Winter has Returned!

Yup, it's January again. Our week long weather vacation has ended. At 6am today, it was gray and overcast with a touch of a NE breeze. By 8am, we were full into the gale of a good old fashioned snowy Nor'Easter. We are definitely good to go for nigh on a foot of new fallen snow by tonight.

Our little island has pretty much shut down with the kids not in school, us oldies sitting by the fire and the workerbees doing their thing from home if at all possible. It's a good day to sit and watch the snow fly parallel to the ground. Here's a few 10am shots of what's going on. Stay warm and may the electricity stay on since the Celtics are playing tonight--we must maintain our priorities!

Calm Before the Next Storm

Peaks Island's week long vacation is about to end. It's been a real nice stretch weather wise with the temps above freezing all week long melting off most of the snow cover. We had a couple of days above 50 and one even above 60 degrees; break out the shorts was the battle cry of our teens! I love the sight of shorts on the 7:15am boat on a January morning!! Reality will set in tomorrow morning with the approach of another Nor'easter which should dump about a foot of fresh new snow with strong winds on our little island community. Oh well, it is January after all.

We went uptown yesterday to walk the aisles of the local food mart packing in our supplies to make it through another Maine winter's storm. The weather was absolutely calm with more than a few flatlanders visiting the island for the day and the bay even had a couple of boats out enjoying a very early season's short sail. More pictures of snow will surely occupy the next edition. Enjoy the calm of today at least.

Who Stole Covey's Lobster Shack??

It is definitely January. For three days in a row we've been over the freezing mark and today we even snuck above the 40 degree line---woo hooooo!!! A nice, gentle meltdown has been going on; there is nothing like a classic January thaw to break the stranglehold of freezing temps. Spent some of this morning up on a ladder doing my pathetic best to clear out some of the ice dams on the roof so I don't get a nice water present down through the ceilings. I do love shoveling corn snow over my head. When do pitchers and catchers report?

Saturday evening we joined Josh and Heather uptown for a nice dinner. We've been trying for a couple of weeks to do this but trying to capture some free time without anyone being down with an illness has been difficult. Heading for the boat I noticed that Covey's Lobster Shack had disappeared from the boat landing. Seems like Covey's completely pulled all his traps and stored them on top of, around and next to his little building down on his dock. I just hope we don't get a fresh foot of snow; I'm not sure his old building could stand the weight. For sure, we are now in the midst of the quiet season on Peaks Island. Enjoy the peacefulness of these winter months.

Ready--Set--Melt!!

We have definitely made it out of the freezer today. The sun is shining, the temperature is in the mid 20's and the wind is gone. It is a beautiful winter's day on Peaks Island. I've just returned from a nice stroll around the neighborhood. Of course I made sure I faced the sun so I could work on my tan; what a difference a day makes!

We're allegedly due for a few days of temps above freezing so let the meltdown begin. All that means to me is tomorrow I need to crawl up the ladder, once I recover it out of a snow drift, to work on a couple of sections of ice dams that have built up over the last week. Nothing like an ice buildup on your roof followed by some warm days to bring more than a little moisture flowing into your house. Oh well, it's always something but it does keep living in Maine during the winter a constant adventure.

The quiet of today was only broken by the sea gulls feeding on the beach. Lots of squalking going on as they wandered through the rocks looking for mussels. Once they find a loose one, they grab it in their beaks, fly upwards about a 100 feet, drop it, follow it down and when the mussel hits the rock, it opens and voila--lunch--that is if they can keep it away from their fellow feathered friends trying to steal it. Enjoy some pics from around the neighborhood.

Ready--Set--Freeze!

Just like I said yesterday, it looks like we have a few clear days ahead of us and today indeed dawned sunny and clear. What I forgot to say was "Who left the Freezer door open?" It got really cold last night with strong winds right out of Canada pouring over us. This morning dawned with a hearty temperature reading of 2 degrees and with the strong northerly winds, our wind chill was about 20 below.

I can hear the Hawaiian clan guffawing all the way from the lagoon; know that for today you are all very badly missed. Let the New England sniveling begin!! Yet, I know I could never live without the beauty of a Maine winter. The peacefulness that comes over our little island in the snows of winter cannot be replaced. There's nothing like the falling of snow over Casco Bay to calm one's being. It definitely allows the contemplation of many inner things to progress. Living in a place with distinctly four seasons makes each one individually precious, especially as one looks forward to the next season.

Opening the back door this morning reminded me of scenes from Dr. Zhivago!! Nothing but beautiful crystals of ice magnifying the sun's rays. Took a couple of pictures trying to capture the cascading seasmoke but nothing captures it like Josh's shot from last winter. No better day than today to give it another showing; great picture Josh.

Lastly, a huge shoutout of the day to our grandniece Kayte who's been accepted to the University of Hawaii where she'll join our other grandniece Blaine who's finishing up her Junior year. Huge kudos and a great way to begin the new year. Well done Kayte!!!

Ready--Set--Snow!!!!!

Well, another storm passed through us last night. It is definitely winter in Maine right now. Allegedly, we're supposed to have nigh on a week of fair weather coming at us. Can't come soon enough for me. Three storms in a week is enough for my tired shoveling arms and back right now. With the ever increasing length of my arms I've been having trouble moving around since my new long arms get caught in the snow banks!!

Last night's storm just couldn't seem to make up its mind; snow, sleet, freezing rain and switching between one or the other every hour on the hour until it ended. Of course, once the storm completed its course, the temperatures dropped, the winds rose and once again, we're frozen solid. Hopefully at some point, the sun shall shine, the temperatures shall rise above freezing and we can get ready for the next storm coming through us.

I'm afraid I was tied to the computer today doing Peaks Island Council stuff trying to write a communications policy, fathom out a parking position to present to the developer of a nice shiny new $100 million harbor side project and figure out how to influence the budgeting process of Portland (ya, right!) so we can keep the mil rates down and all of us can stay in our houses for another year. Oh well, something to do in the winter months; might as well finally use that UConn political science degree somehow.

To those of the Hawaii Tiffany clan, my deepest regrets on last night's game against Georgia. Bigger, faster, stronger; pure and simple. They definitely now have motivation to get better next year, they got a nice check for making it into a BCS bowl, 5,000 Hawaiians got to have a great time in New Orleans and an entire state got the chance to support their culture through athletics----a helluva successful year is my take on it.

Since I didn't make it out to the street today, I only have one picture taken at sunset from our frozen, icy deck. Enjoy. I promise I'll do better soon.