JOURNAL
January this year in Brooklin was a month of cycles: freezing to thawing, sunshine to rain or snow, blue skies to gray, more freezing to thawing …. The result was a continuing series of wonderful contrasts.
(All images here were taken in Brooklin, Maine, during January 2023.)
January made her exit yesterday, bowing gracefully in the form of a little snow fall early in the morning. It was enough to put a clean cap on everything without being a bother to us and the wildlife.
The plows quickly cleared the roads and driveways, the sun and some interesting clouds appeared at about mid-morning, and life went on “nice-and-tidy-like.”
All told, January was benign this year. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 31, 2023.)
Here you see two hefty does basking comfortably on the edge of our field yesterday morning, which is now covered in two inches of overnight snow. White-tailed deer such as these spend more time bedded down than on their feet, according to researchers. Apparently, constant browsing tuckers them out.
Unlike some hooved animals, deer don’t sleep standing (even in snow). And, when they lie down, it’s hard to tell whether they’re just resting or sleeping – they often sleep defensively, with their eyes open, their ears alert, and their noses inhaling local scents, according to the research.
When bedded, white-tails reportedly enter into a cycle of nodding off completely for a short time, then becoming searchingly alert for a similar time, and so on. Sleeping in groups increases the odds that at least one of them will be on the full alert segment of the cycle at most times. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 30, 2023.) Click on the image to enlarge it.
It was surprisingly tough-going in the untraveled woods yesterday, where stubborn snow and ice have gathered together and refuse to leave, despite recent warmer weather and rains:
Even the long-legged deer were sticking to the tamped-down trails, which also were a bit snow-covered and icy:
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 29, 2023.)
This was one of those shoreline days last week, when the sun was burning through heavy overcast, causing the trees to shadow and Great Cove to glisten.
(Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 25, 2023.)
We seem to be in one of those New England weather cycles recently. At first, warmer temperatures and rain created a late-January thaw. It melted away most of the snow on driveways and reduced the white blanket elsewhere to a thin covering that was spotted with puddles of water and patches of reemerged grass. Freezing temperatures returned yesterday, icing up the carpet and its many puddles. Then, above-freezing temperatures returned this morning with more rain to melt away more snow and ice. The fields now have significant areas of grass that our white-tailed deer can browse without digging.
Our local herd has been surviving this relatively mild winter very well, as illustrated by the yearling shown here as she sauntered by in yesterday’s first light and freezing temperature. She’s not only “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,” her multi-layered coat is lustrously thick and apparently very warm. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 27, 2023.)
Yesterday was a bit dramatic, weatherwise. Here’s yesterday’ sunset afterglow over Great Cove after a morning of snow-clearing rain and an afternoon of peek-a-boo sunlight:
(Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 26, 2023.)
Here you see the first light Tuesday finding some of our higher treetops. While watching this from a bedroom window, I happened to look down to check the condition of our driveway. There stood a small doe, calmly watching me and nicely completing the picture.
She stayed long enough for me to take this image with my phone, then walked gracefully into the woods. That’s when she lost her poise: many drifts could not hold her weight and she had to continue her morning rounds plunging and stomping every few feet.
I’ve had my own ungraceful trouble with those drifts in the past few days; they give us old men good cardio workouts, but they sometimes are hiding ice:
Overnight and morning rain today have diminished the snow greatly and wiped our driveway clear. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 24 [deer] and 25 [woods], 2023.)
Here you see a connected house on Back Road basking in yesterday’s sun. The house is known locally as (you guessed it) “The Red House.” The carpenter’s details on its main structures and the gothic top window are superb.
Red was a favorite color for Maine farmhouses and barns in the old days. The story is that good paint was relatively scarce and expensive, so many frugal farmers here made their own paint by digging red iron oxide from the ground and mixing it with skimmed milk and lime. The resulting rusty-red color resisted snow and sleet longer than the commercial paint of the time and perked up drab winter days. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 24, 2023.)
The popular, green-lined road to Town was transformed into a lonely, colorless runway by yesterday’s misty snowfall:
Meanwhile, lobster traps and safety cones at Naskeag Harbor fought to keep their colorful dispositions:
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 23, 2023.)
It’s 32 degrees (F) and raining, with 15-mile-an-hour wind gusts, as I write. The rain is forecast to turn into significant snow and the wind is slated to increase to gale levels. Officially, our area is now under both a Gale Warning and a Winter Storm Warning.” It looks like we’re going to need plowing again.
