In the Right Place: Holiday Stars

Here, we see one of our Poinsettia centerpieces, which will grace the table until early January. Poinsettias have been associated with Christmas for centuries, especially in Central America, where they originated.

Most reports indicate that this is because of a Mexican legend in which a poor girl didn’t have enough money to buy a gift for the infant Jesus at Christmas services. She picked weeds and placed them in the church manger and the weeds turned into beautiful flowers shaped like the Star of Bethlehem.

The American name Poinsettia is a tribute to Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first American ambassador to the U.S., who introduced the plants to this country in the 19th Century. (Their scientific name is Euphobia pulchrrima.) The plants weren’t widely used in North American holiday celebrations until the second half of the 20th Century, when entrepreneur Paul Ecke, Jr., began to promote them for decorations in holiday television shows. (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Goodbye

This is last night’s sunset over Great Cove. We’re entering the deepest part of our winter, when the sun leaves us with her most passionate goodbye kisses.

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Jarring

Here, we see a Red-Breasted Nuthatch.

We seem to have fewer than our usual share of Nuthatches this winter. Perhaps the warmer winter weather is providing them food in the deep, impenetrable woods. Wherever they are, they’ll be complaining about everything, including each other. Their favorite “song” sounds like a series of grunts made through a kazoo: “Aank-Ennk, Aank-Ennk.”

We have both Red-Breasted and White-Breasted Nuthatches here. They get their first names from the color of their breasts and upper bodies, although the Reds really are a peach color. They get their last names from their habit of “hatching” nuts into tree crevices so that they can jack-hammer the tough food open with their bills.

Curiously, a group of these grumpy birds is called a “Jar of Nuthatches.” Why? No one seems to know for sure. But, the best theory is that, in 16th Century English, “to jar” meant, among other things, to make harsh, grating sounds." (Brooklin, Maine; Leighton Archive images used) See also the image in the first Comment space.

In the Right Place: Hark

This is what was happening here yesterday, Christmas Day: We had some wind gusts that exceeded 50 miles per hour and a drizzle that became a deluge. All the while, it was “hot,” reaching 57 degrees (F) at mid-day. Hark, the Climate Angels Cringe.

For those of you who thought that you saw a raccoon in a flying basket in the above image, you are not hallucinating – and the raccoon wasn’t the only thing in the basket when there was a lull in the wind:

That’s the Fuller family’s Christmas banner at their Naskeag Road driveway – Santa, the nature lover. (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: The Blues

The weather tellers are predicting torrential rains for us with 65-mile-per-hour winds, starting tonight. But, that was not the case when we took this image on December 15. Here, we’re looking across part of Blue Hill Bay, to part of Blue Hill Town, to Blue Hill, itself, rising above both to about 950 feet.

The Hill is wearing its gray winter overcoat of bare deciduous trees and granite faces. It was once almost totally covered with evergreen trees that often looked blue from a distance; hence, the names of the Hill, Town, and Bay.

Europeans settled in the area in 1762 and the Town was incorporated in 1789. Many of the evergreens on the Hill were cut down during the Town’s Colonial days, when the area was the site of considerable lumber milling and shipbuilding, as well as granite quarrying on the Hill.

Nowadays, in late spring and summer, when deciduous trees are in leaf, the Hill still appears blue from a distance in certain light. (Blue Hill)

In the Right Place: Basking

Here, we see the Fishing Vessel “Long Set” basking in the last sunlight to reach Naskeag Harbor on December 18. She’s been refitted with mast and boom for scallop dredging and is not afraid of the cold.

Fresh scallops from the local fleet are a popular part of Christmas dinners here. Come to think of it, they’re popular all year with those of us who buy enough in December or January to vacuum pack and freeze. (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Welcoming

Beth Eden Chapel received a face lift this year, thanks to generous community efforts. This simple Chapel, tucked into the woods along Naskeag Road, has been loved by many since 1900.

During the early 20th Century, Beth Eden served its rural Naskeag community well as a church and meeting place. It has not been used regularly during this century, but does host occasional romantic weddings, poignant funerals, and artistic forums.

The image of the Chapel’s welcoming doors was taken on December 14; the side view was taken on December 19. (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Disappearing

Here, shortly after sundown, we’re at Blue Hill’s Conary Cove on Saturday (December 19). The only light is the darkening blue-gray of the in-coming night.

The tide is at a stilled ebb, allowing the iconic red boathouse there to duplicate itself, as it often does in the daytime. Within about 10 minutes, the boathouse has disappeared into the night.

I’ve been unable to find a reliable history of this boathouse. However, I have read a report describing it in the 1950s as being painted white or light gray. Perhaps one of you can give me a citation to a history of the boathouse. (Brooklin, Maine)

Inthe Right Place: Cosmic

Here you see our first Hibiscus of the winter, as it opened fully yesterday. These flowers are perhaps the sexiest flowers in the world. When they decide to offer themselves, they offer all they have.

They slowly unfurl in the shape of a cosmic explosion, with exotic colors that attract hummingbirds, bees, and other pollinators. With a little help from those friends, the flowers propagate themselves. They contain both male (stamen) and female (pistil) organs.

