What a pleasant surprise to see our shadows during a late afternoon walk with our newest best friend Leica the wonder dog. We wonder if she is a dog! What a piece of work.

Moore’s Rock is right behind the house where we used to live at the top of Sherman Street in the Harbor. At the suggestion of Bernard Coady, my barber for what little hair I had, we bought his mother’s house. Verna Coady had shared her house for years with seasonal women workers, a boarding house of sorts. Nettie Mitchell, our next door neighbor on Sherman Street, rented rooms to seasonal young men workers. It was a lovely neighborhood for our family. Uncle Harry and Aunt Alice Gray lived across the street. We bordered Moore’s Rock. The location was one of the highest points in the area, once sporting a tower for signal flags.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I was close, but no cigar! 

Our pond de-iced this past weekend but no ducks. It seems many of the island ducks have taken up residence on the Southport school pond, revving up a bit before making the big transition down the road to our place. There was a large gathering at the school the other day when I went by, possibly trying to reach consensus regarding the next move. I suspect we will see the flock soon on our pond about one week later than last year.

In the past several years, the village ducks have returned to our pond by now and are happily paddling around quacking as they scurry off to overhanging bushes lining the water. But this year, the pond seems to have a death grip on its ice, some of which may be the result of the deep freezing temperatures of early winter. From the amount of tracks on the snowy areas on the pond, the ducks' absence may be warranted. Seems like all the wildlife has been on high alert looking for food. I think it's been a tough winter for most.

It’s hard to believe that it's been 20 years since Captain Eliot Winslow logged out. It seems like almost yesterday that we chatted in the Robinson’s Wharf parking lot. Well, mostly I listened, Eliot chatted. He was an institution with plenty to say. We had become buddies over the years going back to my earliest times here in Maine.

Breeze Kidder is one of our most wonderful family friends. She and our oldest daughter Megan were classmates at the Harbor Children’s Center at the tender age of 3. The Children Center, which closed some time ago, was located on School Street in Boothbay Harbor. It is now the home of Coastal Payroll. Megan and Breeze attended under the watchful eye of Debbie Butterfield, the lucky recipients of her care. We were very grateful parents, happy for experiences shared with a substantial group of youngsters. And when a bug entered the building we all got to participate, building resistance to future colds and similar impediments.

Awaiting a winter storm is like watching bread rise: You know it will happen, but when exactly depends on the ingredients. For me, my bread formula (which is actually passed down from my Irish grandmother) generally behaves better in a warm kitchen. The dough rises, gets kneaded, then rises again. Patience is paramount, just like waiting to see what shows up in a winter storm. All preparations don’t guarantee results. In both cases, with bread and storms, the finished product is the final measure. Sometimes my bread takes forever to rise and sometimes storms arrive when they are good and ready, or bad and ready, as the case may be.

Perhaps a midwinter puzzle might provide diversion from the coldness that has been with us for our recent past and present, with maybe a small break coming up which may include some of my most dreaded winter rain. Ugh. I hate winter rain and its accompanying aggravations. But, temperatures should moderate.

My search for Larry Knapp turned into quite an adventure.

Since I don’t pick up bait early enough, that option was out. So I needed to do a little detective work. Where have I seen Larry lately? I recalled seeing him at the East Side Park dock during the tribute boat parade for George McEvoy, so I headed over there on a chance sighting. No boats, no luck. So my next thought was Atlantic Edge. I knew that Larry went out early and came in early, but I wasn’t sure what early was. I asked Linda at Atlantic Edge if Larry kept his boat there or on one of their moorings. She told me to wait a minute and went into the office to ask if anyone knew Larry’s traffic pattern. She came back out and said that he was just taking his boat across the harbor to the Tugboat marina which is where he has kept his boat in winter for some time. That was my break. I made it for the Tugboat hoping to catch him before he packed in for the day.

If you were to take a stroll (safely accompanied by shipyard staff) around the historic Boothbay Harbor Bristol Marine property, you would be amazed by the amount of activity at every turn.