From 1st day of Spring to (Last!) Snowstorm of the Season?

It's official:  Spring is here.  It was in the 40's on the first day of Spring, overcast and drizzling rain.  The night before David and I, and our neighbor Melissa, went to another "Birds of Spring" talk, this one at the Maine Islands National Wildlife Refuge center.  A small room, but packed butt-to-butt on chairs jammed in.  A veteran birder showed slides of many beautiful birds spotted locally, with a rambunctious interrupting crowd.  Not too long, either.  A good evening.


Now we're waiting one more snow storm.  Here in mid coast Maine we are predicted to get 1-3 inches, with Downeast Maine (counterintuitively north and east of us), getting more. But the big news is the wind, which is predicted to gust to 40+ mph here and 60+ Downeast. Blizzard warnings for Downeast.  Oh, well, I say let's get it over with.  It'll be back in the 30's tomorrow and 40's soon after that.  I'm thinking seeds and garden layout.  I'm thinking true Spring - boats back in the water, grass reviving as the last of the icky dirty icy snow finally melts, getting out our push mower, putting up a bird house.  I'm thinking Spring.

And beyond that, I'm even starting to think Summer.  Best recent news is our friend Jon is coming to visit in July, has bought his plane ticket from LA and Amtrak up to Brunswick from which he'll drive the last 50 miles.  He's staying at the same little cabin/motel place that David and I serendipitously discovered when we came up to look at houses.  It's right on the water and looks out on a beautiful cove.  The sound of waves, stars in the sky, what could be better - except breakfast at a good local restaurant the next morning!  Yeah Jon!  (The rest of you laggards who we've invited, your invitations are still good.  Come on up and visit us!  

Here's what's happening locally - once again a consecutive section of coming events from the Free Press taken more or less at random (although I admit I wanted to include that "FrogWatch" item):

Training for FrogWatch Volunteers, 5-8:30 p.m., Belfast Library, 106 High St. Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition and FrogWatch USA sponsor the free session for volunteers who want to join FrogWatch's citizen-scientist monitoring program. No prior experience is needed.
• Free Workshop on "De-Cluttering," 5:30-7 p.m., Picker Family Resource Center, Rockport. Joy Chamberlain tells how to defuse mental clutter, and then bring order to personal spaces. Registration is required: 596-8950.
• Microsoft Word: Fun with Forms, 6-8 p.m., Medomak Valley High School, Waldoboro. Teresa Johnson leads the class for those who know Word basics and want to learn how to make forms. $19. Registration: msad40.MaineAdultEd.org or 832-5205.
• Discover Your Animal Totem, 6 p.m., Evolve Sanctuary for the Soul, 39 Main St., Belfast. Todd Hanson leads the class that will explore beliefs in shamanic and Native American traditions and send participants on a journey to meet their own "power animal." $30. Sign-up: info@ToddHanson.net.


House news - in our kitchen behind the stove we have a vent.  I think it likely had a fan and a cover, but in the house as we bought it, it came as a naked vent shaft, with a pull chain to open the vent to the outside to vent smoke from the stove.  We had an idea about creating a new cover for it.  David procured plywood and cut it to size.  I penciled a drawing of a Cardinal, which David then outlined with a device that burns the wood.  He then colored the drawing.  Finally he put several protective layers of polyurethane coating, attached it to the frame he'd made, and attached it to the vent.  Here's the finished cover - beautiful, if I say so myself:

Okay, going to fill up the bird feeders for the little critters before the snow starts.

Peace.

Just another normal morning walk...

Even though I often bring my camera with me on my morning walks with Ella - as anyone who reads this blog knows from what are probably too many photos of sunrise over the Rockland harbor - this past Saturday I didn't have it with me.  Of course.  Murphy's Law.

On that morning, we got a little later start than usual.  It was warm out - about 30 degrees - and sunny and I decided to extend our walk slightly by walking down Camden Street back toward town a couple blocks before turning back toward home.  We had started down Camden Street when I heard a bird whose "song" was really unfamiliar but close and loud.  I started to look around for it, and heard the familiar "upset" call of gulls.  Just across the street from us I noticed two gulls who were flying in small circles over the top of a large tree, squawking the whole time in protest.  Near the top of the tree I saw a huge bird, the source of the unfamiliar "song."  Suddenly I realized I was looking at a Bald Eagle.  A minute later a crow flew into the tree and perched about 6-8 feet away from the eagle.  I know how big a crow is, and this eagle was so much larger!  The crow began its own "protest" call.  Another crow appeared and began darting and jabbing at the eagle in the tree.  At that point the gulls flew off.  A minute or two passed, with the two crows continuously "protesting," one from its perch in the tree, the other darting in, darting out.  Finally the eagle took off, flying over our heads where we stood across the street, and heading out toward the water.  The two crows took off after it, darting at the eagle, protesting the whole way, reminding me of a couple of dogs nipping the heels of a third dog as they chased it away.