In Tahiti, Hawaii, and other Pacific islands, the tradition is that a woman wearing a red Hibiscus flower behind her right ear is looking for a relationship. On a more mundane level, when dried, the flowers reportedly are delicious. On a very practical level, the flowers are used to make teas that are diuretics. (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Gently

This is yesterday’s sinking sun extending its last light gently across the face of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. We can see with unaided eyes the recent snow that has collected in clearings within the Park.

This image will become part of our continuing record of this landmark. (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Holiday Snowfall

We had a good holiday snowfall yesterday and last night. It looks like we got between three and four inches of snow on our patch of Maine coastland. As we speak, the sun is trying to break through a blanket of cloud. Here, you see our South Field at about 10:45 a.m. today – white, black, gray, and silent, with an occasional wind gust of 20 miles per hour or more to certify that Winter has come:

Yesterday, during the height of the storm, Brooklin Cemetery’s Camperdown Elm tried to protect its assigned graves and the Baptist Church across the road was sometimes hard to see:

Here are before-and- after images of the snow on a spruce gathering and the General Store hunkering down:

Country lanes and the Town pier were untraveled and the stephanandra clumps looked like ready to bite glazed buns:

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Wintah!

The snowstorm that has created a bit of a sensation in the lower latitudes didn’t reach us until this morning. A few fine flakes swirled around at about 9 a.m.

A few minutes ago – as you see by the images here – it intensified into a somewhat serious attempt to live up to its reputation.

The NOAA forecast for this area is a possible four to eight inches of snow by late this afternoon. At the moment, the temperature is 17 degrees (F), but wind chill brings it down to three degrees. North-north-east winds are 14 miles per hour with gusts of 21. Wintah! (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Appearances

Winter made a stirring appearance here yesterday. She brought single-digit cold air and wind gusts of over 30 miles per hour. She was wearing a beautiful sunny blue sky with white-necklaced seas. Today, she’s the same, except that she has calmed down a bit – gusts only in the teens. The weather tellers are forecasting that she’ll try a snow shower here tonight.

The image above is of Captain Morgan pulling at her mooring line in Naskeag Harbor yesterday morning. Below, you’ll see Great Cove on the other side of our peninsula being tussled a few minutes earlier.

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Reality

Posted on December 15, 2020

One of the things that I miss at this time of year due to the plague is attending concerts of seasonal music, where social distancing is two inches, not two yards, and you feel like you’re part of a gathering of friends enjoying themselves.

The Bagaduce Chorale and Blue Hill Bach, two of our best local producers of fine music, are giving virtual, in-home holiday performances, and they certainly are recommended. However, they’re not the real thing where you may embrace a friend and smilingly shake the hand of a stranger.

Therefore, here are images of the real thing. These are two moments from last year’s Holiday performance by the Chorale at the Congregational Church in Blue Hill.

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Uncommon Sense

On Saturday (December 12), a White-Tailed doe and her yearling slowly came into my vision as they grazed into our South Field. I was downwind from them and mostly hidden. At the first click of my camera, the yearling dashed to the woods’ edge, stopped, turned around, and looked in my direction, apparently without seeing me.

The doe never moved her legs. But, she looked in my direction, turned her ears every which way, and sniffed heavily.

Then, as you see below, she stuck her tongue out as she inhaled deeply, apparently to use an additional set of sensory glands.

At least that’s what some reports say White-Tails do. Perhaps she was just expressing an opinion.(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: More or Less

Yesterday, as you see here, the sun would crack through the wooly, gray sky every now and then to shine the waters of Great Cove and Eggemoggin Reach.

There was no color and no sound, which perversely seemed to make our sight and imagination more acute. It was a time to look at less to see more. (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: "Finally!"

When driving home during these days of early darkness outside and continual bad news on the radio inside, it’s easy to forget that this is supposed to be the time for feeling joy. Maine rural roads between towns have few streetlights and many suicidal deer in the woods along the edges. You have to be alert.

Nonetheless, when coming around the last dark bend, the lights of the Baptist Church and Brooklin General Store appear and, as you approach them, the lighted Library entrance across from the store glows. That’s when the “finally home!” feeling comes and, these days, a bit of joy comes with it. (The images here were taken Thursday, December 10.)

There’s also a feeling of wonder at how a tiny town such as Brooklin could have such an impressive “downtown” (and we haven’t even mentioned the first class Fire Department and commercial operations, including famous boat building yards). The answer, of course, is that caring people provide and strongly support these rural wonders. (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: 'Tis the Season

This image appeared yesterday in our monthly column in the Ellsworth American. To read the column, click here: http://www.5backroad.com/montly-column

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Classics

Here, we see the Fishing Vessel Dear Abbie: yesterday in Naskeag Harbor during a slack tide. She’s a lobster boat wearing her winter gear for sea scallop fishing.

That gear, behind the pilot house, consists mainly of a mast and boom for a bottom dredge (or “drag”) and a temporary “shedding hut” to protect the crew when shucking shells on cold, windy days at sea.

There’s a charm to the lines of a real working boat such as this. (Lobster boats have been called the pickup trucks of the seas.) The classic Down East Maine lobster boats have high, flared bows (to part big waves) with graceful side sheer lines that sweep aft down to low sterns. They have low freeboards (distance between water line and deck) to allow working over the sides. Their pilot house often is open in back to allow a single person to work the traps. (Brooklin, Maine)