The view from the cabin is always lovely and especially after snow. The branches droop with snow and clouds hang low on the mountain.
It may be a sign of aging that I think of snow blowing before I consider skiing and playing in it. I cleared the cabin path then headed to the end of the driveway.
Not so bucolic. The road was plowed to the dirt, which is great, but I faced a three foot wall of snow and dirt. They don’t teach you how to gnaw through this in Snow Blowing 101.
But gnaw I did.
And now there’s a clear path and the possibility of driving out…to play? But this is already on my loom.
The holidays were mixed. We spent a very quiet Christmas weekend. We never got around to getting a tree, I couldn’t see the point because no one would be sharing it with us and, in the end, it is always a mess of needles and water.
InsteadI hung a red bow.
And lit my candle chimes.
Well, it turns out this wasn’t enough for Tim. So next year, we will have a tree.
New Year’s Eve was celebrated with family and a Buche de Noël, complete with merengue mushrooms. I finally joined the Great British Breaking Show craze and have upped my baking.
I also tried my hand at their staple dessert, macarons. I used the wrong sort of almonds, ground instead of flour, and cheated by filling them with Nutella, but they were a hit.
I received candle molds as a gift and had just enough saved beeswax to make two adorable candles. This reminded me to order bees for next spring since my hive flew the coop, so to speak.
Days are getting longer but I got to watch the sun set behind the hills at 4 pm yesterday.
We have already had a chance to play with the snow thrower a few times, have had countless fires, moved wood around to keep up, and slept in the cabin.
Happy to report I’m all better. My leg pain was a side effect from yet another statin. I stopped it and am fully recovered. Now I’ve moved on to an injectable med. We’ll see.
We’re swimming in the local pool three times a week and I’ve upped my game. Now I routinely swim a mile. I needed a bag to organize my swim stuff, so naturally I made one. This is the second iteration made from a bird seed sack. It holds everything I need, including my suit and goggles.
I was so happy when someone commented on how cute it was.
The loom has been warped with projects since I’ve been home. I’m working on my second set of towels.
I’m playing around with some of my quilts. I turned one into a baby sleep sack and a jacket.
My linocuts are getting more complex. I’m working on a 3 color version of a loon swimming. Here’s my drying rack.
And I’ve made a slew of hats and mittens as I am wont to do every year.
I finally had help stacking the wood for the winter. It’s the first year in a while Tim was not injured and he did most of the work.
We need it. We got two feet of snow and it’s not even winter yet!
Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse was dark for a month after a lightning storm zapped its LED bulb. I met the Coast Guard electrician who told me the bulb was sent to Australia for repair! Yet on my one of my final days as a keeper, four men in blue coveralls arrived in an unmarked truck. Much less dramatic than other locations where they arrived by helicopter.
Bulb repair
And just like that, we had a light again.
It was comforting to see it from my bedroom window once again.
I was very busy my last week, seeing the sites and packing up the house. Tim and I had visited all but one of the bridges on Acadia’s carriage roads. I made a final trip and saw the last of the lot, the Cliffside Bridge.
As its name implies, it is built into the side of a cliff. I couldn’t be sure it even crossed a stream.
Cobblestone bridge is the first carriage road bridge built and the only one made with cobblestones, not granite. It sits just outside the Park and is my personal favorite. I liked it so much, I crossed it on three occasions.
The second time was with Tim when we came upon this whimsical tree carving.
Complete with stick figures and a porcupine or beaver.
Then I cleaned house, packed up the dishes and linens for the NPS and gathered my pantry, projects and clothes and headed home.
I loved living on the sea’s edge with waves crashing beneath my windows but, ” There’s no place like home “. (Have I mentioned I played the good witch, Glenda, in fourth grade).
I finished The Pam Shawl I started in June. It’s a beauty, not blocked yet but hanging in my window as a curtain for now. I used Jamieson and Smith shetland lace yarn.
We saw the coast guard drive by this window the other night with blue lights flashing. For two days, there had been a float caught on a lobster buoy. Tim spotted it initially and we confirmed it was a float with binoculars and my telephoto lens. Plus, multiple lobster boats drove by without pause. The other night at sunset, someone decided to call the coast guard to report a body in the water. She just needed a hug.
It has been a whirlwind of travel. I drove to and fro home for 8 hours each way to work two days. Around hour six, I forget what I occupied myself with at hour two.
I caught up with friends and new fawns.
I’m not sure if one of these two got lost, but this is what I heard for an hour at 0200, my second night home.
Not for the feint of heart
Then it was back home for a day of work at the lighthouse before I flew from Bar Harbor to Washington, DC.
Although I never saw Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse from the air, I spotted Seguin Island off the mouth of the Kennebec River. I find it fun to see a place I know so well from the air.
I stayed in Chinatown where there is a diagonal crosswalk, how does that work? I tried it and made it to the opposite corner unscathed.
I saw this rooftop garden from my room. Landscaped hills on the roof! It turned out to be a building affiliated with landscape design.
I relied on public bikes for transportation and visited the Portrait gallery, where my favorite painting was not a portrait.
Ryder’s House by Edward HopperCourtyard cafe at the Portrait Gallery
I rode around the Mall and visited the African American Museum and the Museum of the Native American. The exhibits often brought me to tears but the food at the cafes soothed me.
African American MuseumCeiling of Native American Museum
Of course, best of all and the purpose of this visit was to see my daughter in her hometown.
I strapped on our chainsaw chaps, which were still set for my waist, donned the helmet and got to work. I immediately felt like a tough guy. Tim gave me lots of tips and we made quick work of a large fallen branch on the lawn, and got three!! pieces of firewood.
I hope the tree survives. I believe it is a copper beech and it is a beauty. It holds its leaves until January and then they fall after they have turned a beautiful, golden copper color.
We used to hang the bird feeders on it but recently moved them closer to the house. It’s better than Netflix. Yesterday, a chipmunk stuffed its cheeks and only stopped when it couldn’t poke its head back into the feeder because it was too big. We’ve had cardinals, too many blue jays, goldfinch, who are almost fluorescent now, chickadees, nuthatches and tufted titmouse.
The blue birds picked the perfect box to build their nest. We won’t be here to follow their activity though and the hummingbirds and bees will be on their own. Who knows what mischief they will get into.
We were tempted into believing it was really Spring. The bees are out and about, the birds are returning, two bluebirds chose a house on the lawn.
I drove to Middlebury, Vermont to meet a friend from New Hampshire. Trees have buds but no blooms yet.
Many are shaped by the southerly winds.
And then, just like that, we got another 10 inches of snow and lots of fallen branches. Tonight, Tim coached me as I rebuilt the fire pit. Tomorrow, I’ll be wielding the chain saw. Vroom, vroom.
Island and North Country Life 