Spring | Change Is Hard

March 14, 2015
by dawnkinster 15 Comments

Winged signs of hope

About this time every year I get so tired of it all. Tired of the snow and cold and slush and wind and dark and…well…those of you that have ever lived up this way know. I looked back at the blog for a few years and guess what? Regardless of how easy or difficult the winter was, about this time of year I’m just over it and I start searching for signs that winter is over and spring has moved into my little part of the world. Now I can’t guarantee that this winter is over, but here are a few things I’ve seen or heard in the past two days that might give us all a little hope.

Friday evening as I got home and went inside to gather Katie for our trek to the mailbox there was the sound of a robin singing somewhere near. The light was bad but I searched the tops of trees and found a dark roundish bit of shadow that I believe was Mr. Robin. This winter I spotted a robin at our bird bath, looking decidedly disgruntled with the snow. Maybe yesterday’s was the same one, just a little happier.

Cold and hungry in January

This morning as Katie and I were out in the predawn darkness I heard a sound up in the neighbor’s oak trees that I’ve never heard before. I couldn’t place it, and each time I looked toward the sound (which was coming from multiple trees) all I could see was a blue jay. Couldn’t be, I thought, and went on my way. This afternoon I went online and looked for some video of blue jay sounds. Listen to the first few seconds of this. Did you know blue jays make this sound? I sure didn’t. I wonder if it’s something they do in the spring?

Later in the morning as I drove to work a sandhill crane flew overhead. Just one, which made me a little sad — I hope the spouse is somewhere near in a nest. Still, it’s good to know at least one has come back for the summer.

And then the absolutely positively sure fired proof it’s spring – when I got home from work this afternoon the red winged blackbirds were decimating my bird feeders.

Hungry!

I hadn’t even heard them yet this year, and that’s usually my first sign. But there they were, a whole flock of them hungrily scratching at the ground under the feeder. They seemed a bit frantic. These birds eat so much so fast that sometimes in the fall I stop filling the feeder until after they’ve left for the season as the rest of my birds can’t get near it to eat. But they are a sure sign it’s spring, so today, in appreciation, I’m filling it back up just for them.

And for this guy.

Also hungry

Wordless Wednesday

March 11, 2015 by dawnkinster 14 Comments

March 4, 2015
by dawnkinster 11 Comments

WordPress photo challenge: Reward

If you look at the latest Wordless Wednesdays on this blog you’ll understand why this is a reward.

You can see other interpretations of ‘reward’ at the original challenge. Or stop by here, here, here and here.

And don’t miss this one. It’s the kind of place I’d use as a reward myself.

What’s a reward for you? Have you treated yourself lately?

It’s time.

January 21, 2015
by dawnkinster 18 Comments

Wistful Wordless Wednesday

September 3, 2014
by dawnkinster 6 Comments

WordPress photo challenge – dialogue

Two photos that relate to each other is called a photo dialogue. We didn’t get to Smith Mountain tower this trip, but here’s my photo dialogue from last February when we climbed the mountain.

You can see other interpretations of photo dialogues at this WordPress blog. Or you can find a few of my favorites here, here and here. And this one too.

July 10, 2014
by dawnkinster 13 Comments

Lighthouse day

Maine has fifty-seven active lighthouses; we only saw five yesterday and it took us all day! But what a fun day it was. First up is the Rockland Breakwater light. It’s at the end of a breakwater, built in 1888 and 7/8 of a mile long. The lighthouse was built in 1902.

Do you see the lighthouse way out there?

You walk along huge flat granite rocks, watching where you put your feet because there are large cracks and holes between the rocks. It’s something of a giant jigsaw puzzle and it takes longer than you expect to get out to the lighthouse.

Welcoming ships to the harbor.

It was a good way to start the morning, that long walk in the sea breezes.

Next was Owls Head Light Station. It’s located at the mouth of the Rockland harbor and was built in 1825.