Many of us depend on skilled neighbors to “plow us out” after winter storms, which can get tricky on some driveways. Above, you see the beginning of one nearby driveway that curves and dips severely down to the coast. Below, you’ll see our driveway being plowed Saturday.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 21, 2023.)
Here you see a lily pond in its winter attire yesterday:
In the summer, it’s adorned with native fragrant water lily pads and flowers:
Leighton Archives Image
The pond, which is located on the WoodenBoat campus, is full of life – some at rest for the winter, some very much active in all seasons. Right now, for example, fish are visible in some areas of the pond, swimming just below its surface. As far as I can tell, they are common and golden shiners, a favorite Maine bait fish. (First image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 21, 2023.)
Yesterday’s snow “storm” did not live up to that name. Let’s call her a snowfall. She slowly and surely cast about 5 1/2 inches of relatively fine powder, but she was not a howler, nor did she leave boot-sucking drifts. Here are a few images taken as the fine snow came down:
This morning, all is calm, all is white:
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 20 and 21, 2023.)
It’s been snowing most of the night and morning and we’re under a winter storm alert until 5 p.m. today. Today’s snowfall will be only our second driveway-plowable event of the winter.
The images shown here are from sunny yesterday, showing the results of our first plowable event, which was a ground-smoother.
It looks like what is going on now may turn into a boot-sucker. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 19, 2023.)
High-speed Internet access finally is coming to Brooklin. Here, you see the fiber optic cable being lashed mechanically yesterday to a messenger line that was strung between the poles along Naskeag and Back Roads. That’s cold work up there.
The big question around here: When will everything be hooked to homes and wi-fi routers? I keep hearing “pretty soon.” That confounding answer seems to be somewhere between a confident “soon” and an indefinite “later.” But “pretty soon” may be the best you can do with outside winter projects in Maine. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 18, 2023.)
We actually got some sun yesterday afternoon, and more than the few peek-a-boos that I predicted. However, the sky remained laden with what looked like low-lying stratus clouds and the light was peculiar.
Above, you see a midday view to the east across Blue Hill Bay; that’s Mount Cadillac arising out of Acadia National Park. Below, you’ll see the sun going down to the northwest behind the clouds; that’s the WoodenBoat School’s pier and boat house that the sun’s glitter path is reaching for.
Being able to look east, west, and south over beautiful waters is one of the advantages of living on a small Down East peninsula. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 17, 2023.)
We’ve had snow, sleet, rain, and more snow over the past 48 hours, but it has been a series of easy-going light touches that have left us with only a reported 1.5 inches of accumulated snow, if that. Here, you see today’s overcast morning.
However, forecasters say that there is a good chance that we’ll see some sun – probably just a couple of peek-a-boos – in the afternoon. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 17, 2023.)
Here you see a somber pastural scene: this morning’s sleet and rain attacking last night’s snow. Today is our fifth day in a row of winter gray, something that Mainers need to come to terms with.
At the moment, I can’t think of any artists (other than Andrew Wyeth), who have captured Maine’s (and Pennsylvania’s) somber winter moods well with paint and brush, or even tried. Of course, most people probably would not want to see such scenes, no less go out and paint them.
Most of us seem to prefer storing memories of the “good” days, such as Tuesday of last week. That’s when Great Cove last was seen rolling blue under a sunny, cloud-flecked sky:
By the way, the island in the center of that image is Little Babson Island, which is not to be confused with the unseen Babson Island to its south. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January10 and 16, 2023.)
Posted on FaceBook January 15, 2023
We’ve been getting a lot of rain lately. Our streams seem to be at capacity, although there apparently has not been significant flooding in our area. Here you see Patten Stream flowing tumultuously into Patten Bay yesterday as the rain came down.
It might be viewed as a visual metaphor for many things that are coming down lately, although the stream is prettier:
(Images taken in Surry, Maine, on January 14, 2023.)
Steady, fine rain brought darkness to Naskeag Harbor yesterday, Friday the 13th. At first, the mood was somewhere between melancholy and dreamy.
Then, six common eiders swam by grumbling loudly with heads hunched into the spray. Throughout, “Tarrfish” lay calmly at her mooring and the house on the hill stared as usual. Oh yes, almost unseen in this image, a wet herring gull flew low and heavily through the rain to land on Naskeag Point’s sand spit and wait things out there. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 13, 2023.)
