, (more or even less!!!) physically able. Do I want to “use” these relatively good years tied to a desk and a job, or at least, how many of these still “good” years do I want to use that way?
But then you worry - and the TV and magazine and Internet advertisements push you to worry - can you make it financially if you retire? It’s a Catch 22: If you stop working and retire, will you have enough money to live on? If you keep working and don’t retire, will you be physically and mentally able to enjoy retirement when you finally do retire?
The one thing I believe is that we made the right decision to move here and buy this house. It won’t be easy but I believe we can “make it” here even after one or both of us retires. The harder part of moving here is being as far as we are from family - but we weren’t going to move to Georgia or Florida so what’s the difference. (If flying here isn’t in the cards for family members, then there is a difference in how long the drive or train ride is, I guess.) I hope to live long enough to have my grandkids look forward to visiting Abuela in Maine, partly to see Abuela and partly for the attractions of visiting Maine.
Well, those are my weighty thoughts for the morning. I need to go fill up my bird feeders - slog through the mushy, slushy, icy left over snow so the little guys will keep visiting us. I saw a cardinal this morning, and a blue jay. Here’s a photo I took during one of the recent snow events of the cardinal.
Peace
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