The Coast Guard maintains many of the lighthouses.

The light itself sits on a rock bluff over what many people saw as the face of an owl etched by mother nature in the rock below. I looked hard at photos but I couldn’t see the owl.

The story is that Spot, the family dog of one of the keepers kept many ships off the rocks with his ceaseless barking. Katie would be an excellent lighthouse dog!

The view is worth the climb.

While we were at Owls Light we saw a brochure for Marshall Point Light, not to far away. So of course we headed right over. Turns out not to far away is further than you think as you ‘can’t get there from here’ and everything is up and around another bay.

There’s a museum here, and a memorial to lost commercial fishermen.

But this is a beautiful lighthouse, built in 1858 near Port Clyde, a beautiful fishing village, the 30 foot light tower is out on the rocky point, accessible by a wooden bridge.

Flags flying high.

We moved on to our favorite lighthouse of the day; Pemaquid Point Light. Don’t you wonder how names come about? This lighthouse was built in 1827 on a beautiful rocky point.

The light warns ships of the rocks.

The rocks look like liquid stone, with iron ore running through the dark base. It’s simply amazing. Exploring the rocks is almost as much fun as exploring the lighthouse.

Going up?

This lighthouse also allows visitors up inside the tower. It’s quite tight up there, but it was worth the short wait to climb the stairs and look out over the ocean.

Beautiful sea views.

We spent a long time at this lighthouse. We could have sat on the rocks and watched the waves crash all day.

To break the lighthouse spell, and add some variety to our day we stopped at Fort William Henry, a restoration and a Pemaqid State Historic site on Pemaquid Beach.

Rebuilt tower houses small museum.

Here we had a tour guide talk about some of the artifacts found at the site. They are still excavating here each summer.

Explaining some of the past.

I think she was bored before we arrived and started asking all sorts of questions. She really enjoyed telling us about the site and the work that was being done there.

Waiting for someone to ask.

Our last stop of the day was Hendricks Head Light. We drove a long time to find this one, and in the end the closest we could get was a public beach.

Secluded beauty.

Still, it was beautiful and I’m glad we found it.

I hope you enjoyed our tour of a few of Maine’s lighthouses. We certainly did. Today we’re going to take it easy, after all, it is a vacation!

We’ll talk later.

Waiting to be discovered.

May 31, 2014
by dawnkinster 27 Comments

Spring cleaning

December memories

Ha! I bet you thought I was going to entertain you with stories from the backs of closets or under beds. And how would that relate to the frigid photo above? Are you confused?

Well so is our yard this spring. Confused. After the brutal winter we are managing to get through a sad and wet spring. We didn’t get any forsythia blooms, no redbud blossoms, the Japanese maple is dead, many of our birch were irretrievably bent during December’s ice storm.

So this spring instead of planting beautiful young flowers, patting soil gently around their tender roots, our tools look like this:

Cleanup tools

And the results are just as harsh.

Makes me cry

It’s a sad spring, but some things are blooming, and Katie of course tries to brighten our day. So I guess we will accept what is and move forward with what’s left of our landscape. Let’s hope next winter isn’t as harsh. I don’t think the plants that survived this last one could make it through a second.

Hey Mama! This one made it!

I don’t think I could either.

brrrrrrrrr

May 24, 2014
by dawnkinster 9 Comments

Forget me not

Forget Me Not

I spent some of this first day of the 3 day holiday weekend weeding. It’s the same old thing, by the time I get around to weeding the perennial garden it’s overrun with grass. I don’t even need to take a before picture – it looks the same as it did last year at this time. Think of a long green rectangle filled to overflowing with grass waving knee high. You would be accurate.

So what does a person think about when she’s pulling grass mindlessly for an hour or so? Well if you’re me, you think about your Dad. He’d have been 85 last February. I’d have liked to see him achieve that age, see what he was interested in, what he’d think about world events. I imagine him talking to the DOT about truck issues, can hear his impatience with the slowness that is Washington. I hear his encouragement to keep up the good fight.

