January was named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and ends and change. This year, the month lived up to its name with dramatic examples of Climate Change. We experienced sunny vistas and blinding snows; bitter cold and unseasonable warmth, and dry days and rainy days that sometimes became hurricane-like. There were times of heartbreaking damage from super-high tides and record-breaking winds, and times of sunny serenity and joy.
Let’s begin this month’s Post Cards with some of January’s sunny serenity and joy.
Of course, there was that special beauty that can occur during snow storms, when color almost disappears and that unique grayness-and-whiteness of a snowy day dominates unless we see an indominable primary color.
However, as mentioned, there was damage and ugliness in January. Power lines and trees came down across roads, shorting out electricity and blocking traffic; docks that extended elegantly into harbors one day that were destroyed the next; coasts that were festooned with seaweed and debris from eroding shores, and many residences and businesses that were flooded.
In the flora department, fortunately, most of our area’s old, specimen trees not only survived, they became works of art. The Camperdown elm in the Cemetery, the weeping beech on the ridge, and the ancient apple trees by the WoodenBoat Lane curve stood tall all month. Moreover. we had winterberry berries that lasted all month and our Christmas Day Amaryllis that failed to do its job in December became a Martin Luther King Day Amaryllis in January.
As for fauna, our hearty residents didn’t seem to bat an eye when the weather got dicey. Wild turkeys hunkered down and appeared when the sun came out, white-tailed deer bucks and does went about their browsing on frozen ground and in snow, and some herring gulls slept through the hard times.
On the working waterfront, the fishing vessels were equipped with masts and booms for winter scallop dragging and sometimes developed icicle teeth during snow storms. Meanwhile, recreational boats snored away in their storage sheds.
The January full moon is known as the Wolf Moon because it arises when wolves howl. This year, it rose in rough, red form into a cloudy sky, then, it became silver when it ascended above our atmosphere. Toward the end of the month, the Wolf Moon became and Egg Moon as its luminosity waned.
Finally, we come to the best of the month— the spectacular January sunsets and afterglows, often the best of the year due to the more southerly perspective of our sun. This year, the spectacles didn’t disappoint.
(All images in this posting were taken in Brooklin, Maine, during January 2024.)