Weathering the storms

Resting.  (Assateague Island, Maryland)

I trust the mystery. I trust what comes in silence and what comes in nature where there’s no diversion. I think the lack of stimulation allows us to hear and experience a deeper river that’s constant, still, vibrant, and real. And the process of deep listening with attention and intention catalyzes and mobilizes exactly what’s needed at that time.

~  Ángeles Arrien

Sheltered from the wind.  (Assateague Island, Maryland)

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks here on the Eastern Shore.  Three nor’easters have had their way with us.  The first was the worst of the triplets in terms of damage here on the ranch, and that was mostly downed trees and branches.  The weather folks were saying we might have a fourth nor’easter next week, but they seem to be backing off from that right now.  It’s too soon to tell but at the very least we’ll have more rain and wind.

An egret at Chincoteague.

The quote I began the post with is a little off in terms of references to silence and lack of stimulation.  The wind has been quite stimulating and invigorating, and anything but silent.  It has also been persistent.  We’ve had, maybe, one or two calm days since the first nor’easter blew in.

Rough seas on Tuesday. (Virginia end — Chincoteague — of Assateague Island)

On Tuesday I spent the day with friends on Assateague Island.  The wind was whipping, blowing us all over the place.  The ocean was turbulent, the waves crashing and pounding, the wind blowing back the water on the wave tops and creating rooster tails.  It was contradictory in a way, crashing towards shore while being blown back towards the rest of the sea.

Wheeee!

It was a beautiful, sunny, blue-sky day that more than made up for the wind.  Not that the wind needed to be made up for.  There is something quite energizing about a windy day at the beach.  I did unintentionally eat a bit of sand and my face felt as though I’d gotten a good exfoliation from both the wind and the sand.  We all had rosy cheeks that evening although I don’t know for sure if that was from the wind, the sun, or a combination of the two.

Waves rolling in and blowing out at the same time.

Our visit to Assateague Island started at the southern end in Virginia which most refer to as Chincoteague.  The road to the beach and parking lots was closed because of the overwash from the storms so our plans to drive out to one of the coves had to be nixed.  That’s okay.  We found plenty of other things to do, things we might have missed if we’d found the time to go to the cove.

Humans on the beach. If you look at their feet, you can see the sand blowing. It has a kind of misty look to it.

It was an amazing visit during which we got to see quite a bit of the wildlife including some snow geese, tundra swans, egrets, sika (deer), and the wild (feral) horses.

Snow geese in flight.

We spent the morning on the Virginia side of the island, had lunch in the town of Chincoteague, and then drove up to the Maryland end of the island.  Except for the first two photos of horses, most of the pictures in this post will be from the Virginia side since I don’t want to inundate you with too many images at once.

Dunes and sea spray (behind the dunes).

Spring is still slowly in progress here in spite of the storms and cooler than usual weather.  Daffodils are blooming, peonies are popping up, and I’ve seen quite a few flowering trees while traveling to the beach and back.  Except for the visit to the beach on Tuesday, I’ve been leaving the camera at home most of the time when I go for my walks.

Hunkered down.

The storms have brought us some woodland flooding.  After the blowout (when some of the water was blown out of the bay and into the ocean) when we had the super low tides, we had several days of super high tides.  The ground is still saturated from all the rain, but because the winds are gusty and the humidity is low we are under a wildfire threat.  There is also a small craft advisory, but I doubt there are too many small boats out on the bay today.

Staying low on a windy day.

I reckon that’s about it from me on this cloudy, windy day.  I hope to get back into the swing of blogging again in a week or two.  Lots going on in the meantime that will probably keep me away from the computer.

Over the dunes. (Snow geese gathered in the background.)

Thank you so much for stopping by.  It doesn’t look as though we’ll see much of a sunset tonight, but you never know.  Now that we’ve sprung forward an hour, sunset is scheduled for 7:11 PM.  Let’s meet out at the Point if it looks good.  I’ll be there early as usual so I can take a walk and see what’s been going on out there since my last visit (which was on Tuesday evening).

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Baby sika deer.

A few of the 10,000 reasons to be happy:  586)  The new heating system.  Yay!!  It came with a programmable thermostat.  It’s wonderful to wake up to a warm house in the mornings.  587)  A short but wonderful visit with old friends.  588)  Long conversations, shared memories, and lots of laughter.  589)  The way the light is hitting the trees right now.  590)  Unexpected sights and sounds.

Sunset during the first nor’easter (on March 2 when the wind was blowing at about 60 mph with higher gusts).

Rarely do we realize that if we simply take time to marvel at life’s gifts and give thanks for them, we activate stunning opportunities to increase their influence in our lives.

~ Ángeles Arrien, Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life