What Season Is It Anyway?

 This morning from the train...

 is it March?

 It feels like March.
 

Wasn't the WINTER Solstice yesterday?

Note:

 

December 23, 2015 NY metro area. 

11:30pm, 61 degrees + 100% humidity 

I had to turn the air-conditioning on. 

~ photos by iPhone

Photo of the Day: 50 Shades of Grey

On the way to the train, Westchester County, NY

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Was it 8:30 in the morning or a full moon-illuminated 8:30 at night? 

It was so foggy that the brightly shining disc couldn't compete.

-iTouch

Mother Nature is REALLY Mixed up!

c. Grumpa, December 8, 2013

 Dad reports SIX inches, church cancellations, the highways shutting down, etc.

You know it's serious when the Utah Mormons cancel church on a Sunday.

I think I better start praying for safe travels.

 I have a feeling I won't be wearing these and doing this when I visit in a few weeks.

 Or at least not in short sleeves.

Grafton Take Two - Part Two

Across the road from the "official" entrance to Grafton are roads to other parts of the settlement. There are remnants of former farms, old-growth trees, quaint No Trespassing sign, and fences to keep you out.


Back up the road, you can visit the old Grafton Cemetery. The erosion and flooding that made it difficult for the settlers to stay are evident. Weathering has left its effect on the tombstones and the gravesites. Some of descendants of the families have come back to maintain the site and to maintain the headstones. In the background of the picture above, you can see that one site has been fenced off. The family has also levelled out the land, so you don't see the "hump" of the caskets, like you can below.
Since this was holy ground, I was trodding delicately, stepping carefully between gravesites and my own inclination to document carvings, dates, and family dynamics. I didn't take photographs of the section of the cemetery dedicated to the Native Americans buried within. No granite markers for them, just simple wooden stakes with the names that they were known by in English, not even their real tribal names. My heart broke for one family. There was no way that a photograph could even depict the poignancy of a whole row of little graves, one after another.

With the storm gathering in the distance, the wind whipping up, and the sense of the ancestors being not too far away, we decided to get out of Grafton before the road washed out. Remembering what the road looked like in January, we left hastily after my little rain dance led to the skies opening up. (I am so glad that J left his camera at home!)

I did stop to photograph the Virgin River Bridge in the rain. Metal plus rain plus storm --- not the smartest thing to do. But look at the light ... dark and moody. Just like I like it.

Since it was raining, the bro and I picnicked under a shelter near Zion. It was a lovely hour or so, just us catching up, watching the clouds rolling through the valley, and breathing in the most incredibly sweet, fresh, crisp mountain air. If you could bottle that air, you could make a fortune. It was the kind of air that makes you remember you have lungs and helps you remember what air is supposed to smell like. Spring/youth/cut grass/fresh rain/a storm/fresh breezes/home ...

As the storm pulled out of the valley, the clouds had the funkiest formations. My little toy camera couldn't quite capture it all, but J said that his weather geek friends would have been having a field day.

By the time we drove out down out of the mountains, we were refreshed and found ourselves under the rainbows. I kind of missed seeing Gandalf on this trip, but it was great lovely to visit the ghost town, spend quality time with the bro, and see Mother Nature in all her glory. The veil felt thin, with Grafton's families and ours looking down on us. We felt their blessings upon us, from our safe journey to our joyous rainbows of light.

Spring Forward

Copyright ©2009 SusanBranch.com. All rights reserved.

I was/am dealing with one of those pressure headaches today, brought on by the changing weather patterns. We had snow/sleet on Monday and now its near 60 degrees. The calendar also says that we must spring forward for daylights savings time on Sunday. Already? Anyway ...

Spring can't come soon enough!

If you need a pick-me-up too, check out Susan Branch's lovely art, recipes, and such from her Heart of the Home. I have loved her work for years. I'm sure you will too.

Cape Cod on Black Friday - Part One

Rather than brave the shopping hordes on Black Friday, Mom and I escaped to Cape Cod. It was a typical New England day, every five minutes the weather was different. We had wind, rain, sleet, and sun in rapid succession, making the beach excursions memorable. We did do some brief shopping at the Cape Cod Outlet Mall, but the day was more for sand, surf, and seafood, than shopping -- except for saltwater taffy.

In honor of Thanksgiving, we made a pilgrimage to First Encounter Beach. This historic beach bore witness to the first encounter between Native Americans and Pilgrims before their landing at Plymouth Rock.

First Encounter Beach

Also in Eastham is Fort Hill with its fabulous views of Nauset Marsh and the Atlantic Ocean. Fort Hill is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. It was too cold and windy to explore the whole walk. These are just some glimpses. My camera was too dinky to capture the sight of a blue heron in flight out in the surf, but some of the other die-hard birders and photogs got some great views. I captured the views of other things in flight.

Mom in motion

This is typical. She's never still.

