ICE BITE

Frost bite happens when one is exposed to below zero temperatures for a prolonged period of time. Frost actually penetrates the skin. It is not kind.

Ice bite is when slippery ice gets the best of skater or walker and takes them down.....FAST....without warning! Bang, and one is on their bottom. So it happened to me on Friday. The shock is over but I'm left with a wrapped right wrist. Consequently my keyboarding speed is severely handicapped and reduced to what my left hand can perform. The end result is that I'm temporarily unable to get the "Postings" on line that have been stirring in my head. By mid-week I'm hoping for improved mobility and will try to catch up. I have some good stories!


In the meantime, I leave you with an image of one of my favorite paintings, "The Storyteller."

It might more aptly be named "The Blogger."

Promise for most postings this week.

MAINE MORNING DUCK REPORT...JANUARY '09

Sea smoke dances over the northeast Back Cove channel leading to Casco Bay. A progression of Arctic air masses (The Polar Express) has caused ice formations to form on the surface of this tidal basin so we are frozen over from shoreline to mid-bay. One doesn't walk on this ice as the continual ebb and flow of the tide creates ice pilings rather then a smooth, thick surface. We are experiencing a winter-winter this year! That means temperatures have remained consistently cold so that the snow remains on the ground rather than being washed away by rain or solar heat.





Our friends the ducks look like black lava rocks dropped on big chunks of white. Not much paddling in the open waters. But they do continue to march up the duck channel with the rising tide and leave for open waters as the tide recedes. There continues to be ever changing life along the foot path. Due to the treacherous conditions, we will explore the winter shore line as the Canada goose does, from above, in V formation. Visibility is as far as the eye can see on this crisp blue, blue sky day. No discernible wind so the gliding will be smooth and easy. Let's not ruffle our feathers. Come on, let's take off.


Flying counter-clockwise, we're launching from the duck channel directly in front of my home situated on the mid-south shore. Baxter Boulevard separates the shoreline on our right from the embankment on the left which borders the south, west and north corridors. The eastern arm, or Bayside, is a combination of noisy Interstate 295 and large sports fields.


Our journey has us exploring only the water line as the bird flies. Marsh grass grows along the southern, western and north western shores. In addition to the southern duck channel, a stream flows into the cove due west and another urban drain is due north. These areas are the favored locations for water fowl congregations...moving with the ebb and flow of the tides. Morning finds them resting and feeding on the southern shore while mid-day and afternoon they fancy the bay, either due west or north. Could it be the waterfront afternoon breeze that draws them to these locations?


Continuing in flight we find beach terrain on the northeast and eastern shores. About a hundred feet off the northeastern beach is a bird rock where seagulls flock. It was on this rock that a bald eagle landed on November 30, 2006. Why do I recall the specifics. It was the day I found my new home. Driving the Boulevard, listening to Rachmaninoff's Concerto in C Minor, spotting the eagle...the future was feeling very good. OOPS. I digress.


On the eastern beach is an ever changing rock sculpture garden built by one of Portland's many unidentified artists. I am in awe of our own mini Stonehenge. Five, six, seven rocks precariously balanced on one another surviving the forces of nature. Sometimes one falls to a northwest blow or vandals, but another is quickly erected and the sculpture garden evolves. Like the tides, it has an ebb and flow.

Coming around we now glide over the southeastern beach which is adjacent to the Back Cove parking lot. Bustling activity here with cars coming and going so it's only foraging seagulls frequenting these grounds. Anything for a scrap.


Although the cove formation is square, the scalloped edge and meandering foot path creates a rounder appearance. Our journey seems as though we are circling, always banking to the right. (That's flight speak.)


Tides in the Back Cove range from a high of 10.4 feet during the new and full moons to a low of
-8 feet during less extreme lunar phases. On average, the tide change is 8.5 feet. At low tide the bay appears to be one very large clam flat with a small channel, drawing 4 feet, leading to the open ocean. This lack of draw keeps the area pretty much boat free, although during the summer a lobster man sets a few traps in the southeastern quadrant. Hauling the traps is subject to tides. I believe Frederic Law Olmsted, designer of Portland's park system in the 1870's, would like knowing that the Back Cove is an estuary for ducks, geese, herons, egrets and the occasional bald eagle.


As we glide back towards the southern shore duck channel, I am aware of more details to describe. Those will have to wait until the foot path is passable or the great Snow Goose comes and sweeps me off my feet.

THE RITE OF HIBERNATION

HIBERNATION is a derivative of the Latin word "hibernus, wintery." It's literal translation means to spend the winter in a dormant state. Especially in the northern climates, we are all too familiar with this season of lengthy nights and shortened daylight hours, layers of clothes, securely tightened windows, and a constant eye to the weather channel. Just like the animals, we often put on a few extra pounds, become shut-in and lethargic.

This year I've taken a different view of the season. I've decided to celebrate what many consider negatives and try turning them into positives. It's made a considerable difference and I'm experiencing hibernation jubilation.

