Happy New Year!

Flagstaff Lake

The Bog

The Sit

The other day I was listening to a bird, well ever since the bird count I had been  paying more attention to what I hear outside. It's apparent there is a lot that goes on that we are not aware of, or that we are just too busy to hear. It's ok, but we should take the time to slow down and pay attention.

So I decided to figure put a way to  pay attention  and I came up with the idea of The Sit.

The rules are simple. Take 15 minutes on one day each month, sit and listen, I mean really listen. Write down what natural sounds you hear and what you see. Once in the morning and then again in the evening  try for as early in the morning and then before you go to bed. Mark the time sit in the same spot. Note every bird song, insect, or mammal you hear or see. Use binoculars if you wish. If you don't know the bird, say, note bird 1.If you hear a second bird you can't identify  then it becomes bird 2, and so on. Eventually you will learn your bird songs.  You should be alone, but if you want to do it with someone, go ahead, but no talking. You may call out a bird song you know or ask what is it.

 Then as close to the same day the next month, you do the same. Same protocol, same spot.  If you don't have a  quiet enough or a place that will allow you to do that, find a spot and make that your spot. For me, it's my back deck, in the winter I will move to the front steps.  It's once a month, that should be easy enough to maintain. If you find yourself on vacation  during the time you would be doing your sit, by all means do it there. And then once you get home. 

You will begin to find that you will slow down, and become more aware of your neighborhood. Most of us go through life or the day seeing, but not seeing, hearing, but not hearing.  Try and become more aware it might pay dividends for you. Keep at it, and in the course of a year, you will know your home area. Probably better than most people.

Oh, the bird that started this was a palm warbler.

Mountain Birdwatch 2013

Once again, I threw all caution to the wind and embarked on Mountain Birdwatch. Go ahead and check out the link, and if you can participate, I strongly urge you to join in and help out. It's worth it!

As weather is a factor, and time is limited, I picked my day wisely. The forecast was cloudy and calm to no wind. Too bad Nature didn't listen. This year due to a bunch of things, and the emergency run to a vet for my dog, Snyder, I decided early on to walk in to my site. Four and a half miles in the middle of the night  to hike in, to be there before sunrise, it sounded doable. I left my home for the 45 minute drive to Caribou Pond Rd in Carrabassett Valley just after 1am. It was a beautiful clear night, the meteor shooting across the night sky was a great touch. The 6 moose I saw also a nice touch. Nerve wracking, but nice. And the two foxes. Nice.  I got to the parking spot, and the wind was blowing. Strong enough to make the trees sway. A lot.

Ok, so the weather isn't doing what the forecast called for, nothing unusual there. They always get it wrong. (Actually the forecast is better now than 20 years ago, but when they get it wrong, it still irks.)
Now 2 am is not the time to think too much without a lot of sleep. Emotions creep in, and well, plans can get scrapped. (No I wasn't crying and screaming, close, but not quite.)  So I left.  I still had time.

MBW, take 2.

I left Wednesday morning around 1am again. Drove over, almost had a run in with a moose. That was close, we missed by 10 feet. No coffee was needed for the rest of the night or day. Back at the parking, out of the car and walking by 2 am. I got to my route around 3:30am.  There is a certain beauty to the night in the woods, an elegance that you really cannot adequately put into words. And standing in an old clearcut at that time of the morning, with the sky gradually brightening, and the first few bird songs. Well, it's worth it. 

I started hearing Bicknell's Thrush around 3:45, and then some yellow-bellied flycatchers. Good signs, especially when they are the ones you want to hear. Finally after what seems to be forever, I started my count. The Bicknell's kept up, the White-throated sparrows started, and the Yellow-bellies shut up. I listened, watched the time, moved to the next. And repeated.

You wait a year, question yourself on why you willing give up sleep, walk in the dark woods for miles wearing a headlamp. Then shiver in the pre-dawn chill, and it all becomes clear as to why you do it. Vibrantly clear. The morning, a start to another day in Maine, birds calling, no traffic noises. Just you the birds, and the wind.

A few nights later, I go out for another route, but honestly throwing a few sheets of plywood on a bridge does not inspire confidence. And when you are driving in deepest, darkest Maine, you need to feel good about it.

Honestly, early morning is my favorite time of the day. I was never much of a night person, ( I usually go to bed around 9pm), but spending time out there, it's easy to love it, to enjoy and have fun.  I can't wait for next year.

Saddleback

A quick post .

Most of the snow down low is melted.

News

I started a Tumblr blog, and I'll be posting assorted photos over there. Stop on over and take a look, it's at http://kette-adene.tumblr.com/.

There is an assortment of panoramas right now.  Having a blog is troublesome. You want to have new material to keep interest up, but life doesn't always present you with material. Well, it does, it's just a lot of it is private and needn't be aired.

Enjoy it, I will still be posting here too, and I may post more stuff, but not what you are used to.

