Rainy Morning

It's been no secret (though I've tried not to make too much of it here) that our latest move has left me a little dis couraged.

Winter has no doubt played its role to some extent, even though we've not had the extremes of snow and cold and great duration thereof that I see and hear of in others lives. It's the grayness of the days, really. I need some more sunlight!

It's still darned chilly here, but I am finding encouragement in the gardens, what with things beginning to green up and little shoots of new bulbs beginning to spring up here and there. And of course, the new property comes with surprises of it's own, like the cluster of bleeding heart foliage I found near the other day's hyacinth discovery!

It was a rainy morning here, pretty intensely so, so this photo was my only effort at doing much of anything outside. Things dried out a bit for the afternoon, and on the way home, I had a chance to prove my recent theory about the birds who live in the plantings of our local grocery store: they don't seem to care much that I'm photographing them...as opposed to the guys in our yard, who all scatter at the first sound of the camera being turned on (why DO digital cameras have to make noises, eh?).

After searching through my field guide, I've figured out these are house sparrows.

February Farewell

Continuing the Leap Day Beach Walk, I found myself next at the Boat Launch at Rock Harbor, for sunset itself.

Now the thing about a sunset is, I could show you a single picture...but a sunset isn't a moment, it's the whole process...the experience of it.

It's about enjoying the way the red and orange light plays across surfaces and dances over the ripples of tidal ice. It's about clambering over the rocks of the breakwater the same way you do in the summer, only later realizing that in summer, there aren't slick patches of ice!

It's about catching your breath as you see the colors changing, deepening as the sun slides beyond the horizon. The sky blue above darkening, the red orb sinking into the bay...today, it was also a little about frostbite.

And so we bid adieu to February and turn our eye toward the eastern horizon, where March quickly approaches, bringing with it Spring and the Triumphant Return of the Green.

Winter Scenes

First off, I wanted to show off the potted canna lily that's growing so nicely in my bedroom. At this rate, it'll be ready to bloom as soon as its warm enough this summer!

On the subject of killing two birds with a single stone (no offense, starlings!), I've also heard from a few of you requests for what the recent painting project entails...so I managed to work in the recently painted walls as the background here.

The pale blue walls already existed...on Sunday, I added the darker speckling, which has sort of changed the character of the blue walls a little. Now just wait until I've got a little time to do some stenciling.

Today I thought I would share a few random winter scenes with you, taken along today's more circuitous route to work. First, is this frozen pond and house in North Chatham, overlooking Pleasant Bay and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.


Next, I stopped along the road to capture a flock of assorted waterbirds who were splashing and feeding in the open water where Tar Kiln Creek feeds into Pleasant Bay. Of course, they flew off as soon as my camera was ready, but the ice formations along the shoreline were still pretty cool.

Today's final image is this frozen fishing boat, at Rock Harbor in Orleans.

The Groundhog's Day

Happy Candlemas, everyone! It's 43 degrees here this morning and the sun is a nice golden color, with n'ary a cloud in the sky. The garden has flooded once more with all the snowmelt.

So naturally, everyone's favorite weather hog, groundhog Phil of Punxsutawney, PA has predicted another six weeks of winter. Everything about Phil is here.

Poor Phil, I hope they let him crawl back into bed when the party's over. Otherwise, he'll be asked to take a side in the big Presidential throw-down. It might be hard for a simple groundhog to get back to sleep though, once he realizes its also Mardi Gras weekend.

January's Sunset

Skaket Beach, Orleans, MA.

Three Winter Views

A banking visit to Eastham today (delayed by the storm)allowed me to capture this wintery view of First Encounter Marsh.

Found these red berries (i think they may be bitter sweet) in a snowbank outside of work this afternoon.

And then on the way home, I visited Skaket Beach for this sunless sunset.

Storm Cooking

Once I'd returned from the trip to the grocery, I got cooking in the kitchen, putting together a simply but hearty stew. After chopping the veggies, I got a pot of veggie stock boiling, while I browned the chicken with some butter and garlic.

Eventually, all the chicken, potatoes, celery, carrots and navy beans were combined with the veggie stock in the pot, and by early evening we had a nice hot meal with biscuits for our snowy evening.

Sunday Snow

Well, the last few winter storms to devil New England have visited us almost entirely as rain, so perhaps balance is restored to the universe with the knowledge that today, we are getting the snow.

At first, it just seemed like a few flurries. After all, they had only been calling for a possible inch or two of side effect for a storm passing us out over the ocean. But then the storm track shifted and suddenly there were storm warnings. But those weren't even necessary, from the speed with which snow began accumulating.


Outside the kitchen windows, about half a dozen dark-eyed juncos dug and pecked in the snow for the seed I'd thrown out earlier, with a frantic energy that foreshadowed my afternoon visit to the Stop and Shop.

Some birds, like this woodpecker, seemed undetered by the weather.


Although it'd only been snowing about an hour or so, the roads were a bit on the slick side and there were lots of folks out driving. In fact, I got the very last cart available inside the store when I got to the market. Aisles were crowded, all of us seemingly stocking up on the same things.

