The morning's sunrise

The sky was soft, intense pink when I woke this morning. The pine trees made dark vertical silhouettes against the far side of the yard. I looked out my window toward the apple tree. It's thin curving branches were covered in ice and frost which gave them a shiny silver etch with a dark lined center. The apples left on the trees, frozen to brown, were picking up the tints of the sun and became an orangy-pink. A robin was eating the apples with his browns and reds lit from the morning glow. Behind it all, the pink glow from the rising sun.

It was all gone in a moment but oh, it was lovely. 

Walking the Ice

I have been thinking about how to express winter as the winter has progressed. Some days I would have written a very positive piece, others I would have my black mood challenge the dark and cold of winter itself.

Today I am starting out fresh; there is an added 10” of snow capped with a couple inches of ice from yesterday on the ground. When I let the dogs out this morning they bounded into the sunshine and fell through the crunch of the ice.

It is said that the Inuit have 100’s of words for snow [actually that is a myth with interesting origins (http://www.socc.ca/inuit.cfm)] but what I see is snow, more snow, crunchy snow, powdery snow, deep snow, sparkling snow- but all the same, snow. At times I like it, I have tried snowshoeing, which is fun and I plan to do more of. I have tried cross-country skiing, ditto. But accompanied by the sub zero temperatures winter has taken on a battle-like clarity to defend oneself for.

That being said, I am keeping busy-gym every day, walk the dogs, audit a class on contemporary art at Bowdoin, taking up my carving class again, baking, and on it goes. I was advised to stay involved to keep the winter crazies away. One must. You feel around the corner that the hugeness of winter is waiting for spirits to sag and resolve to weaken.

The snow is very beautiful and walking out to the point is a lovely thing to do but the struggle of going through the snow when it is up to your knees is real. I have not gone into the woods as the snow is too deep and I have recently ordered my snowshoes. Bundling up to go outside is something I disliked in Virginia, the less wrapping the better but here, even to go out to the car when it is 14 below you need to make some preparations. I can see no silver lining in subzero temperatures. I am told this year is unusual that they have hung around so long. I think it must be like childbirth- you forget the moment.

My school age neighbor said last year wasn’t bad for snow but as she talked of school and other things she said they had to go to school until July because they had so many snow days. Hmmmm. Amnesia for self-preservation methinks.

The days are getting longer. That is a good thing. The sun does a lot to lift the spirits. I have seen beautiful moments; sunrise in its pinks and purples is always a delight. Snow smoke- a form of fog is beautiful along the edge of the bay and an eagle flying in the snow is a breathtaking experience.

My neighbor, woodsman Joe, told me to walk across the bay a couple weeks ago. I was afraid but gathered up myself and walked across the cove across the ice to my house. The dogs were not keen on it and stayed ashore. It was an odd feeling but quite frozen. Since then, we have walked across it a couple times and the dogs have been out on it too. It is a great expanse of ice. The whole of Merrymeeting Bay and the surrounding rivers are frozen. One of my neighbors walked across the Androscoggin River the other day. I don’t have the courage for that. If you fall through and the area is over your head you can get swept away, under the ice…Imagine.

There are fishing houses out on the rivers. I would like to go in one. People are still active sledding and skiing and going on about there business.

We persevere, try to stay optimistic and count the days until we go to Mexico for a week.

 

winter doldrums

Where I would like to be right now

or even

sigh

The Wild Calls

It has been some weeks since I last posted. The holidays and all. We had a lot of family coming and going for a couple weeks. Good but hectic. Now the winter is calling and bringing subzero temperatures. The dogs are restless but not keen on going out unless there is something entertaining going on outside.

A day before Grandma was due to arrive we received 12 inches of snow. It was lovely but a challenge. I let the dogs out in the morning to do their doggie thing. I saw Zoe return with ice crystals on her snout. I encouraged her to come in and then realized they were porcupine quills! I called Cassie and she came, pawing her mouth As she approached I saw she was full of quills, like a mouthful of needles and all over her nose as well. It was a horrifying but spectacular sight. She sat while I pulled a lot of them out on her nose but I realized in short order that I couldn’t get the ones in her mouth. I called the kids (Hubby had gone to Florida to pick up his mom) and we called the neighbor to help us plow out. He had the road clear in short order, thank goodness, While Mark and I dug the car out Em kept Cassie quiet and pulled out what she could. It was so early in the morning I feared we would have to go to the emergency vet some 45 minutes away but by the time we got the car clear the local vet was open. Cassie was in surgery for an 

hour and a half. Luckily Zoe just got long ones in her nose and they cut and removed those right away.I am trying to get the pictures off my phone of Cassie but here are some that we got out of her nose.

  

When I got home I went looking for the culprit and found him large stickery and scared up in our tree. I debated about having him removed but agreed with 

the varmint service that the best thing would be to let him leave on his own accord, as it is winter. I think it is gone. Cassie took a chomp out of his (her? its) back end-hence the mouthful of quills. What an experience. I suspect Zoe will not touch an animal like that again but I worry about Cassie. She is so hunting oriented. It was a painful, exhausting and expensive experience. I hope that we have seen the last of that.

Yesterday, a quiet day, all guests returned to their homes we are looking out the window and what should be crossing the ice on the cove but a coyote. I was worried that the ice was not strong enough. I was afraid it would fall through the ice but it made it safely across. It reminded me of a book I read in my youth- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. Spooky winter scary for a kid. Very cool to see the coyote but I need to give a heads up to the neighbor who have small dogs.

The eagle has been sighted every few days and we feel as though we are definitely a part of the earth up here. On my way to the airport the other day we saw a large raffle of turkeys raiding people’s bird feeders. There must have been about 30 of them. Maybe the coyote could get his fill here. He looked somewhat worse for wear.

So braving the freezing temperatures and full of life of all sorts we have another glass of wine and read our books, pursue our whims and continue to love life in Maine.

Happy New Year