Why couldn't I have had my camera?  There would have been plenty of time to photograph the eagle, even catch the crows' behavior and maybe a photo or two of the chase.  Lesson learned - take my camera with me in the morning.  So I had it with me this morning... but elected not to snap another photo of the ferry heading out toward Vynal Haven or the harbor water, even though in the morning sun it was glowing in shimmering silver light.

Today it was 8 degrees - feels like minus 3 - when we went out.  I hear New York to Boston - which means friends in CT - are getting snow today.  Not here, just cold, but sunny and beautiful.  

My aging bones feel spring waiting to ... spring.  Or possibly that's just wishful thinking.

Peace (in the Ukraine and everywhere).

This one's for Susan F.

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

It's still snowing out...

It's 8:15 p.m. and it's been snowing since 6:00 a.m.  David just got back from taking Ella for her evening walk and he estimates we have (so far) gotten 10 or 12 inches.  We still need to shovel or snow blow the driveway.   Tomorrow morning, I guess.  

Last week, before this snow, I decided to take a bunch of photos of "downtown" Rockland, so I drove downtown, parked and walked down the street snapping photos here and there.  I thought it might give people a better idea of what Rockland is like.

First, from the north end of town, a shot looking  back:

A  real booming metropolis, isn't it?

Next, a very important location:  Loyal Biscuit, where we buy Ella's food, treats, toys, take her to give her a bath.  It's one store where Ella herself is welcome to stop in any time.

Across the street from Loyal Biscuit is the Rockland Cafe.  David and I had lunch or dinner there in the summer of 2012 when we came up here to look at houses.  It's a real down-to-earth place.  Good seafood.  Good breakfast.  Other dishes not necessarily recommended. (This is the place where a waiter asked a customer whose lobster order he was serving whether the customer was "comfortable approaching the lobster.") 

A little further down the street, same side as Rockland Cafe, is Rockland's sushi restaurant.  We haven't eaten there yet, but we hear it is very good.  It is owned and run by a local woman, wife of an outspoken columnist for our weekly paper.  I'm looking forward to taking my son or daughter or both there when they visit.  My grandson likes sushi, too.

Back on the other side of the street, a block and a half down, is The Grasshopper Shop.  This is the all-around go to shopping stop for me.  I have purchased shoes there, t-shirts for my grandsons, unique/unusual kitchenware for our home (like a tortilla warmer), a couple items of clothing, and many gifts for family and friends.

Same side as The Grasshopper Shop but several blocks further (and past the Farnsworth Museum, a couple of hoity toity dress shops, several art galleries, a barber shop and a toy store) is Rock City Cafe, in the back of which is Hello Hello Books.  Rock City is the go-to hang-out place.  Wi-fi.  Lattes.  Pastries.  Soups and sandwiches.  Almost always people there, talking, working on lap tops, reading. In the back of the cafe is Hello Hello Books - a tiny but very wonderful independent bookstore.  New and used books.  A very cool place.

More or less across the street from Rock City is our landmark theatre, The Strand.  Independent films, concerns, comedians, speakers, film festivals and more.  

If you take a left at the next corner of Main Street and Park, turning down towards Harbor Park, there is the Lighthouse Museum on the right.  David and I made a quick visit here the summer we came to look at houses.  I am waiting for my older grandson to get just a little older - and then I'll take him.   Neat photographs, actual lights and other pieces of equipment from lighthouses, and more.

Across from the museum is the world's largest lobster (sculpture) - which happens to be in front of the Trade Winds,  which is the motel in which the gym that we just joined is located.

Just a taste of some of the scenes in our little town.  You all come visit us, hear?  Until then...

Peace be upon you all.

The snow that wasn't, the week that will be

Back to winter after the latest forecast of 4-6 inches of snow (the back side of the "blizzard" that hit New York City and much of Connecticut with between 6 - 12 inches of snow).  Actually the forecast was wrong.  We had no more snow.  But it has turned cold.  

It was -2 degrees when I took Ella out this morning.  It's 7:37 p.m. and it's 13 degrees now (with "feels like" temperature of 0 degrees).