I'm grateful for:

• Long nights so I can enjoy more candlelit hours. Whether lighting candles on my kitchen window sill for the enjoyment of commuters driving home

on Baxter Blvd. or whiffing the Frasier fir scent of my favorite Thymes candle glowing in the living room, lighting candles as the daylight hours shorten has brought a scented serenity to my home. This I will miss with longer days of light.

• Having a stack of books that I know will be devoured during the "long" hiberius nights. I always read a David McCullough non-fiction during February. Last year my friends asked if I was still "in the Panama Canal" as I worked my way through PATH BETWEEN THE SEAS. It was a worthy trip. This year ," THE GREAT BRIDGE" is on deck. Anyone want to join me span the East River?

• Soup Suppers that are often and healthy. I've been developing a soup-a-week venue. In researching new recipes, my extensive, but often under utilized cookbook library is coming to life. You know a cookbook is just an ordinary book until it has food stains on its pages. I can hear the authors breathing. Hello James Beard, Fannie Farmer, Marion Cunningham, Julie Russo, Shelia Lukins, and my favorite, Bonnie Stewart Mickelson author of HOLLYHOCKS & RADISHES from Pickle Point Publishing (That's another story in itself.)
  
• Walking in the city and having all the sounds muffled by the snow.
• Wrapping a scarf around my neck every time I venture outside.
• Visiting museums and galleries to get out of the weather.
• X-country skiing for just an hour....anytime of day.
• Vintage hankies for when the sniffles set in.
• Beach walks, winter colors of white and gray, and huge moons.

"In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer."
Albert Camus

Hibernation is just what you make of it!

FAN THE FLAME

A NEW YEAR!

The traditional holiday of making resolutions that are rarely kept. This year I decided to undertake that time honored tradition a bit differently. No, I'm not going to take back my resolutions. God only knows I have enough on my plate. But I am going to remove many from that daunting RESOLUTIONS list that invariably haunts me for twelve months... and individually burn them. I've created my FIRST ANNUAL "ENOUGH ALREADY" LIST.

Inspired by a suggestion from the book SIMPLE ABUNDANCE, I created a list of things I place in the "Enough Already" category. Begin by completing the statement, "Enough already with _______________." For instance, one of mine was, "Enough already with being bothered by a noisy neighbor." I wrote that on a slip of paper, folded it and added it to the pile of concerns I wanted to torch. In the end I had written nine "Enough Already(s)" on separate slips that were folded then dropped, one at a time, into the lovely fire dancing in my fireplace. One of the slips drifted to the corner and I thought, "Oh, no, which one is it that won't be done with!" But alas, fire is energy and it seemed to seduce the escapee into the fold of golden-amber flames. Relief. Nine concerns no longer viewed as "have to do or my problem" but acknowledged and set free to the universe. In their own, rightful time, each will be achieved.

I still have a couple of resolutions requiring my attention, one day at a time. Some of the other stuff though, "enough already." Let it go. Maybe I'll have to let it go again next year, and the year after. But for 2009, I'm giving it an energetic lift-off and I'm just a little bit freer.

So fan the flames with "enough already" and enjoy the warm glow of letting go.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2009

MAINE MORNING DUCK REPORT: WINTER SOLSTICE

On this shortest light day of the year, with a blizzard roaring, life crawls to a snails pace. Is this what it was like a hundred years ago? Life as nature intended.

IMAGINE. It is December 21, 1908.

A perfect day for a sleigh ride on Baxter Boulevard which borders The Back Cove. Wrap me in ermine, bundle me in the sleigh led by a perfectly matched pair of mares, snap the whip....let's go!

"Sleigh bells ring are you listening,

In the lane, snow is glistening

A beautiful sight, We're happy tonight.

Walking in a winter wonderland." (Bernard & Smith)

Was it better a century ago or is it just the romantic view of days gone ? I believe that the images create an illusion which is always seen through tinted lenses. But I have found a way to make peace with today's 24/7 hectic life, while embracing the shortened hours of day light. I have become attuned to the ebb and flow of nature.

Nature has a way of jolting us to a pace that is more human. Two storms back to back provide that very dose of "natural" sedative. Gray skies have been looming since the 18th. The first blizzard arrived on the 19th just in time for the evening drive. The 20th remained a "day with no time." That is my description of when morning light is the same as afternoon. No visible sunrise or sunset. Just flat, gray skies. Such was nature's forecast of an ensuing storm. No weatherman mistakes here. Mother nature being 100% accurate. The ever so light snow began at 9:30 am on the 21st and in one hour gained to blizzard force. White was the predominate color and would remain so, even after the 4 pm sun down. Dense snow riding thirty mph winds blanketed the air as well as the ground. It's called a white-out.

And so the winter solstice came and went in a natural furry. All we could do was stay put, light candles and celebrate a cozy home.

Our friends the ducks were visibly absent for two days. I think they were riding out the storms tucked under the twin bridges a few fathoms down the foot path. But this morning they returned, with the tide ebbing into the "duck channel." Marching before the rising tide, ducks and geese together returned to the neighborhood. They announced, "We survived the blow!" CeCe and Daisy were as excited as I was to see our feathered friends. You see, they have become our "natural" gage of life's true rhythms.

