As I sit here at my desk, such as it is, this morning on the 18th of December I can hear the wind gusts in the fireplace flu and get a healthy puff of smoke from the wood stove. The wind was relatively quiet overnight but now, at 8 a.m., it is evident that there is more power in the air. The trees along the driveway are swaying dramatically and the gulls are pitching about uncomfortably if they dare to venture out from a safe cove. The rain is intermittent but clearly inevitable in the way you can feel the moisture when opening the door to let the pup out for morning business. I hate winter rain!

I know, our mother used to tell us “You do not hate anything, please try intensely dislike.” OK, that’s fair, I intensely dislike winter rain because it usually means there is associated trouble on the way. Houses and trees often don’t manage well when the rain comes with wind from different directions. I was told once by an old timer builder that the roof caps on house peaks were aligned to more effectively handle weather from a given direction, like say, out of the northwest. Swing things around to the southeast or southwest and it’s a different story. The different shorelines of our region also are more impacted by storms when the wind and surges come from the south. We don’t need to worry much about storm surge up here on the hill but folks along the water are well aware.

Rain this time of year also puts a bit of a damper on the holiday spirit. Just imagine if all the rain we are getting was snow! We’d have a good pile of it now with plenty to do. But the snow does add a nice seasonal touch up here in the Northeast. Interestingly our winters seem to be less snowy so it seemed right to share an image or two from years gone by when this time of year brought less rain.

The photograph I am sharing today was made maybe 10 years ago over along Murray Hill Road in East Boothbay, near the public boat landing. This has always been a go to place for me during all times of the year. The view from the boat landing out Linekin Bay to the south never disappoints. Great skies fill with magnificent clouds, storms are well anticipated from there and wonderful calm can settle into the bay as well. In winter, caught at a good time, the snow can create a kind of mystery along the shore. The gulls sitting on the split rail fence seemed quite content but perhaps a bit confused by my presence. Confusion is no stranger to me so when I heard what sounded like a little chuckle from the gulls I knew they would tolerate my visit. Just after I made this photo they plopped down to the shore in search of something to eat and I returned to my car to warm up and dry off.

Winter came from the right direction this time.