First Snow

What remains of the shrinking pond has frozen over now, I'm sure to the dismay of the ducks, who've gone into hiding. It has been cold, down in the twenties, but not for all that long, so I'm sure it'll thaw out pretty quick if it warms up again.

Although we had a few very light flurries in the air this past Sunday night, this morning saw our first real dusting of snow, though it remained fairly light and never really accumulated much.

I'm sorry I've not been writing more. With just a little over a week until my forty-third (gasp!) birthday, I've recently discovered my warrantee may already have expired.

It turns out that last week's regimen of daytimes spent decking the halls at work and evenings packing boxes at home was perhaps a little over-doing the multi-tasking. Or at least that seems to be the case, having caused myself some back and rotator cuff pain that made last weekend's busy schedule a bit of a challenge.

I had a bit of massage therapy yesterday, in hopes of working out some of the kinks, and it may well have done so. However, in the meantime, I'm even more sore from the treatment.

While I recover, I thought you might enjoy looking at some of the festive displays that brought us to this moment!

Our Christmas Card

Doing a bit of experimenting with the newly-discovered video feature on Owen's new digital camera, and put this together to share just before the holiday season draws to a close:


Not bad for a first effort, I suppose. This means you might see the occasional garden tour video this summer!! Woo hoo...always so much promise and hope for a new year, huh?

I wish a Happy and Safe 2007 to each one of you!!

Greg : )

Some Time Passes...

And so, at this point in the holiday season, critical momentum is suddenly reached, as various activities multiply and fill up all that plentiful "free time" we are so often heard to complain of having had too much of...

MONDAY, 12/11: A house is cleaned. Halls are decked. Coolers stocked, wines chilled and cheese displayed.


Good times, great friends, good tunes: overall, it made for a wonderful party and a fun night.




TUESDAY, 12/12: A mild hangover, but a surprisingly clean house. The problem with the nice temperatures we've been having lately are the winter moths. They are flying everywhere lately. They almost look like snowflakes sometimes when they dance around the Christmas lights. But their caterpillars eat the heck out of trees around here come spring.

The Midnight Gardener quietly turns 42.


WEDNESDAY, 12/13: A rainy day. The always-great NRHS Honors Chorus visits the Courthouse for a holiday performance on a double shift.

Meanwhile, cookie recipes are organized, and the first trip to the grocery baking supply aisle occurs. Gift lists are also reviewed...the infinite nature of Santa is pondered.


THURSDAY: 12/14: The warm weather also means the continued presence of our frogs who, in most years, would be hibernating by now. I'm thinking about issueing each of them a little holiday top hat and cane.


By Wednesday, word has gotten around about the recented gifted Monkey Slippers. They are quite comfy, and cute as a button. Thanks, Ersi!!
FRIDAY, 12/15: Schedules are organized for the baking to be squeezed between work shifts. More baking supplies are laid in. The gift shopping is finally well begun. Many bags piled for later review and organization.

I'm starting to boost the volume on the holiday music, as another of our local stations makes the transition from regular programming to all holiday favorites, all the time. So many great songs...still waiting to hear a few of my personal favorites, while others are typically over-rotated (is anyone else hearing Wham's "Last Christmas" entirely too often this year?!?).



Anyway, with another double shift, the tunes keep the spirit alive. And we had the good news of the birth of a new Nicholas to make us smile, too.




Weary though we become from dashing about (or perhaps because of it), there's always time for a little holiday merriment and relaxation at home.

It's just that sometimes that time comes close to midnight. Here's me snuggling with my Best Girl, before rousing myself to make the dough for some refrigerator cookies.
Here the Bendable Cat chills with his other Dad.






SATURDAY, 12/16: After sufficient coffee, Mint Chocolate Pinwheels are seemingly miraculously created. More shopping is done. A penultimate holiday event at work and a few presents sorted and wrapped in the wee hours.

Somehow during the Friday/Saturday overnight, I have also managed to see most of "Prancer" on AMC, and mysterious managed a reasonable amount of sleep.

SUNDAY, 12/17: Lists are revised (how does Santa get away with only checking them twice??), a shopping run to Hyannis is carefully executed. Sorry there wasn't more time to check out the mall Santa. It might've been fun to have my picture taken with him.

The evening brought a impressive gathering of local talent to the Courthouse stage, for the 3rd or 4th Annual Christmas Cavalcade, which raised an equally-impressive sum to benefit the NOAH Shelter in Hyannis.

My holiday spirit is restored in the discovery that such a fun evening could do so much good.

Seasonal Sightings

A visit to Rock Harbor on Saturday afternoon. The overnight's cold temps were making things sort of slushy-looking.

