The Day We Turn the Corner

Winter solstice! What's not to love? It's so exciting to know that the days will only be longer from here on out - oh, joy!

The times, they are a changin'

February in December

 

After so many bitter days early in 2024's winter, we had a respite with a 50°F (10°C) day. Glorious! The early freeze on the lake has now turned watery, leaving interesting wave shapes and patterns across the ice, as well as many cracks, upheavals and subduction areas. 

I really like the fine root-like tentacles connecting each ice fracture in our cove - it's just like a mycorrhizal underground network in the woods. Or maybe lightning streaks across the sky ...

Either way, a beautiful and intricate network of organic lines

Snowy Stalks

 

Snow cone, anyone?

Snowy Blooms

I love the uniqueness and glorious color of witch hazel blooms in winter snow: how special is this!

The bark looks a lot like an intriguing snakeskin to me in this next shot

 

Snowy Curves

I love seeing interesting curves and shapes appear when the snow covers some sides of a branch and not others.

It creates a great accent effect, making irregularities stand out more easily

 

Oh What a Night,

𝅘𝅥𝅮 late December, but in '24 𝅘𝅥𝅯 (hat tip to Frankie Valli & the 4 Seasons), but our night was definitely NOT about a thrilling experience. It was a loooong journey home in our electric car in a frigid 25°F (almost -4°C) night, necessitating 2 recharging stops, one of which extended to 45 minutes plus (the charging station needed a re-boot because of the cold), and also included a speeding stop.

We traveled home from Orange, MA after dinner, with 69% battery charge,  did a 15 minute grocery run, and then stopped in Tewksbury, MA to recharge for 30 minutes (too cold for me to get out of the car and find out how it all works). What isn't often talked about is how much heating, defrost, fan, wipers, lights, etc., all chew up one's battery. Our projected 'cushion' had dropped down to a mere 5 miles, which was too risky in the cold conditions, so we realized we'd need to make another recharge stop in Kittery, ME.

Dale did the outdoor parts of the 'expedition' in Crocs and his compression stockings (silly man), and had to take his gloves on and off multiple times to try and work the phone App and the icy cold 'bowser' handle. At bay #1, after multiple tries, no charge was being delivered to our car, so we started the engine and moved to station #4. This effort too, yielded the same result - unable to charge. We finally decided to call tech support (Dale had successfully used recharging stations a few times previously, so he knew what the procedure was). He obviously had to go through a long-winded set of steps before speaking to a person, who then began trouble-shooting from the beginning, and getting our details through. Ugh, a few tries of being walked through the process confirmed that it was perhaps the charging station that was at fault (conditions too cold) and it would need a re-boot from the remote location. Of course, this also took a while as we waited for Windows to cycle through a reset. Even after that it still failed to initiate charging so the tech support person had to initiate charging remotely after going through a process of getting full authorization from us to do so!

There were no other customers around (it was almost 11:30pm for goodness' sake), and we got our top-up charge completed in 15 more cold minutes. We still had an hour to go before getting home, so hurriedly set off for the I-95, only to see a police vehicle light up in glorious red and blue flashes as it pulled in behind us! Dang! We'd been going too fast in a 25mph zone - closer to 50, I heard him say. Oh no! The officer was very friendly and understanding when we told him briefly of our "Oh what a night," ordeal and he let us go with a warning. Phew! We were so relieved that we turned right immediately after the traffic stop, only to find that it was a turn too early and we ended up in the 'gamadoelas' (South African slang for being in the boonies) far from the highway, so decided to retrace our steps. Wouldn't you know it, we encountered the same officer pulling over a car at the exact same spot he'd caught us - Dale waved as we drove past.

We felt haggard by the time we got home (12:20am), I can't lie (and all I did was sit in the cold car, shivering and watching). It was a 4.5 hour trip that usually takes just under 3 hours! Using an electric car is a whole new mindset, and demands a bit of learning to get the unfamiliar procedures understood and working comfortably, but the same goes for anything new. I'm certainly not regretting buying one.

Winter Greenery

How bright and cheery is this iridescent green moss in the drab leaves!

It's the perfect native substitute for a lawn too, so encourage it, don't lime it to get rid of it. It's beautiful, low-growing and a useful stabilizer and protection against erosion, as well as for recycling nutrients.

A variety of mosses can grow together in one patch, making for a varied and interesting substrate that is also soft and cushiony underfoot.

Winter Canes

The canes of black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), a lovely New England native, have a lovely purplish - crimson hue in the starkness of winter.

 

They spread by arching and rerooting when they touch the ground. Their convoluted arches almost look like the framework for a bush camp or hut, waiting to be covered with thatch or branches.

They are pretty thorny though, and catch on everything. 

According to Go Botany (Native Plant Trust) the whitish bloom on the canes occurs on first year stalks. The bloom is easily rubbed off the glabrous (smooth) stem with a finger as I did in the pic below:

Feathered Snow

 

Tufted titmice drift -

Like feathered snowballs floating

From branches to ground. 

Solstice is Coming

This monochrome, wintery scene looks bleak and beautiful at the same time, but it's also a reminder that the solstice is just 9 days away! Isn't that good news - darkness will start to come later: bring it on!

Warhol's Wisdom

“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want.”  

― Andy Warhol

Nature's Pairing

Bronze and green decor:

Hemlock green, coppery beech

Nature's perfect pair

Waves of Wood Grain

This wood grain could also be sand dunes, waves and beach sand, sedimentary deposits ... patterns in nature recur wherever we look.

Green at Last

Say "hi" to our much desired and long-awaited Hyundai. We have finally gone green and got an electric car! We have a Lucid Blue "green" SUV 😀

I'm so, so happy to have a car that fits in better with my environmentalist mentality and philosophy. Using fossil fuels has been jarring, but up until now, necessary, in order to get around.

