Winter Solstice

The morning dawned unseasonably warm at 60 degrees and the skies had that ominous look of rain that would descend at any moment. Since the weather for the day was so uncertain, I decided to head over to Avalon to discover what changes the winter solstice had brought.

After parking near the old grist mill, I crossed the road to the pond, pausing to watch the rather large convention of ducks, geese and gulls. The land closest to to the major road, the pond itself and the area above was filled with complaining water fowl; all adding their comments of dismay about the weather.

Walking the boardwalk on the far side of the pond I found some bushes, devoid of the lush leaves of summer and the crisp foliage of autumn. Not a single leaf was clinging to these bare twigs. The berries of summer and fall however, had turned a nice bright crimson, which gave some color to this winter looking day.

Gazing across the pond, I discovered a tree filled with last summer’s nests. I counted at least 30 nests in the one tree, close enough to communicate and socialize with their neighbors.  I had no idea that birds liked living so close to each other, condominium style!

Ascending the stone steps toward the labyrinth I found a lone leaf, untouched by the breeze that had swept all its comrades deeper into the woods. It seemed  a sign that autumn had truly departed and now, we were all anticipating the return of longer daylight hours and the rebirth that the longer days will bring. But first, we await the beauty that winter brings in its own way.

As I walked along the ridge towards the labyrinth, I meditated on the scene below me.  It is place teeming with visitors in the warmer seasons; feathered companions, turtles dozing in the smaller pond below and the two legged visitors who come to admire it all. For now, I am the only visitor soaking in the wonders that this place offers during the winter season.

Holiday Thoughts

This year there is a bit of melancholy in the air and I am feeling a little bit older. It will be the first time in 27 years when the children will not be here for Christmas, while at the same time we are dealing with the illness of an elderly parent. The children have flown the nest and are making their own traditions, as it should be. I have always maintained that if we do our jobs right as parents, we have raised independent adults. So I rejoice in their independence, but still can’t help feeling a twinge of sadness at the thought of a much smaller Christmas gathering.

I know that in the future we will need to establish new traditions, but for now I try to shake off my lethargy and go through the motions of celebrating the holiday. We decide to continue the tradition of visiting the local tree farm to cut a tree. Normally, we visit the farm the weekend after Thanksgiving, hunt for the perfect tree, tag the tree and return the weekend before Christmas to cut our tree. This year, we set off for the short ride to the farm, greet the owner who has known us for almost 25 years and head towards the rows of trees to cut the tree that day, instead of waiting another weekend.

In the past, the youngest of my two children decided that if she could not have a 16 foot tree we would get the fattest tree she could find. And there have been some pretty wide trees! Many times, these trees took up about a quarter of the room; making it difficult to maneuver around the room while hiding windows and sometimes grandmothers trying to sit at the other end of the table.

Almost immediately, we find a cute little tree, a little more than 5 feet tall. Feeling that we are settling for the first tree we see, we wander the rows a bit longer, but nothing seems quite right. Nothing says, “this is THE tree”. So we return to our little tree and cut it down. As my husband carries the tree towards the front of the farm and the shed where we will pay for the tree, he comments that this year the tree is a lot easier to carry. But of course it is, he is not lugging a 6 foot tree that is 5 feet wide towards the shed!

We take our little tree home. One string of lights and a box and a half of ornaments later (almost all handmade over the years) our tree is ready for Christmas. This year, we can maneuver around the tree to plug in the lights, we can find the windows and we will not lose a grandmother behind the tree.

I wish everyone a happy, stress free holiday and a healthy New Year!

Maiden Cliff – Thanksgiving

The day after our snow hike up to Mount Battie, 2 to 4 inches of rain fell on the Camden area. However, Thanksgiving morning dawned cold and sunny so we headed up the Maiden Cliff trail that is located off Youngtown Road. Given that this particular trail is outside the Camden Hills non-hunting area, we donned our orange vests before setting up the road towards the trail-head.

Due to the rain the day before, the trail was a bit wet. In fact, there was a stream, gently coursing down the mountain where a trail used to be.  I was glad to have my trekking poles providing me with some stability during our hike. They certainly assisted me in crossing some of the deeper, wet areas along the way.

Even though the terrain was damp, we still made it up to the field in less than half an hour.  As usual, we stopped for a moment to admire the views of Megunticook Lake below us and the hills beyond. We continued towards the tree on the rock that we had missed over the summer. We were pleased to notice that one of our family members was set to continue straight, instead of turning on the small trail to our left that would take us around the tree towards the summit. It was one of those fulfilling moments when you realize that you were not the only one to make what seemed like a dumb mistake.

We sat at the top for a bit; thankful for the beautiful day, the view below and the time spent hiking with family on this Thanksgiving Day in Maine.

Carriage Road Trail – Mount Battie

The family gathered together in Camden at the beginning of Thanksgiving week in order to celebrate the holiday and to enjoy the trails the area has to offer. The morning after we arrived, we decided to hike the Carriage Road Trail. Over the summer, we thought we were taking the Carriage Trail (or the easy to moderate trail)  to the top of Mount Battie but found ourselves climbing a slightly strenuous trail towards Ocean Overlook. This error was the result of two trails with similar titles. But hindsight is a wonderful thing and when we reached the intersection of the Carriage Trail with the Carriage Road Trail we proceeded in the correct direction.

It was snowing lightly as we began our trek on the  snow covered trail. Finding the ascent steady but not difficult we arrived at the Mount Battie Road within  half an hour. Many a visitor drives up this road during the summer, in order to admire the view of the village and harbor below. On this particular day there were no crowds;  just the four of us contemplating the snow covered scene below.

The tower at the top of Mount Battie is now sporting a metal frame star that will be lit Thanksgiving evening, shining each night through New Year’s Eve.  This has been a local tradition for over 50 years. According to local sources, a  merchant placed the star on the side of his building (French and Brawn) during the holiday season, but since the star was only visible to those heading south on Route 1 the downtown merchants suggested the star be moved to the stone tower on Mt. Battie. The complete history of this tradition can be found on the Penbay Pilot website.

The snow stopped as we began our descent. During our walk down I paused to admire the snow on the remnants of last summers goldenrod. Unable to snap a decent photo due to the lack of contrast, I commandeered my youngest to serve as a dark backdrop. I think this worked rather well but I should probably use this technique sparingly.

Our round-trip hike took about an hour.

Visitor

There was a stranger in our neighborhood the other day. I almost drove by without even noticing. I had just turned off a 4 lane highway and was driving down your typical, nondescript suburban street, lined with multiple stop signs.

As I paused at one of those stop signs, I noticed a rather unusual lawn ornament on the corner property. It wasn’t so much  the statue that was unusual, but its placement that seemed a bit odd. It has been my experience that most people who decorate their yard with lawn ornaments do not typically place them right on the corner, next to a stop sign. While I was pondering this unique placement, this so called decoration, walked across the street to stand in the yard opposite!

A heron had come to peruse the land of busy roads and development houses! Now granted, this development is no more than 5 miles from water, but still this stranger seemed out of place. One passerby asked me if the bird was hurt and should they call the town to have it removed. Alas! How many people are so far removed from nature, that they cannot appreciate the unique opportunity when it comes to them. I am sure, that once this heron observed the frenzy of the area, he quickly returned to a quieter, more natural setting.

As for me, I was thankful to spend this brief moment with my unique visitor.