Winter is coming…

Storm season is upon us. Winter gales, squalls, nor’easters and the dreaded bomb cyclones are just around the corner. 

This weekend brought the first of what I’m sure will be many windy winter nights out on the rock. Our house is close to the Peaks Island Backshore where the island meets the Atlantic. It is definitely the more wild, windswept part of Peaks Island, exposed to all elements. We felt those elements in force this past Saturday. In addition to a proper soaking of rain, the storm churned up a lot of sea foam – lovingly known as spume to the delight of teenage boys everywhere. It brought in fierce winds that battered the house, took down our little outdoor heater and blew our café lights this way and that – though failed to knock them down completely.

While I don’t love when the power goes out (which it did on Saturday), I do like being out here when the weather turns. There’s something biblical about battening down the hatches, tarp-ing up the golf cart and riding out the storm. As the house rattled away, the heat pump pumped and the Christmas lights twinkled and we didn’t blow away.

The day after a big storm is nearly always the silver lining. Cleared out by wind gusts from the north, the sky feels crisp with limited pollution and amazing visibility for miles and miles. These are the days when Halfway Rock – a legendary lighthouse renovated by Ford Reiche a couple of years ago – appears to float on the horizon. The small, uninhabited islands of Outer Green and Junk of Pork seem closer than ever. The tidal pools along the shore are still. The waves, coming down from their cranky invective, slow. It’s a small gift for putting up with the aerial assault of wind, rain, sleet, and yes, a lot of snow.