I think about Mom too, of course. She loved her flowers and her birds. Though she didn’t die at the same time or in the same way as Dad, it sometimes feels like one event, their deaths happened so close together. I think about her when the oriole couple visit, or when I hear the cranes in the swamp up the road. And I think about her when I’m weeding.

This week while work was especially difficult I’d get up from my desk to stretch and glance out the window. Thursday and Friday almost every time I did a robin flew around the corner of the building and landed at the tip top of a tall spruce tree, about level with my window. It swayed in the breeze and chattered as I stood and watched and smiled. Eventually I’d get back to work and when I’d glance out in a bit the bird was gone. But it was back three or four times when I’d stand up to stretch, and the last time it stared in my direction while it chattered. I know the windows are glazed and the bird can’t really see me. And the bird couldn’t know that I needed that little bit of entertainment during a very bad day. But each time that robin turned up I’d said “hi” to Mom, and before I sat down again I’d say a silent “bye, see you next time.”

So I’ve been thinking about the two of them a lot these past few days. That’s not a bad thing, I’ve sort of enjoyed it. Especially during these beautiful spring days when I’m pulling weeds in my garden and they’re both just a memory away.

Broken hearts

May 22, 2014
by dawnkinster 15 Comments

Unrelated musings

Do you see the mama?

It’s been a long and stressful week. I think, of my regular readers, only Carol will truly understand. She has successfully retired from my industry and people outside it don’t grasp the level of stress during our busy season. Especially the busy season in conjunction with the end of a month.

This is a really really big nursery.

I’m behind on things I wanted to show you from my visit to my favorite park almost two weeks ago. So how about I just intersperse park photos among the random musings that have been rolling around in my head trying to avoid the stress headache lurking there. Click on any photo to make it bigger and see more details.

Waiting for the shot.

“Reaching out.” I suppose this blog is my way of reaching out to you. But I’d like to think it’s not because I really detest that saying. I don’t know when people started using it, but it’s everywhere now. Do people use it because it’s more hip than saying calling…or emailing? “I’m reaching out to you in the hopes that you will…” When I read that in an email, or hear it on the phone I immediately put my defenses up. Because no one ever reaches out to me unless they want something. Can’t they just say what they’re really doing…they’re emailing me. They’re calling me. They want something. It doesn’t sound any more friendly or less threatening because they were reaching out. Makes. Me. Nuts.

He was curious about me.

And while we’re on the topic of phrases what’s with “drilling down?” What exactly does that mean? That we’re going to get more detailed, maybe explore something further. I think. Why can’t we just say that? It doesn’t make me as nuts as “reaching out” but still who is fooling who? Does anyone really know what we’re “drilling down’ to? And how will we know when we get there? Exactly.

Does anyone know what this bird is?

A running friend, a year younger then me, is retiring in two weeks. She’s doing it for all the right reasons, her job is stressful, too much travel, and her parents who live near are getting older and need more assistance. I’m happy for her. She says she might have to reenter the work force sometime in the future but I sincerely hope she doesn’t have to do that, I hope she gets to enjoy a long happy time with her folks and that they thrive under her attention.

Hungry!

Katie and I are going camping at a real campground far to the north of us in a couple of weeks. It’s been cold here…really cold for this time of year. I’m starting to worry about sleeping in a tent for two nights further north. How many blankets can I pack, how many layers of clothes can I sleep in. And last time I tried to camp when it was this cold Katie wouldn’t settle down. I’ve seen doggie sleeping bags but I’m pretty sure she’s not going to sleep in one. I think I need a backup plan. I should have booked a weekend in August!

Mr. Rose Breasted.

So that has pretty much emptied my mind. I hope you could follow. Or not. Totally up to you. Me? I’m going to try to get through another day in the business at the end of the month.