Sunrise Thoughts on Half a Habit
Hello, Goodbye
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What’s left of the trees 🙁 |
Today marks the final wordsxo video from the beach overlook. MEH (My Engineer Husband) and I have been trudging (okay, driving) out to the bridge once a week—usually Sunday morning—rain or shine or wind or snow or whatever. It was a year-long project, started on February 13, 2011. I had planned to have next week be the last video, BUT today we arrived at our usual spot and the town had cut down the trees that we used as our backdrop frame of reference.
“It’s Maine, Deal with It”
Other than those sounds and the slight movement in the water, you’d think this was a still shot this morning. Lucky us, by the time we got to the other side of town (inland) it was all the way down to minus 6 degrees. So cold that even Abby, our black lab, wanted to go home. She held up one freezing paw after another in the crunchy snow, and we lasted all of 5 minutes on the dog walk.
This is What 1 Degree Looks Like
(Sunday, January 15, 2012, 7:35 a.m. EST, 1 degrees F)
One of the photos MEH took while I was in the car: “Ocean on the Rocks” |
MEH lived in Anchorage, Alaska, for a while. The story he likes to tell is that he took a year off from college and went back four years later. One winter he worked in a gas station with no heater, and it was thirty below zero on a regular basis. His shift was midnight to eight o’clock in the morning, and he spent the night running up and down the parking lot to keep warm. He pumped the gas so the customers didn’t have to get out of their cars. The first night he tried to wash a windshield, but the washing fluid froze to the windshield and the driver was not happy with him—so he stopped. He never had more than 10 or 15 customers any night. He did a lot of running.
January Thaw
(Saturday, January 7, 2012, 3:36 p.m. EST, 40 degrees F)
In comparison to last week’s video, this week’s video looks like it’s in black and white! Although it looks colder, it isn’t—exactly the same temperature after dipping into the single digits mid-week. Today we stood on the bridge without gloves or hats and amazingly we were warm. The air was still and calm. Two kayakers paddled up to the beach on the glassy water just out of camera view. It felt more like April than January, and it seems Spring is just around the corner….a dangerous feeling in the middle of a Maine winter.
Happy Shiny New Year from the Coast of Maine
(Sunday, January 1, 2012, 10:59 a.m. EST, 40 degrees F)
How do you celebrate the new year? Are you more of a quiet baker like me or a shimmy dancer? Or maybe somewhere in between?
Happy Holidays from the Coast of Maine
(Friday, December 23, 2011, 4:11 p.m. EST, 36 degrees F)
Deep Blue Cold
(Sunday, December 18, 2011, 1:04 p.m. EST, 24 degrees F)
45 Degrees of Separation
(Sunday, December 11, 2011, 7:08 a.m. EST, 22 degrees F)
Full moon setting: this photo was taken 45 degrees to the left of where we stand to shoot the video, toward the mainland |
Despite the frigid temperature, we stood on the bridge for almost ten minutes and then we walked more, in another direction toward another vantage point, to take some still shots toward islands north of us.
Are there places and things you pass by everyday that you never really notice? Are there times you force yourself or take the time to really slow down and see and observe?
Cheers,
Julia
From Sandbar with Love
(Sunday, December 4, 2011, 11:06 a.m. EST, 45 degrees F)
Happy Almost-December (!?) from the Coast of Maine
(Saturday, November 26, 2011, 10:56 a.m. EST, 53 degrees F)
Things in the Sky
Bonaparte’s Gull |
This morning I woke up when it was still dark outside and looked out of the skylight over our bed to an amazing sight: a few wispy clouds drifting by a crescent moon surrounded by some very bright stars.
“Amazing view,” I said to MEH (My Engineer Husband), who was still sleeping because he’s a little less enthusiastic about early mornings than I am.
(Sunday, November 20, 2011, 7:04 a.m. EST, 49 degrees F)
Less than two hours later, we stood at our usual bridge overlook to make the weekly beach video, and we witnessed another flying thing we’d never seen before. If you look closely in the video, through the Birch tree on the right, you’ll see a white bird flying close to the water. We’d never seen this bird before, so despite the high tide, we walked down to the water’s edge to get a better view.
