I had my heart set on sharing a photograph of my only Jan. 1 “Trap Day” on Monhegan, but do you think I could find that folder.

Maybe I couldn't find it because even to this day, I get chills thinking about how cold it was.

I contacted Doug and Harry Odom to see if I could stay with them. Not a problem they said, and then they gave me a grocery list. They offered me the guest bedroom, which I thought was pretty darned nice.

Little did I know that the guest bedroom was an unheated attic with a cot. Those boys kept the flame on low and asked me to close the attic door so the heat would stay downstairs. The glass of adult beverage I took to bed froze on the nightstand overnight.

I didn't get out of my clothes, including U.S. Coast Guard arctic parka and boots, for four days.

Pretty ripe I was, by the end of my visit.

Unable, for the moment, to document my Monhegan experience (but I will), I chose to paparazzi my wife as she relaxed outside on Christmas afternoon. I think it was almost 60 F in the sun.

Winter sunning was a technique employed by Susan's Aunt Bea, who would often bundle up on a chilly winter day, sit out, and absorb “solar D.” She also taught skiing at Saddleback into her eighties. Rangeley can get pretty cold, too. Not sure how well she would have done in Doug and Harry's attic, though.