Day 15.049: Sister sister

Yesterday, we got together to wish my brother-in-law a happy landmark birthday. After everyone else left, I stayed behind to spend a little longer with my sister including a very nice walk this morning. The weather threatened rain, but we stayed dry and had a lovely time. 

The day ended with us both at my other sister’s where we enjoyed dinner together and put the world to rights. 

Day 15.048: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #385

Exile #2 writes...

I think I may have mentioned before that when Exile #1 travels during the winter months, which in Maine, of course are (conservatively) October through April, the chances of us getting a snowstorm are 100%. Therefore, I probably don’t need to tell you what happened on Friday.

The other thing that is fairly common during Exile #1’s travels is some sort of minor mishap, such as the spectacular collapse of our Christmas tree just as Exile #1's rear lights disappeared from view. This time, however, the fun came a little early. As we were eating lunch with Exile #1, on the day of his departure, water started cascading from the fridge onto the floor. We scrambled for something to catch it in and then tried to figure out what was going on, the filling container of water at our feet adding a degree of jeopardy. Eventually, we realized that the spring on our fridge water dispenser had broken, so it was as if it was permanently on. We disabled it and set about mopping up the mess. It was, perhaps, not the calming send off Exile #1 was hoping for but for us, it was appropriately chaotic.

Day 15.047: Bradgate Park

Two visits to local Bradgate Park today with the dogs - early morning with my sis and between lunch and the rugby with a larger group.

Day 15.046: Uncle Ron

I was at my uncle’s funeral today. It was a mix of things as these events always are. Great sadness mixed with the pleasure of seeing cousins for the first time in 25 years and happy memories of a loving uncle. 

Rest In Peace. We celebrated you well today. 

Day 15.045: Wales?

i am the only member of the Exiles household who cannot claim to be Welsh. i'm also the only one who was in Wales briefly today (or at least Welsh airspace):

The reason for this solo trip is a sad one - but that is for tomorrow.

Day 15.044: In flight

Both this gull (on Monday) and me (currently).

I'm going quite a bit further than the gull.

Day 15.043: Ridgy beach/beachy ridges

During our beach visit yesterday, the lower beach was sufficiently contoured to make it unpleasant to walk on. It looked good though

Day 15.042: Holiday; spring-like

It was a holiday today. Exile #4 and E5N1 have the whole week off, but for Exile #3 and I it was just today.

Exile #2 and I celebrated with a morning walk on the beach. It was still a bit chilly, but we probably overdressed a little.

In the afternoon, we ventured out again and by then it was warm and sunny. We sent the kids out to experience it when we got home.

Day 15.041: Exile #2's Sunday Column #384

Exile #2 writes....

Somehow we’ve seen surprisingly little of the Winter Olympics. I think it’s been some combination of busyness, time differences, and the slightly troubled nature of some of the competitions. We should have tuned in to support the handful of Mainers who, not surprisingly, show up in sports that involve slipping around on the snow and ice, but alas we did not.

We did, however, make sure to tune in for the women’s curling semi-final and final, which were very enjoyable, and greatly enhanced by being able to listen in to team discussions. It makes it all the more amazing to see someone make a great throw when you know it’s what they meant to do!

Photo by SHVETS production from Pexels

Day 15.040: College visit trip

Decision-time is approaching for Exile #4 who has lots of college offers. Today we did five hours of driving and an hour and a half of college tour at Wheaton (between Boston and Providence).

It was a good visit to a beautiful campus - but perhaps not the lazy Saturday I might have wanted after a tiring work-week.

Day 15.039: Lights-out

We woke up to news of exceptionally high winds in the UK. Later in the morning we lost power despite much less dramatic weather. It was short-lived - and being daylight hours it didn't look like this:

I had a busy week with visitors at work and I'm very much ready for a relaxing weekend. Unfortunately, we've made other plans.

Day 15.038: Seniors dressing as seniors

It's "Spirit Week" at school and today's theme was - for Exile #4 at least, "Seniors dress like seniors". In other words, final year students dress as senior citizens. This was Exile #4's interpretation:

Day 15.037: Ted Lasso

When I got my new phone, it came with a free trial of Apple TV+. We waited until the last moment to start it and immediately watched the first season of the ambitious adaptation of the science fiction classic Foundation.

After that, Exile #2 tried to persuade me to try Ted Lasso, but I was unmoved by the suggestion. So she watched both seasons on her own.

Some time later she suggested I try it and we ended up watching it all.

And now, we're watching it again with the kids. It really is excellent TV. Even Exile #2 - now on her third viewing in a couple of months - is thoroughly enjoying it again.

Day 15.036: Old storm, new timelapse

This autogenerated timelapse from my photos out of the front of the house is definitely more successful than my much more labor-intensive version out of the back:

Day 15.035: Snow on snow(man?)

We had a bit of fresh snow on Sunday morning:

Day 15.034: Exile #2's Sunday Column #383

Exile #2 writes...

As if it wasn’t enough to have the Olympics going on, tonight was the Super Bowl. The young Exiles were largely indifferent to the football but stuck around for a rather spectacular rendition of the national anthem and checked back in for the very entertaining half time show.

I’m always fascinated by how they do the seemingly impossible feat of setting up and breaking down a stage and sound system in little longer than an ad break - apparently they do it in about 6 minutes, and usually with a fleet of stage pieces pushed into place by hand to minimize damage.

This year, however, it looked like they’d just driven a tandem tractor trailer right onto the pitch with everything they needed inside ready to go. Not sure if that was the case but it would have been an appropriately Hollywood solution for a game taking place in LA.

Day 15.033: Snowman? and a night out

First, an all-important snowman update. You may remember we made him back in 2021, so it's quite surprising that there is anything left - but he's not the man he was.

In other news Exile #2 and I visited some local friends for dinner tonight which was lovely - and the kids successfully fended for themselves and played some Xbox Kinect games while we were out.

Day 15.032: MyShahRona

I'm enjoying this beer. 

Here's why:

1. It's hoppy but not stupidly strong in terms of alcohol content - a rare find.
2. Its name is a play on a classic late 70's pop song.
3. It's also a play on Dr. Shah who is the head of the Maine CDC and has been a constant presence during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (or 'Rona for short);
4. But mostly the hops and alcohol thing.

Day 15.031: Ice-line mystery

Walking on the beach the other day, I was confused by the line of ice in the right of this photo:

It ran along the beach well above the groundwater line (you can see that to the left). It looked like the high tide mark, but why would the high tide mark be a sheet of ice?

The answer was revealed further along, where the high tide mark had kept its chunks of ice - moved off the lower beach by the incoming tide after the sleet storm.

 In some places the ice had melted and re-frozen, so the sheet of ice above is basically beach icicles or "beachicles" perhaps?

Day 15.030: Helicopter parking only

While passing by the hospital today, we spotted the helicopter there for the first time - it's almost in the parking lot. It would be quite a shock to see it come in to land I suspect.

Day 15.029: More beach ice

Some more ice on the beach...the groundwater streams on the lower sands - frozen:

This random chunk:

and two views of the ice shelves above Goosefare Brook:

Day 15.028: Icing - so sweet!

Various things at the beach were icier than usual. Here are a few that caught my eye: