|
thousands of brant January 4, 2003 |
|
|||||
|
This morning the rain changed to snow and back again a couple of times. We breakfasted at Downcity again, but skipped the browse at Cellar Stories because Nancy's still reading the letters of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, which I bought her there last week and I am trying to cut back on my used book habit. With the storm still going strong, it's a good day for big waves so we headed for Beavertail in Jamestown (or does one say "on" Jamestown since Jamestown is an island?). We figured on a quick drive through Colt State Park in search of maybe a few brant. Well, I think every brant in a fifty mile radius was sitting on one little stretch of road in Colt State Park. They sat there making their chuckling sound then crossing and re-crossing the road on foot, bathing in puddles, flying a few feet toward the water and then back again, and generally ignoring any large motorized vehicles that might want to use the road. I lost count at 1000. There were definitely more than that. We spent quite a bit of time at the brant show before moving on down the bay. The waves at Beavertail were indeed big. They were huge. Looking at them through binoculars was starting to make me seasick. Hundreds of eiders and scoters bounced on the waves, but the first ducks I saw when I got out of the car were harlequins! We did not have to search for harlequins, we couldn't help but find them. They are so cool looking. I love them. Harlequins are one of those major winter treats for birders in Rhode Island. And we found 'em without even trying. Oh, and the eiders and all three scoter species were cool too. And the gulls. And one ginormous seal I swear was looking right at me. Seals love me. Go figure. All the while that we were enjoying the big waves and winter ducks in RI, the northeast storm was still pounding the North Shore of Massachusetts. Much sand circulated out to sea from Salisbury (and as we coastal freaks know, it all comes back in the spring). Fifteen inches of snow fell in North Andover. When I got home tonight my condo complex looked like Siberia or Greenland or someplace way north of this laundromat (obligatory reference to very stupid York Peppermint Patty commercial from some years back). Snowbanks towered over my car. A glacier has formed behind my fence. Speaking of the fence, the only thing holding in up now is the snow. The plow just forced the snow right on through it. With a foot or so of snow already on the ground from the Xmas storm, 4 or 5 inches from the storm on Thursday morning and 15 inches from yesterday/today's storm, there is no place to put any more snow. The trees are covered, looking very wintry. In fact the whole place around here looks like a Currier and Ives New England winter scene. You knew that Currier guy was from Amesbury right? Whittier country. For that matter, except for the lack of a fireplace, a mug of cider, nuts from brown October's wood, and the not unfeared half welcome guest this could be a scene from Snowbound. |
|
Today's Reading This Year's Reading Last Year's Reading |
||||
|
|
Copyright © 2003, Janet I. Egan |
|||||
It
was hard to unwind last night, what with driving home in the
deluge with zero visibility and wet clothing and the weird
lack of closure with the starship. Even though it was
predictable and expected, it's still abrupt and unfinished
especially since some of the people I would have wanted to
say good-bye to are still on vacation. Anyway, I just
couldn't get settled so ended up reading all my favorite
chapters of Moby Dick that I knew I'd be missing by
not having stayed at the marathon through the wee hours. It
was raining in Providence too and I could hear it pouring
while I sought out my favorite passages.