Windy Weekend!

Well, it's been a "dark and stormy" weekend on Peaks Island. Seems like two pretty intense weather Lows merged over the Middle Atlantic on Saturday and we received our fair share of buckets of rain and high winds through last night. Today was a beautiful post storm Maine crystal clear blue sky sunny day; however, someone forgot to turn off the wind turbines.

We've had high winds all day nigh on 40mph constant with much higher gusts. Those boats still in the water were really working hard on their moorings striving pretty hard to drag their anchors. The Bay had pretty stiff whitecaps all day but I believe our Bay Line boats ran all day without missing a trip so everyone made it to church services intown. We lost our power right during the dinner hour but only for about 30 minutes so only an extreme minimum of sniveling is allowed.

Old Mount Washington had gusts to about 115mph (no thank you very much) and another foot of snow yesterday. To date, the summit's had 39 inches of snowfall. Definitely time to realize the seasons are changing. Finally got the last house clock turned back an hour so guess we're ready for the shorter days and longer nights. I've already seen a number of houses with their winter lights up and running; another tale of an emerging Island tradition for a later date. Here's some pics from a trip around the Island late this morning at low tide; enjoy!!

A Late Fall Day in October

Well, Fall is rapidly departing. With last night's rain, the leaves are too quickly appearing on the ground rather than in their respective trees. Time to fire up the John Deere to collect as many as possible and begin to think about putting it away for it's well deserved long winter's nap.

There is still some color but it's too quickly turning to the brown of Winter. By the end of the week, the trees will almost be in their stark, leafless mode for the next five plus months. Fall will really end when Daylight Savings Time comes to an end this weekend. Dark by 4 pm is not a pleasant thought for today. The ladder's still up against the north wall as I'm trying to finish some scraping, caulking and painting before it's too cold. By next week I'll have to move to the south side of the house to catch the sun to work in. Of course I could have done more of it sooner but I always enjoy the fitful race to the finish line. There's a rumor making the rounds of the Island today that we might see a flake or two of white stuff by this Wednesday; now, that's really depressing.

I can always tell that Fall is departing when our borrowed cat Gabby takes to the kitchen table to catch a snooze in the sun. Even she's knowing that time's running out. Here's a couple of pics of where we stand today; enjoy.

Columbus Day Weekend

The last hurrah of the summer season is definitely going on this weekend. Our summer residents have long since departed for their winter lives all over the country. Yet, its always been a tradition that one final trek back to Peaks occurs on Columbus Day Weekend. One last chance to see friends, walk the beach, put some logs on a fire and live at a slower pace for just a couple of days. Of course, that's the image but it just never seems to work out that way.

Rushing to catch the boat, rushing to get some food together for a potluck cocktail hour and trying to do everything that has to be done to close up the cottage for the winter so the pipes won't burst in the first cold snap of the winter. I will admit I do enjoy sitting and just watching the parade rush on by at Hannigans Market. Come Tuesday, the Island will be fully returned to the locals and we can again lead our lives of quietness for the next six months until the tide of humanity roars back in again. Oh well, it does help me keep track of what season it is.

The weather has been beautiful this past week; crystal clear, dry, cooler and some beautiful sunsets. Sorry, but here's another sunset from last night. They're all beautiful and they're all different. Just can't seem to get enough of the good ones.