Sears Island Yesterday Morning

Without leaves on the trees we spotted dozens of birdnests woven of reindeer moss, seaweed and birchbark
Steve’s on the Searsport Clamming Committee. One of his year ’round duties is to check the clam flats every Sunday at low tide…maybe some of you have joined him on a dig during the summer…totally enjoyable with bountiful rewards…
In January, it’s 25 degrees with a bitter bracing wind…and low tide is early…too early.
Being a good wife who sensed that her husband wanted company, I cheerfully volunteered to tag along (that’s my version of the story and I’m sticking to it). I pulled on two layers of wool socks, bundled into three layers of sweaters and found a hat that sits low over my ears. Steve wore a couple of sweatshirts and a baseball cap…one of us has thermostat issues…but that’s probably another story.
There were only a handful of people on the entire island (nobody clamming) and since we were there anyway, we decided to walk the road that traverses about a third of the island in a wide swath…3 miles of easy walking, round trip. I grabbed my camera so that you’d have a peek too…
Smell the salt and the fir trees. Listen to the wind in the pines, chickadees chattering and crunchy corn snow underfoot. Throw in the luxurious feeling of having all the time in the world…and add a footloose red hound insisting we walk faster and pay attention to more details off the trail.
And when we got home…banana-peanut butter, oat muffins with chocolate chips and strong coffee…and a couple of episodes of Nurse Jackie, first season…Hope your Sunday morning was nice too.