Day 13.356: Goodbye 2020

Although in this corner of the internet, we keep our own calendar that still has ten days to run before the end of the year, we celebrated the end of 2020 today.

We had video calls - this one that included our three kids and their cousin in England sharing a few moments and later we saw the UK New Year in with our oldest longest-serving friends

Exile #3 had pulled something close to an all-nighter yesterday doing some non-college-related creative writing and turned-in early, but the rest of us saw 2021 in like this:

Day 13.355: Fort Williams Park (December edition)

Three of us had a lovely visit to Fort Williams Park this morning:

We did the full tour and enjoyed peering into the Goddard Mansion:

and getting an impression of the sea-facing side thanks to the leaf-less trees:

The Portland Head Light was looking very fine - with new paint and a very large wreath for the holidays. this view includes the rocks known as the ledge where the Annie C. Maguire was shipwrecked. Someone wrote a song about that a few years ago.

We also had great views of the Ram Island Ledge Light:

and - down the coast to Cape Elizabeth Light (one of the Two Lights of the state park fame):

and up the coast to Spring Point Ledge Light (at the end of a large breakwater in the center right of this view up the coast towards Portland:

It's also possible that we caught a glimpse of  Halfway Rock Light - if so, it's the first time it's been clear enough for it to catch our eye - just visible floating on a mirage haze just above the horizon on the right below:

Day 13.354: Maybe find a dollar or two

Four of us went back to the beach this afternoon. It was bright:

and also rather chilly - especially when we turned our backs to the sun and our faces into the wind.

We saw some pretty interesting things including a couple of whole sand dollars, a barnacle/mussel arrangement that looked like a fish head and buildings combined with the the winter-ocean mirage effect looking like a row of letters (as pointed out by Exile #4):

and here is the eternal struggle between gull and crab:

Well, it's eternal now I've turned it into a looping animation.

Day 13.353: One of these gulls...

There were lots of gulls at the beach on Saturday. In groups:

and scattered around the beach:

If I'd have seen this view, I might not have noticed the odd one out, but it had already caught my eye as a few of them flew around briefly before landing on the sand:

I believe it's a Forster's tern. They are known to winter further north than other terns, so it's possible it may be here intentionally, or it may still be making its way south I suppose since the winter has not been too harsh yet. Here's a close-up:

Day 13.352: Exile #2's Sunday Column #328

Exile #2 writes...

Today, Exile #1 and I left the young Exiles to their own devices - probably literally - and popped out for a short but steep hike up a nearby hill. It had been some years since we last visited but it still seemed familiar in places. Exile #1 pointed out that the record of our previous visit mentioned that the trail was difficult to follow due to fallen leaves. This time it was the snow creating some tricky spots. Most had been washed away on our rainy Christmas Day but there was one particularly exciting scramble up slippery rocks where quite a bit had managed to cling on. The trail was relatively busy, so we didn’t linger at the viewpoint but we enjoyed the sights along the way: ice crystals underfoot and a newly fallen tree.

Day 13.351: On the second day of Christmas

Our traditional Christmas walk on the beach waited for the second day of Christmas due to the rather miserable weather yesterday. Today it was cold and windy and sunny:

and the surf was up:

Day 13.350: Christmas Day (nearly normal)

Today was a Christmas Day not unlike many of those of the recent past for us - gifts and video calls with family and food including the Christmas Pudding which came out perfectly and was duly set on fire.

Probably the weirdest thing for us was the weather - a warm rainy windy night and day that cleared away most of the snow and prevented more than a soggy walk around the block.

I know this has been a weird and isolated day for many, but for us it was like many of the last few years and most that the kids can remember. Just one more of the many ways in which we are very fortunate.

Day 13.349: Merry Christmas #14

We're pretty much experts at this socially-distanced Christmas having done it for 12 out of the last 14 years. I hope like us you find room for some joy and gratefulness even if it's not everything you wish it could be.

Day 13.348: Beach; vacation

A few more random pictures from the beach:

And, as of a few hours ago, I am off work until 2021!

Day 13.347: The slight divergence

Yesterday, it was too cloudy to catch a glimpse of the 2020 Winter Solstice's Great Convergence, but this evening was a bit clearer so I had a look as I arrived home from work:

See it? Maybe a slightly closer look:

Not great, but you can see that Saturn is slightly yellow at least.

I also took a picture of the moon since I had my camera outside:

Day 13.346: Sunday morning birds at the beach

What we saw - mostly gulls - this one was having clam for breakfast:

And once again a large black bird caught my eye, and once again it was a bald eagle:

Day 13.345: Exile #2's Sunday Column #327

Exile #2 writes...

Maine folks are pretty hardy. By that I mean, wear-shorts-in-the-winter kind of hardy. So it wasn’t too surprising to find ourselves outdone on our walk this morning. We had felt pretty bold venturing onto the snow-covered beach in below zero temperatures but we had our thermals on, and our big coats.

One person, however, clearly thought that bundling up was for wimps and that today was perfect for a spot of paddle boarding. I’m not sure that’s ever going to seem like a good plan to me. Brr!

Day 13.344: Winter playdate in the time of Covid

After lunch, E5N1 got all dressed up like this:

and went and played outside - in the snow - with a couple of friends for three and a half hours. When I went to get him (in the last of the daylight), he was buried up to his chest in a snow pile and hiding behind a barrier made of a snow shovel and a sled:

As far as I can tell he'd had a blast.

Day 13.343: Moving snow

Yesterday, I did the first phase of clearing at lunchtime - the snow was very light and fluffy and once lifted by the snow-thrower or the shovel liked to fly on the wind and I ended up with a very nice icy shell on my hat as a result.

It was a good call to do the first phase earlier in the day, as we had several more inches before the snow stopped around dusk and I headed out for a second shift - with some help from Exile #4 this time:

The second phase was more thorough - including the basement door, the sidewalk and the front steps which had to be found before they could be cleared: