Water, water everywhere

The sky was gray, the ground was dry. I headed to New Hampshire to wander along the coast.

I drove under still gray skies, but as I reached the coast and continued to the north and east I could see a line of white clouds on the horizon. Before I reached blue sky and white clouds I saw seaweed on top of the sea wall, strewn across the road. The ocean must have been wild to see over the last few days...

There were large swatches of land that normally wear tall grasses that were under water. I spoke to someone who lives not far from the coast; he said that the grass just started popping up from beneath the water.

The photos here are of spots on the land side of the coastal road (route 1A), places that usually sport tall grass not water.

More photos from today can be seen in the gallery New Hampshire's short coastline - 2010.

A day of...

When I walked out to my car at my home away from home this morning there was white in the air. Hard white, flying, more hail than snow.

A few minutes later, the sun edged out from behind the clouds. Bodies of water reflected trees and the cloudy sky. There was blue in the sky, then it turned gray again.

Hail, sunshine, blue skies, gray skies, snow... a day of constant change.

Organized chaos

Have you been watching the Olympics at all?

My eyes were glued to the action, fascinated by the activity on the ice as I watched the final of the men's short track speed skating 5000 meter relay last night. I found the opening paragraph of this article in The Epoch Times to be a good description:

"Compound the craziness of short track speed skating with relay-style rotation of skaters right in the middle of the track, and you get the short track relay."

There were 5 teams of 4 on the ice, with the active racers on the outside of the track and the soon to be next racers positioning themselves in front of their racing teammate to get a big push, becoming the next active racer on the team. A push, not a simple tap, a hard push.

Fast, constant movement, passing, crash avoidance, organized chaos...
Fascinating.

Dark

What an interesting weather week.

Wednesday's prediction was for snow with the depths decreasing as the storm moved closer to the coast. I checked the forecast in the morning and decided that it was a good day to work at home. The roads were a bit of a mess early in the day. Later? All rain...

Rainfall for Wednesday? Two inches of water fell from the sky over my house, but in central and western Massachusetts there were places where 20 inches of snow fell before it turned to rain. Yikes.

The prediction for Thursday was for more rain. The morning was gray, with fog and light rain. The prize came late in the day, heavy rain, another 2 1/2 inches of water accompanied by high winds, whipping winds topping out at 61 miles per hour (in the town next to mine).

Time for sleep. A beep! followed by quiet...

Uh oh. That slight beep was the smoke detector switching from electricity to battery power. 11PM, no power. I fell back to sleep hoping that the power would reappear before morning.

The power was still off when I left for work. It was still off when I returned home this evening. I pulled out some candles, intending to stay in my chilly dark home. The phone rang. I picked it up to hear a recorded call from the electric company, stating that they were working on restoring power to thousands of customers, that it could take several days. Hmmm.... I really was going to stay home, but that call threw me over the edge. I called some good friends and invited myself to bunk in their spare bedroom for the night. Lights and warmth sounded more appealing than sitting at home in the dark.

I just checked the National Grid web site, and it looks like power has been restored. Ah, tomorrow, warmth at home again. Phew! Do you think I helped the power company fix the problem faster by leaving for the night?

Images, words, Hawaii memories

The words from our wander on the Big Island emerged while we were traveling, and the photos popped up a bit after our return. Words without photos, and photos without words...

I've just picked a few photos to scatter among the words. I know, you already read our words! If you're interested in seeing some of the places described in words through our eyes, click here to take another quick look through our Hawaii 2010 blog entries.

--- Rover

Pulled to the coast

I know, I know, it's still winter here in the northeast. We're still a month away from the vernal equinox, and the seasons here tend to lag the calendar date. Yesterday provided an early taste of spring though, sunny, temperatures edging into the high 40s. It pulled me outside...

The coast was calling to me. I headed to south coastal Maine, to the Wells Reserve, a place that is fast becoming a favorite destination for walking. The trails still wore a bit of snow, and there were quite a few muddy sections too. Ponds wore their winter ice, the ocean drew pictures in the sand with water.

More photos from today can be seen in the gallery Wells Reserve - 2010. I plan to add to this gallery as I wander there through the year; the newest photos will always be at the top of the gallery.

Paint by clouds

Snow

Late afternoon, footsteps crunching, a walk in heavily falling snow...

A call to the coast

Ah, it's President's Day, one of those odd holidays where the office is closed. It's good to have an extra day off; the crisp bright day pulled me to the coast for an afternoon wander.

I headed to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, a place that has fast become a favorite of mine. The temperature was hovering around 40, but a brisk wind dictated layers. That shouldn't be much of a surprise since it is still winter, should it?

It was a sparkling day, blue skies, sun, wind, the sound of the ocean, birds wandering the salt marsh, canada geese sitting still, flying. Beautiful.

Click to view more photos in the gallery Parker River through the seasons - 2010.

Look over my shoulder

My photos from my Hawaii wander have jumped from my camera and are now available for viewing. You can start with the top level gallery, Pele's wonders - Winter 2010, or you can click on the photos below to enter a specific gallery.

A few favorites:

Circling the Big Island:


Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:


Signs, warnings:


Words? You can find my ramblings in my blog entries tagged Hawaii 2010.