Bar Harbor and the Whites Mountains of New Hampshire,1929.

Over the winter, I started working on my family history.  My parents were older than usual when they had me, and so I didn't get to know my grandparents. I do love history and with a little research, a lot comes into view.

Anyway, when my dad was in college in Philadelphia, he took a job with a wealthy family from Philadelphia. They had a summer place in Bar Harbor, Maine and he became their chauffeur for the summer. That was in 1929.  He came back from Bar Harbor, then the Great Depression started in October.  And then in December, his father, my Grandfather died in a car wreck. It was a tough year.
My dad went on to be a doctor, and retired in 1982. He passed in 1993, at the age of 84.

Acadia National Park

Bar Harbor

The view from Cadillac Mountain down to the town of Bar Harbor and the Porcupine Islands

Frenchman's Bay

Three masted schooner. They were still a working ship up until the 1940's

I'm thinking this is on the Park Loop Road.

Farmer with his oxen

The Old Man in the Mountain

The Cog Railway at Mt Washington

Cog Railway

Spring, well not quite.

Those of us who live in Northern New England are patiently waiting for winter to give up the ghost.
We get a day, maybe two of sunny skies, warm weather, or what passes for warm for us. A 40 degree temp can have us downright giddy. While friends farther south are smugly announcing flowers blooming, grass greening, frogs spawning. We however are not so easily fooled. Save for some in Southern Maine, but that's another story. I won't go there.

Today anywhere from 3-6 inches of snow are supposed to fall up here in Maine.  We'll suffer with it. Quietly cry, moan and scream expletives to the sky.  But our winter/spring transition has been a good one. Maple syrup producers are very happy, there is still skiing, and we have mud. Glorious mud, suck the boot right off your foot, swallow your car out  of sight, redecorate your floor with muddy paw prints stuff. It scares the tourists. We love/hate it. But it means spring is coming, just give it time.

The blackflies should be great this year.

Still winter

A few photos from a walk this past weekend.

Upper Richardson Lake

Upper Richardson Lake

Aziscohos Mt

Island in Upper Richardson, Bemis Mt in the background

Maple,beech forest on Bald Mt

Beech leaves 

Late Winter.

This is the hard time of winter. A breathe of spring wafts on the air, snow begins to melt and mud arrives. If you fall for it,and you will,  it will hurt you. The cold will come back, it always does. And you will feel like a friend has disappointed you in a bad way, betrayed, crestfallen, almost to the point of tears. Some days it does bring you to tears.

This winter started out mild, gave promise with snow, but still it stayed warm. The lake didn't freeze like it should, and people died because of it. For 4 families it was a very bad winter.  Then the cold came, and with it ,the wind. Then a thaw, and rain,halving our snow.

The last two weeks it snowed every day. Not much, but no sun, wind and snow. Tempers got short, and the look on people's faces told the story. Enough. We've had enough. We want warmth, bare ground. Green.

I have noticed some holes opening in the ice, My road is getting muddy. No birds yet.

And yet, I love this time of year. It's still cold, and can be brutally cold, along with snow. But yet it holds promise. It frustrates, it taunts. You understand patience, you need it. Real bad.  Snow as it begins to melt, collapses under your weight, it soaks you, it wears you down.  Let it melt, it needs to follow it's design, and wait for cold, it will come.

We drift back and forth from sun to clouds & snow. But the dirty snow on the side of the roads belies the fact that Spring is coming. People are tapping their maples, it's sugaring season.

The other day, it rained, snow depth has dropped, then it froze. It's this warm to cold that I love. To hell with the rest of winter, give me late winter, early spring. I say that now, and come next fall, I will be waiting for winter, and marveling at its beauty, it's cold. The clarity of light, the harshness of it's storms, the chance to recoup and rest.

Last Fall

Bog bridge, Acadia National Park

Looking towards the Cranberry Isles, ANP

Glacial Erratic on Penobscot Mt, Acadia NP

Pre Hurricane Sandy

Beach cobbles,Otter Cliffs in the background

Monument Cove, Acadia NP

Bass Harbor Lighthouse

Bass Harbor Lighthouse

Upper South Branch Pond, Baxter State Park

Spruce Grouse

Clearing Storm, The Traveler

Crow looking for breakfast

White Pine at Maggie's Nature Park

Island on Grand Lake Matagamon, Baxter State Park

Grand Lake Matagamon, Baxter State Park

Red Maple seedling

Bull Frog

Cruise ship leaving Bar Harbor

Brachiopod fossil, Baxter State Park.

North Traveler and the Traveler

The Traveler

Bigtooth Aspen

Grand Lake Matagamon

Saddleback Mt

Cliffs at Lower South Branch Pond

Snyder on the tower, Bald Mt, Oquossoc

Rangeley Lake

I've had a pretty full Summer and Fall, as you can see.