Goose, Goose, Goose, Goose, Crow
(Sunday, November 13, 2011, 7:14 a.m. EST, 44 degrees F)
Our lovely stretch of weather continues! And in addition to the lovely scenery, this video provides a rare opportunity to hear the voice behind wordsxo. Yes, at about 37 seconds into the video, I have a very brief conversation with a passer-by, and you cannot avoid hearing my voice.
“Pepper Pete” in better days. |
Aside from this novelty, primarily geese and ducks dominate this week’s video! Also—more notably to MEH (My Engineer Husband) and me—you will see a crow fly through the video toward the end. We’re big crow fans; you can read about that in the post I wrote about MEH and the crows. And watch for more posts about crows coming up very soon!
This was the birdfeeder yesterday before we squirrel-proofed it. “Mr. Grackles,” as we call all squirrels, could empty this of seeds in a day. This is the view I see out the window over my desk. |
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But don’t worry, Mr. Grackles is still being well fed! |
Picture Perfect (Video) Day on the Coast of Maine
(Sunday, November 6, 2011, 11:30 a.m. EST, 50 degrees F)
Meanwhile in the garden… we are clearing up the garden beds, going through a rushed fall clean up following last weekend’s surprise snowstorm. Almost every trace of the snow is gone now so today we’re tidying up: raking beds and some leaves, planting some daffodils, putting up a new mailbox (our old one was rusted through), mowing down the mint, pulling carrots, and putting away trellises, bean poles, etc., etc. Later today I’ll make a big pot of chili that we can eat for several meals this week, and then I’ll get some editing done on the WIP while MEH (My Engineer Husband) writes code to display graph overlays on a scientific instrument.
Here’s what the perennial bed looked like in July, what seems like yesterday! |
This is how the perennial flower bed looked after we finished cleaning it up. (That really WAS yesterday!) Later today we’ll plant Daffodil bulbs in this flower bed! |
Happy Snowtober Nor’easter Video
(Sunday, October 30, 2011, 1:32 p.m. EST, 41 degrees F)
You can’t really tell from the video but we got our first snow last night—“only” about six inches where we were, but 18 inches in other parts of Maine and 26 inches in other parts of New England! We got off easy with this one. The media is calling it “Snowtober,” a rare October snowstorm.
We planted the garlic yesterday! |
Meanwhile in the garden…. yesterday when we knew the storm was coming, we quickly went out and planted garlic—knowing it would be our last chance to plant this fall. Then we mulched it with straw, and sure enough today the garden is covered in a blanket of snow.
Canada Geese Take Flight on Casco Bay
(Sunday, October 23, 2011, 7:32 a.m. EST, 40 degrees F)
This morning we timed it to get to the beach overlook a little after sunrise. A few weeks ago I was there at sunset, and the sun reflected oranges and yellows on the water. It was beautiful! It was high tide, and I was hoping to capture the rising sun on the water and the same effect as I observed a few weeks ago.
Windy Sunrise on the Coast of Maine
(Sunday, October 16, 2011, 6:56 a.m. EST, 52 degrees F)
Indian Summer on the Coast of Maine
(Saturday, October 8, 2011, 3:44 p.m. EST, 80 degrees F)
This week we had two nights of frost—a definite shock to my system. But today’s temperature was back up into the 80s—hitting 87 degrees at one point!
Great Blue Heron on a Rainy Beach
(Saturday, October 1, 2011, 8:10 a.m. EST, 61 degrees F)
SLOW. Bump.
I’m telling you, it was foggy. And I don’t even remember this old car passing me. Ghosty, huh? |
Late Summer Wading on the Coast of Maine
Saturday, September 17, 2011, 12:46 p.m. EST, 65 degrees F
Quiet Stillness on the Coast of Maine
Sunday, September 11, 2011, 7:50 a.m. EST, 50 degrees F
For the first time this late summer, it was colder than 50F degrees when we got up to take the dog for a walk. I’m here to say that 48.9F feels pretty cold after a hotter-than-average summer, and I’m a little nervous about the impending winter.

The row of sunflowers outside our living room window is now about 9 feet tall! |