Views from the Fort Hill hike:

The Atlantic Ocean and marsh

Beach erosion did in this sign

Break-waters rolling through the barriers

Closer views

New England Farmhouse - Winter sky

Seashore Lane

Waves of Bittersweet

On the way into the lot at Fort Hill I spied one of the fields filled with a flock of seagulls. Further investigation revealed that instead of an idyllic pastoral moment, it was more a scene straight out of the Serengeti, with gulls instead of hyenas and lions. Those birds weren't pecking on seeds or crumbs. Nope. Someone decided NOT to make turkey soup out of the carcass of their Thanksgiving Day bird and tossed it there for the gulls. Lovely. Just a little cannibalism as part of Thanksgiving/Black Friday. (Yes, I have a strange sense of humor, so I had to snap some shots on the way out.)

I see you eying my lunch.

I said, get away!

I am Jonathan. Hear me roar!

After Fort Hill we headed north on Route 6, with the ultimate destination of Provincetown in mind. We had to make various pit-stops along the way though. As we drove the weather changed from grey and overcast, with glints of sun, to pouring down rain.

North Sunken Meadow Beach

Massachusetts Bay side of Cape Cod

Wellfleet

Of course we had to stop at the local library.

It was the only place on mid-Cape that was open with a public restroom.

(Where was my Shushing Librarian when I needed her?)

Most important view of the trip

Two ladies + cold weater + rain + lots of soda = need for:

Coming soon, views of Provincetown.

Global Warming?

Do I live/work in New York or New England? Isn't this the Big Apple and not the Artic North?

There were snow squalls in the City this afternoon We haven't had a FROST yet where I live, and there was SNOW this afternoon.

Ms. Mother Nature, ma'am? Can you hold off for a while. I'm not ready for winter yet. I still haven't gotten my winter coat dry cleaned and repaired from last spring. I haven't put away all my summer clothes. I still use my a/c on occasion at night. I don't have winter boots!

I don't care what date the calendar says. It's too early for snow. While I remember trick-or-treating in snow when I was growing up in northern Utah, that was (ye-goodness) almost 30 years ago and a different climate.

Snow, snow go away.
Come again some other day ...

Say, in January, after I've flown back from Christmas break.

New York in the rain

There's an old saying in New England, "If you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes..."

Are we completely sure that New York isn't part of New England? The weather has been wild and wacky today. We've had sun, roiling clouds, green skies, pouring down rain, HAIL, and then sun again in rapid succession.

I had my nose pressed up again the windows when I remembered that I had a camera. Unfortunately, these don't do justice to the rapid nature of the changes, what the light really looked like, or how stormy it truly was.

View one (looking south)

Five minutes later!

You can't see the rain in this shot ... or the lightening. Those skyscrapers are only about two blocks away and you can't really see them anymore.

View two

If you look at the light reflecting off the skyscrapers, you can tell that the skies to the north are still clear.Five minutes later ... not so much.I wish I had a way to open these windows. I adore crazy storms. I love the electrical energy in the air. I love the elemental ferocity of the rains being whipped everywhere. I just wanted to be out there in the middle of it, barefoot, and screaming my head off.

Scenes from a childhood

I started reading Marianne Wiggins' Almost Heaven on the train this morning and was really struck by these lines (p. 14):

"Do you remember weather from your childhood?

Can you remember a specific sky?"

Actually, yes. I can. I remember being almost caught in a mini-tornado in my teens, how the air tasted of ozone, and how the sky turned dark and green in minutes. I remember doing paper routes in the early mornings come rain, snow, or warm breezes full of honeysuckle scents. But it's one specific sky that I remember most vividly.

It was recess in elementary school sometime in either fourth or fifth grade, when we were all let loose to play on the asphalt and the metal swings and jungle gyms. It was a chilly, windy, overcast, spring day -- probably in March or April. The sky was banked by low grey clouds. Not the fluffy cumulus kind; the low, heavy, stratus kind, that mean rain or snow isn't far off. It being recess and being a kid, there were usually more important things to concentrate on than the state of the weather, like talking to friends, getting up as high as you could on the swings, chasing around that one boy that you had the weird crush on ... you know, typical childhood things. But that day, for some reason I can't recall, I was just hanging out by myself, not with a group, off in my own world. I remember looking west up past the spires of the local convent and cathedral, just as a break appeared in the cloud bank. It was the strangest thing. The clouds opened into a perfectly square shape. Sun poured through the clouds, falling gently in streams through the air. The bright blue sky was a marvel to behold. All around me the sounds of recess continued. Dodgeball wasn't interrupted, the high pitched laughter and conversational roar of my classmates didn't abate. No one else appeared to join me in observing that strange cloud formation. It seemed like that perfect square of sunshine remained in the sky forever, but it must have been only five minutes or so until the jet stream, winds, storm front or Mother Nature closed the clouds.

I've often wondered about moment. Was there a higher purpose for me having observed that window to heaven?

I guess I'll just have to ask when I move on. It'll be one of the questions on my list. Right up there with, "what's up with the platypus?"

What season is it?

Sometime spring can sneak up on us ... before we have a chance to take down the winter/holiday decorations. This was the scene outside the Big J just last week.

Big Wintery Snowflake Twinkle Light Decorations

Note the flowering leafy buds.Today, it's supposed to be in the high 70s-80, and those flowery leafy buds? Full on leaves.

Two weeks ago I was wearing my winter coat. Today I'm complaining that the a/c isn't working in the building. What happened to spring?

Krippy -- I guess this means that eventually all your snow will melt and you'll be able to send the kids outside. There's HOPE!