And then, a cautious ride home later, I was back at home and ready to stay there for the storm's duration.

For a study in contrasts, I visited Skaket Beach again this evening, when I found myself out of the office just as the sun was setting.

Cold out there, but gorgeous colors in the sky this evening!

Slushy Shoreline

I had the oppor
tunity to visit Eastham early this afternoon and couldn't resist a slight detour to my old favorite spot, First Encounter Beach.

Our temperatures rise and fall this time of year on the twin influences of warmer ocean temperatures and cold winds sweeping out off the mainland. The shoreline is where this is most visible, as the edges of the bay turn to a slushy machine.

Tide was coming in as I visited the beach, but the sounds and the movement of the water have changed from the summertime. Each successive wave pushes against the dryer snow/ice at the water's edge...slowly moving this little piles of ice further across the beach.

I couldn't resist stopping by the bridge at Boat Meadow Creek, when I spotted these gulls trying to stay warm on shifting ice floes.

And we think we have it tough in the winter!

Temperatures Falling

Tonight's sunset comes to you from Skaket Beach in Orleans. Just a quick shot before dashing back to the car, since there was plenty of wind and not much warmth.

Current temperature as I post this is 18 degrees. The new furnace is definitely getting a chance to stretch its legs this weekend.

Sunset

Two views of sunset over Cape Cod Bay, as seen from Rock Harbor Boat Launch, Orleans, MA.

January Distractions

Baby, it's cold outside, even here on the Cape most of the time.

But even with the garden asleep for the time being, a gardener still likes to keep his hand in. You can sit with the new garden catalogs and drool and dream about the coming season's new offerings, which can be a little frustrating when you see how much some of the pretty things cost.

For distractions from winter's cold and dark, I have a fondness for video games.

Railroad Tycoon 3 is a favorite, alternating with Sim City 4 and The Original Sims. I also like to surf through a few different online game sites to see what they have to offer. Unfortunately, I am no longer welcome at MSN Games now that I'm using Mozilla Firefox as my browser. But at Shockwave, I've hit paydirt, as it were, with a new favorite: Plant Tycoon.

Primarily, gameplay takes place in your green house, where you fill pots with soil, water and plant seeds.

Just like in the real world, as time passes, and seeds are kept watered, plants begin to grow. This early part of the game is a little tedious: like any seed-based venture, patience is required.

The whole point of the game, of course, is to grow beautiful plants to sell at your nursery to make you fabulously wealthy. Ha ha...

As your plants mature, they need to be pollinated, so you can collect seeds for future generations of Plants For Sale. Once you've got a nice variety of species, you can start cross-pollinating them, with some interesting and surprising results...which all results in new plants to offer your nursery customers, who will either love them or hate them.

There are butterflies which regularly float and flit through the greenhouse, and you can catch them with a net. The rules suggest this is optional, but it does pass the time, and after you've caught one of each of the butterfly species for your collection, any duplicates are traded in for cash holdings.

Of course, having some cash is always handy for buying insecticide and new seeds and fertilizer, just like in real world gardening. And so there's a nursery supply screen you can visit for these things and others.

This part of the game is somewhat limited due to this being the online demo version of the game. There's a link to purchase the full game, which might just be worth it.

The online version of the game apparently links to your computer, so that when you go back later, it offers to pick up the same game you were playing...although the time you were gone has passed in the game, and you can often return to find dead plants.

The full version includes a PAUSE option for when you need to be elsewhere, which would save some unnecessary heartbreak. It also includes more new seeds to play around with, and more garden art to decorate your nursery to attract bigger crowds.

I also hope that the full version would allow me to grow twice as many plants at once, so there'd always be a wave of them headed to the nursery for sale.

It can be a fun game for a day off, when you are puttering around the house at a variety of smaller tasks. You can leave the game up on the screen and check back now and then to water and otherwise tend your little simulated plants.

And once all that's in good shape, then it's off to watering the actual house plants, or doing dishes, or laundry or taking a walk out to look at the winter garden in the cold sunshine.


Once some time has passed in the game, your plants will mature and blossom, which, like real gardening, is the best part.


Once you've collected some seeds from your plants you can price them and send them to the nursery. Here they are displayed for the gardening masses who descend on the nursery yard and scoop up plants faster than locusts can eat them.

This is a fun and thoughtfully-designed game. It's a fun change of pace. Check it out, if you like, here.

A Garden Floods

Ah, there's nothing like winter to test a gardener's faith.

While so much of New England was shoveling out from some serious snowfall, here on the Cape, we saw a day of heavy rains, with only the lightest of snow at the start and finish of the day.

However, as you can see, the rain all seemed to collect in the new garden beds. I'll have to raise these up as soon as spring allows, but for now, I can only hope the water all drains off (there's a lot of sand down deep) before we get another heavy freeze.

Sunrise, Sunset

Was up early this morning for work and caught this rare (for me) sunrise over our street.

As I left work at day's end, we had one of those cloud-painted winter sunsets going on, silent and spectacular, like a Quiet Apocalypse...and I wonder if anyone else notices as they rush around in their cars.

Trees and Sky