Glad to say that our temperatures moderated back up into the fifties today. After all, the cold is nice and snow festive...but there's no reason we can't have a little more pleasant weather while we're shopping and hanging lights. Here's some late afternoon sunshine streaming through our side yard.




Above there's a shot of our neighbors, the Eastham Elks Lodge...who as you can see are dressed up for the season.

In preparation of tomorrow evening's soiree (amazing though it sounds, the Midnight Gardener will turn 42 close to midnight on Tuesday), I added some lights and pine roping around the kitchen door.

Holiday Greens

Well, by late morning, most of the little bit of snow we got yesterday had gone away. Kind of shame, since it made everything look so pretty. I wish I'd been able to get out and take more pictures yesterday afternoon.

Our holly bushes are still on the small side, so we aren't harvesting their bounty for holiday displays. Hopefully the birds will enjoy what there is.

Thanks to Mom and Dad for our great Christmas wreaths! I got them decorated and hung yesterday. They look pretty nice, though I may spend some time tweaking the ribbon a bit once it gets a little warmer (35 just now...).

I used the same ribbon to dress up those dirty old window boxes, and even though I was working on them during the heaviest snow yesterday (What can I say, I was on a mission...and a little frost-bitten by the end!), I think they look pretty nice.

A Snowy Day Around Town

As I went off to bed last night the winds were starting to really kick up, and by early this morning we had a temperature of 26 degrees and the winds seemed to have settled in for the day.

Here's a look at the holiday greens on the columns of the Courthouse. Jeff really does a great job with these. My visit to work was a brief one, since it was technically a "day off". But as I was leaving it was starting to snow. So I took a few pictures along my errand-laden route home.



The snow was getting heavier as I left the Christmas Tree Shop. I was there for candles and wreath ribbons...which I also used to wrap those grubby looking window boxes.



Now seems like a good time to sneak in today's holiday link: here's a bit of truly classic Christmas Cheer.


The snow seemed especially pretty looking across Eastham Windmill Green.

And yes, of course tonight we watched "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" on television...and some of us even wore our antlers for the occasion.

This Particular Thursday

65 years ago this morning, the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese kamikaze fighter planes. The surprise attack was devastating, and brought World War II to America's doorstep.

Until 2001, this "day of infamy" was the worst attack ever suffered on American soil. As more of the survivors of that day pass away, it feels more and more important to take a moment to remember what happened on that long ago December morning.

This seagull waits for scraps on the roof of the restaurant. It was another beautiful morning...not only sunny and bright, but with a surprise temperature back in the 50s. The cold, they say, will be back tomorrow...so we enjoyed our outdoor moments today.


This Christmas season the Old Jailhouse Tavern has been blessed with a trio of amazing hanging poinsettias baskets.



You should take a break from your holiday shopping to have lunch and admire them.


"Found" another lovely sunset on the way home from work this evening. This shot was taken from the parking lot at First Encounter Beach in Eastham.

On the evening news, I heard that it might be possible for us to see the launch of the space shuttle from this part of the country. The more customary daytime launchs usually prevent such a thing, with the sun and all. But this evening's rare night-time launch was going to provide a nightsky viewing opportunity for those of us in the northeast, if clouds didn't prevail. So around 9:15, I drove to Coast Guard Beach to try my luck.

The waning moon was rising over the ocean, and a great host of stars and planets, including the obvious Orion to the southeast, were visible.

It was a beautiful night, if a little colder by the water than at our house. I enjoyed the view and the sound of the crashing waves of the incoming tide never fails to soothe me, even as I convince myself the cracking branch I've just heard in the dark is no more than a bunny.


This afternoon while tracking down the details about shuttle viewing, I also learned that we--the Earth--are currently in a radiation storm, following a recent period of serious sunspot activities. We can expect possible satellite interruptions, but this also increases the possibility of seeing the aurora...which would be pretty cool.


The photo here looks north from the Coast Guard station. That pinprick of light to the right in the photo is the distant beam of Nauset Light.

After standing on the boardwalk for a while, I did see a flash in the sky to the south, a sort of smokey-orange streak across the sky that lasted no more than a two-count. I thought I had seen the shuttle Discovery climbing on its way into orbit...but was surprised to learn when I got back home that the launch had been scrubbed. Which makes me wonder what I saw?


And now for this evening's seasonal linkage: If you're feeling a bit run-over by the pre-Christmas rush...you might visit the games at Shockwave to try your hand at Santa's Snowball, in which you get to run down a bunch of trash-talking elves with a giant snowball. It's kind of fun.