Today the sun shines once again. It's journey north has begun. The season of rebirth is upon us.

Live in each season as it passes; breathe air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. Let them be your only diet drink and botanical medicines.

Henry Daivd Thoreau

MERRY CHRISTMAS

HAPPY HANUKKAH

A MID-COAST THANKSGIVING GATHERING

All stoves were fired! The old cast iron with recycled paper, the newer range with electricity. Oven roasting a twenty pound bird and four burners cooking the root vegetables to be served. By the time of my mid-day arrival, all preparations were well underway. Pies were positioned on the dining room sideboard, the table prepared and serving silver placed for the feasting hour. Only the cornucopia needed filling and that was my job. Fresh fruit, nuts and chocolate coated almonds spilled forth. It is Thanksgiving Day and I am spending this Holiday of Gratitude with a very special family that has embraced me.

For sixty years June has been preparing the main course. So it was done this year, exactly like the past. I believe the recipes probably came from her very first cookbook, BETTY CROCKER, or were passed down through the family. Why change a good thing? Besides, the immediate family wouldn't hear of it! So it was a twenty pound roasted turkey, not the "new" deep fried preparation. Real pearl onions in cream sauce, nothing from the frozen food shelves. Fresh squash, rutabaga, mashed potatoes, celery-onion stuffing and homemade cranberry-orange relish completed the fare.

Four adults, the brother-sister Siamese cats and a hound dog took their places. Some at the table, two on a window sill and one on the floor at the feet of his master. It was a peaceable kingdom as Thomas took position to carve the bird. His skill is evidence of the fine lesson learned at the side of his father many years ago. Call me old fashioned, but I love the passing of these fine traditions passed from parent to child.

It was a feast that lasted three hours...honoring the chef and partaking of animated conversation. What a fine gathering; putting any differences aside and praising the goodness of the individual spirit.

In keeping with the hearth being the heart of the home, the day after Thanksgiving, June shared with me an ancestral grape leaves recipe ( perfected by she and her brother.) This was an entirely new culinary delight for me. June prepared the lamb based filling as I prepared the grape leaves. When the prep was complete, she demonstrated how to fill and roll. Thirty six rolled leaves later, we had a kettle full. Broth was poured over and the pot was placed on a low heat burner for long, slow cooking. Now for the waiting. Would they be as tasty as we imagined? As with most foods, patience is one of the main ingredients. I wanted to taste one of our creations when they were finally cooked....and plenty hot. Too hot to savor the subtle flavors of mint, lemon and garlic. Full appreciation of the bouquet was to be realized the next day. And so I was reminded of a lesson that presents itself to me on a daily basis: everything in its own time.

At the end of each joyful day celebrating friendship, family, good food and conversation, I tucked myself into the eave where a bed toasty with an electric blanket awaited. I in my flannel pajamas and polar fleece cap slept like a baby.

MAY YOU FIND THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE HOLIDAYS TO CELEBRATE.

THE LABYRINTH

Like so many things in my life lately, it just happens. Usually happening for the good, I might add. And so it is that I ended up in a labyrinth.

It began with a call to friend. I was suggesting that she light a couple of candles at dusk, (4:00 pm here in Portland) as it provides a nice glow and segue into the hours of dark. No sooner had I offered my suggestion and she asked if I wanted to do "the labyrinth."


"The labyrinth?" I asked.

"Yes, it's down the street at Trinity."


"What does it do? How do I do it?"


" It clears your head. You follow a path, like a maze, but it doesn't trick you."


Sounded good to me. Follow a path, clear my head. I'm all for exercise and an uncluttered mind!


Thus began the journey to the labyrinth...and a journey it became. Needless to say, her information wasn't entirely correct. There was a labyrinth, but it was in Brunswick. I was up for it and off we went.


Forty five minutes later we were at the First Parish Church. Now to find the labyrinth! Not your everyday occurrence. But I was committed. Finally we found the door that opened to THE LABYRINTH.Candles flickered at the edges of the large white canvas floor mat containing the path. Shoes removed, I entered the walk. Carrying a stone in one hand and a small box containing notes in the other, I was focused on staying in the lines. Quite quickly I began to feel a peace. Everything that I brought with me in my mind was dissipated. I felt a sense of lightness...almost giddy. Upon reaching the center, I set the box and stone on the floor and sat for a while. When I felt ready and only then, I re-entered the pathway and began my exit journey.


Upon completion I felt a total lightness of being. It was a feeling I had never experienced before. Could this be what Eckhart Tolle describes as achieving "BEING" in his book, "The New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose?" I know that I am closer to "BEING" after having done the labyrinth than I was before.

As my LA friend asked, "How do you end up in a labyrinth?" Well as I said in the beginning, "life happens."

I eagerly await my next journey.

To find a labyrinth in your area check with a store specializing in New Age and/or mediatation information. Also check http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/.



Maybe I'll see you on the path.