Turbulent 2021 ended yesterday with a sigh. The morning was so still that Little Babson Island floated among clouds, real and reflected. In the afternoon, the island disappeared slowly into a fog under darkened sky. It was the last of the strange, sometimes mysterious, days of December.
Looking at it as a whole, December this year was more of a fall or even early spring month than a winter month. Temperatures and precipitation were well above average. We not only had days of calm, we had days of March-like winds that whipped the sea into froth and bent the grasses to their breaking points.
Of course, we had cold days and days of snow and rain in December. The snow was always light. It would lay on the ground and the ice would form in the ponds during cold days and let us imagine winter. Then, they would melt and let us think of spring — a cycle that repeated itself several times during the month.
It was a month of easy living for most of the wildlife. Our mature white-tailed deer especially took advantage of the warm sunshine while their yearlings prospered.
On the waterfront, December means scallop season. Lobster boats become scallop boats. They’re fitted with masts and booms and trawl the sea bottoms for the tasty mollusks with a dredge (usually called a “drag” here). Temporary “shelling huts” usually are added to the fishing vessels behind their cabins to protect scallop shuckers from cold and rain. The boats often have an ardent avian following.
Of course, December means Christmas and Hanukkah time for many and holiday festiveness for all. The Brooklin General Store and the Town’s Friend Memorial Library were decked with boughs of greenery, Santa was not deterred by a little snow, and he had the strangest helpers. Even Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer made local appearances.
We had a good number of clear nights to watch the magnificent December night skies, especially the moon as it grew into what Native Americans called the Cold Full Moon.
Perhaps most important, December is the peak of our sunset season, when the colder and cleaner air allows us to see more of the sun’s full rainbow of colors. It is when we watch the winter solstice sun reverse course and start to give us longer and longer days and the hope that they can bring.
(All images in these Maine Postcards were taken in Brooklin, Maine, in December of 2021.)