It's okay.  Our fuel tank has fuel oil, our good old reliable furnace - thank God - is working.  I think I have been more liberal with the thermostat these very cold days than I was last year.  Last year I was petrified about the fuel bill.  We are on a "plan" and pay $250 a month, 12 months a year.  That includes a service plan AND fuel refills at market price, which is currently around $3.80 a gallon.  (Our most recent refill took 99 gallons!)  Last year we had service from September through May only, since we moved here in the middle of the fuel company's "year".  And at the end of that "year", we owed them an extra $350.  This year we are paying for 3 extra months - June, July and August - so I'm hoping we will end up even, or they'll owe us money.  This house is fairly small - less than 1,100 square feet - with newer double-paned windows and fairly good insulation.  I have no idea how people afford to heat bigger, old and drafty houses like many of those around here.  Maybe some of them have newer and more efficient furnaces.  Meanwhile even being liberal, the thermostat is never above 68 and usually 65 or 66 is the "warm" temp, while 60 or 62 is the night-time temp. And I am never not wearing a sweatshirt.

Not much else new here.  But today is Thursday, which means it is Free Press publishing day.  And that means an updated Calendar of Events.  Once again, for a flavor of local Mid-coast Maine life, here is a random selection of a consecutive group of upcoming local events all occurring on a single day in the next week:

"Deus ex Machina," 1 p.m., Owls Head Transportation Museum's 2014 Winter Education Series. Filmmaker and inventor Jack Churchill gives the talk on innovations and advances in motorcycle technology and screens a short film of the same name. Free. FMI: 594-4418 or jl@ohtm.org.
• Feather Mask Workshop, 1-4 p.m., 3 Streams Farm, Belfast. Sliding scale fee of $10-$20, with family discounts. Materials included. Get directions to the farm when you register: 338-8980.
• "Transporation in Historical Fiction and Maine Lore," 1:30-3 p.m., Boothbay Railway Village's Spruce Point Chapel, 586 Wiscasset Road (Rte. 27). Van Reid, author of the Moosepath League series of historical novels, gives the talk. Bring questions for Reid about his writing. First in the Village's 2014 Winter Lecture Series. Free; donations appreciated.
• Free Butcher Demo at Maine Street Meats, 3 p.m., 461 Commercial St., Rockport. Sean will cut a complete hind-quarter of beef from Aldermere Farm, which raises grass-fed Belted Galloways.
• "Sexuality in Mozart," 3 p.m., Old Professor's Bookshop, 99 Main St., Belfast. UMaine Professor of Music Henry Wyatt gives this Old Professor's Shop Talk, which explores such topics as whether Don Giovanni was a jolly rake or someone waging war against women. FMI: 338-2006.

I particularly like the juxtaposition of the "Butcher Demo" with "Sexuality in Mozart"!  Too bad they are both at 3:00 p.m.; don't you think there are a bunch of people who'd love to attend both?

From the ridiculous to the sublime... this Sunday I'm going for training  by my synagogue's Chevra Kadishah at a local funeral home.  The Chevra Kadishah (literally, holy fellowship) is a group of Jewish volunteers that prepares deceased Jews for burial.  There are certain traditions that are followed and that's what the training will teach the new volunteers, including me.  It is supposed to be one of the most important mitzvot (commandments) any Jew can perform for another Jew.  Why?  Because you are doing something for a person who will never be able to do something for you in return.  

I leave you with a picture of a beautiful sunrise on my walk with Ella one day last week during the "warm" spell.  The horizontal black line in the water behind the masts of the boats, from the left stretching about 2/3 way across the photo, is the Rockland breakwater with its lighthouse (and its light!) at the far right.  The point of land to the right and slightly behind the lighthouse is Owls Head (where one of the events listed above is taking place, at the famous Owls Head Transportation Museum!). The dark strip of land further out just at the "horizon" is the island of Vinalhaven.

Peace. Peace.

Turning back toward winter

After almost a week of warmer temperatures during which almost all of the ice and much of the remaining snow melted away, it turned back toward winter late yesterday afternoon. It's still fairly warm - supposed to be low 30's today - but we had about 2 inches of snow yesterday, and I think we may get about an inch more tomorrow.

David was up at 5:00 a.m, shoveling snow from the driveway and cleaning his car so he could get to work by 7:00.  On our walk this morning, Ella was particularly ... frisky.  She likes the snow.  Here are photos from our walk and one of our backyard, post-snow.  It's amazing how 2 inches of snow turn a mud-spattered, gritty, ice-spotted world to beauty.

While I made coffee this morning - which takes a few minutes because I use a manual drip filter Melita system in which the filter into which I pour boiling water by hand sits on top of a thermos - I stood at the kitchen window watching the bird feeder outside.  I had filled up all 3 feeders in the last several days, but had not been seeing the same number of birds over these recent warmer days that we were seeing when it was so cold.  I don't know how that works.  Do birds need MORE food when it is so brutally cold, just to keep their tiny little bird hearts pumping to keep their tiny bodies warm?  