I've always hated that the best things for the environment, or our bodies/health are the more expensive, out-of-reach options.

We were able to get good manufacturer rebates that matched the current federal ones available (Hyundai doesn't qualify for the federal rebate because not enough of it was manufactured in the U.S. so Hyundai simply matched the rebate to make it competitive). We also tapped into Maine's state rebate - together that amounted to $21K off - woohoo - it made us feel as if we were getting a good deal.

So spacious! I hope the better posture, angle and knee space under the steering column will benefit Dale's back issues too. Wait till I introduce my kayak to my SUV next season ...

Feeling Frosty

 

Oak leaves drab and brown

Become a thing of beauty

With ice-etched outlines

The Minx

This face! It has cheekiness written all over it. This adorable little minx is the sneakiest and most skilled of all transgressors.

Peep likes to bite into soft foam things when we're not looking (this is what she's done to my neck and shoulder relaxer),

and loves destroying cardboard egg boxes

She also gets up onto our counter surfaces when we're not around - she doesn't know that we have a camera in the house so we can see what's going on at home when we're not there ... she was observed on the dining room table last week, but she NEVER does it whilst we're around. She's SO much more devious than Fluffalo.

That's why when we find cabinet doors and drawers opened, we also suspect it's her doing, since it happens when we're not around or awake. Fluffalo wouldn't know to be guileful! We just have to secure our drawers, etc. because she pulls things out and shreds toilet paper if she finds it.

She often starts trouble with Fluffalo, niggling and irritating him constantly. She deliberately swipes at him and pesters him to get a reaction. This picture says it all - she's dominant, he meekly fits into the background and lets her subjugate him.

She's so delightfully feisty, and often makes us laugh - we love this sweet little minx so much!

Spilt Light

I was amazed to see this beautiful vision of light spilling out of a pill canister one morning last week, as the sun beamed through its base.

It was like liquid gold pouring forth - it had me mesmerized!

Oh, and I guess in American English it would be referred to as 'spilled' light.

Jinxed

Oh no, after having voiced aloud the surprising paucity of ice on the lake, I must now share that 2 days later, we were greeted with this solid state of affairs - it began as a very thin layer, but it stayed there all day, and had extended further and more solidly the day after it first appeared. With our unbelievably low lows this week, the ice cover is maintaining and growing.

I love looking at the folds and wrinkles in the surface up close - feathery magnificence!

Pastel Light

The pastel lighting of days' end before the sun actually sets is a beautiful and unforgettable sight, seldom enjoyed by me in these cold temps.

At the time this photo was taken, the very end of November, our lake and cove was still fluid, with only one day of an isolated ice crust appearing up to that point.

Starry Ground

This gorgeously spiky looking haircap moss is a treat to look at in the bleakness of winter - it contrasts perfectly with the varying coloration of individual Wintergreen plants.

Thanksgiving Sprinkles

Thanksgiving delivered our first little snowfall this year, with very little accumulation, just a pretty dusting. I really, really like the accumulation of snow along the sloping trunk across our cove.

The small patch of ice in the water to the left of the pic is the first trace of ice we've seen this year too. It was soon gone. It's past time to take out the dock, though - the water is going to be cold, even with waders! Wish us luck ... 

Hoar or Rime?

Hoar frost or rime ice?

For no rime or reason, I'm

Hoarding the beauty.

Deadly Filament

I was enjoying this peaceful view of the lake one morning when I noticed something glint in the sunlight. Oh no! It was a fishing line dangling from a tree, a sight I hate to see.

Wildlife, be it turtles swimming underwater, loons diving for food or birds foraging in overhanging branches, doesn't notice the invisible thread left behind by careless fishing practices. Once entangled, their instinct is to try and free themselves, but they usually become even more ensnared and lacerated. Many struggling critters become exhausted, and are unable to feed or defend themselves. Rescuers have found birds hanging upside-down on a branch, caught by fishing line, unable to fly off and feed, or right themselves. A hook can become embedded in a diving bird's bill, with the rest of the line caught on a submerged branch, drowning the bird, since it cannot surface. The amputation of limbs or strangulation from tightly wrapped fishing line is a slow, painful and totally unnecessary suffering that can be eliminated if we pick up after ourselves. A pet peeve of mine ...

I've highlighted the fishing line I spied in the branches in the pic below, a hazard that can easily be removed with a little time and patience. I used a branch from the shore to loop and pull the thread, and when it was close enough for me to grip, I pulled the branches towards me, and broke off the twigs around which it was twisted. Most people have a knife or scissors in their tackle box, so there's no excuse to leave it behind once entangled.

I ended up with a lot of discarded line that posed an unnecessary danger to other lifeforms. Can we learn to show more consideration for other beings, and take the time to clean up after ourselves? It's not that difficult to do!

 

A hidden danger

Discarded fishing line glints -

Hazard for wildlife.

Thanks and Giving

 

Robin Wall Kimmerer, my absolute favorite plant ecologist and author, has the most incredible wisdom with regard to gratitude and reciprocity. She reminds us that gratitude is a RENEWABLE resource - it can keep on giving, sustaining itself, and that the heart of gratitude is not about good manners but rather about the recognition and acceptance of our indebtedness to everything on this earth.

Practice gratitude!

Being Bloody Minded

I guess I was bloody-minded about hanging my laundry outdoors when the high temperature was only 45°F (6°C) this week. But then the forecast indicated there might be a few snow showers overnight, so I ventured out into the darkness to retrieve my cold clothing before it got more damp than dry (I had initially intended leaving it hanging overnight).

The Cambridge dictionary describes bloody-minded as: very determined and refusing to give up, to change your mind, or to do what others want you to do - that's me to a T!