Anyway, in the few minutes I stood there this morning, I saw pair of Blue jays that frequent this little section of the neighborhood, a Black Capped Chickadee, a veritable swarm of Starlings - 5 or 6 trying to land on the railing of our small hexagon shaped feeder all at the same time, another on top of it, another on top of the pole it hangs from, another hanging from the suet basket that also hangs from the pole, and 3 or 4 more in flight and squawking, batting wings at each other, seemingly trying to push one of those on the feeder off, to take their place.  I went to get my camera, but they were gone before I got a photo.

But there also came a male Cardinal.  I've learned from my own observations that Cardinals don't land on feeders - at least not on THIS particular feeder (I seem to remember Cardinals, male and female, landing on my long "sleeve" feeder - the one now hanging from the back of the garage - when it hung from a pole outside our apartment in Connecticut) - but rather land below the feeder, like Mourning doves and often Starlings, and scavenge the droppings that fall when other birds feed above.  Today this Cardinal kindly alighted and perched for a few moments on a snowy branch of the fruit tree that hangs over the feeder.  Long enough for this photo:

Yesterday David and I joined what is somewhat euphemistically marketed as a "health club."  My hairdresser, Rockie - a lovely woman who volunteers at the local hospital with a cancer survivors' group to help with make-up and wig styling - told me about it.  It's located in a local hotel - which has a metal sculpture of "the world's largest lobster" out front -  right in downtown Rockland with a wonderful view of the harbor.  The "health club" consists of a total of about 20-25 machines - treadmills, stair master type, stationary bikes, a rowing machine, various "Nautilus" type strengthening equipment, a tiny weight room - and - a pool.  They were having a 50% sale for annual membership, and they offer a "senior couple" price that was pretty good before the discount.  After the discount, the two of us joined for a year for less than any gym I've ever heard of charges for one person for a year.  They also have good hours, opening at 6:00 a.m. Monday-Friday and open until 9:00 p.m. every day of the week.

Both David and I are feeling the lack of exercise imposed by winter weather.  I'm hoping that the close location - maybe 5 minutes by car from home - and signing up for a year will take a way any excuse not to try going to "work out" a few times a week. I also saw an ad in our weekly paper for yoga classes - two for "gentle yoga" (which is definitely all I am interested in at this point) also in a downtown Rockland location, one on Monday and one on Thursday, in early evening hours.  We'll see.  This is not a New Year's Resolution - I'm just trying to create circumstances in which it is easier for me (and David) to do things that are good for us.  Check back to see how we're doing as the weeks go by.

As I sit here typing this, I see out the window that it's still snowing.  But weatherunderground says it is 35.8 degrees.  On Tuesday the forecasted high temperature is 13 degrees, and Tuesday night, 1 degree.  Welcome back, Winter.

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day.  How far we still have to come toward his "dream."  

Peace.

Feeling like March...

It was a beautiful sunny day.  I think it may have reached 50 degrees or close to it, but with a stiff breeze bringing a hint of  chill to the air as if an early spring day. Here's a photo from Ella and my walk this morning a little before 7:00 a.m.  I caught the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse lamp as a ferry headed out to Vinalhaven:

There was something special about the light over the sea this morning.  All the ice is gone from the harbor.  

Yesterday's rain seems to have cleared more than the ice from the sidewalks.  But the latter melting was very welcome.  This morning was the first day I dispensed with wearing my clamp-on "Stabilicers".  Just regular boots on almost clear sidewalks.  A relief.

This afternoon Ella and I walked the long walk up Main to Cedar, over to Lawn and around behind the high school.  The little creek there was running again.  Definitely felt like early spring.  I have to remember that it's not yet mid-January.  There's a lot more winter to come.

I cancelled the pot luck Erev Shabbat dinner that David and I were to sponsor later this month.  Now I feel a little foolish, but at the time, we had had snowfall after snowfall, it was all piled up, our driveway was down to one-car width with room only for 1 or 2 cars max.  I was worried that anyone who chose to attend would have to navigate icy sidewalks and a pretty long walk to reach us. So I suggested re-scheduling for a date when the weather improves. 

Ella had her annual check-up at the vet.  Dr. L pronounced her "perfect"!  

David and I attended the "Seed Saving" lecture at the Camden Library on Thursday.  Very interesting - and somewhat complicated.  I guess my basic take-away was that we're not going to be real seed-savers here on Birch Street - our yard - and consequently our garden - is just too small.  But I look forward to starting our garden earlier this year - with more seeds and fewer seedlings.  

Well, another week ahead.  It's supposed to stay warm - over 32 degrees through Wednesday, with an inch of snow or so on Thursday.  Sounds good to me.

I'm just enjoying the day.  And very grateful to be able to do so.

Peace.