tis the beginning of the other season

The other season here in the greater Boothbay region is the holiday season. It is a time for those of us tough enough, or poor enough, or just stubborn enough to not go south when it finally gets cold. This year it hasn't been cold at all, until now, after Thanksgiving. Finally, it has gotten cold enough to matter - to buy the salt for the walkways, and to get out the hats and mittens.

Tonight, though, I had on the mittens and my Christmas coat for an annual ride on the Harbor Princess, at the tail end of the Lobster Boat Parade. Last year, I was too sick to go out. Two years ago, I went out but it was cold and snowing and was kind of miserable. This year, it was as wonderful as it could get.

There were 16 boats in the parade, all lit up and decorated. It is impossible to photograph it because it is so dark and the boats must be pretty far away, so you'll have to either come and see it for yourself, or imagine it. There was a boat with Rudolph on the bow, pulling Santa on top of the boat. There was a boat all outlined in blue lights with a red Rudolph on the top. There were two boats, one with a candy cane gateway into the cabin of the boat; there were two boats all lit up towing little dinghys lit up with Santa sitting in the stern. The Coast Guard boat was also done up with Santa aboard. I felt like I was a Babe in Toyland. Magic.

We went out as the sun was going down - hence the photo above of the sun sinking behind the pines on Juniper Point. The day is called Harbor Lights, when the Library tree is lit; Santa arrives by lobster boat. The shops and galleries are open until late, and most importantly, the Opera House is full of the Festival of Trees. Each year the Garden Club members, plus others like the Land Trust and the Botanical Gardens, decorate a fake tree of differing sizes, and they are put in the Opera House, which becomes a fairy land of beautiful trees. Martha Stewart has nothing over these trees. They are gorgeous.

Of course, the one I helped put together for the Land Trust, is one of the nicest. Carol, Stephanie, Pam and I had a wonderful time spending an inordinate amount of time and effort on a table top tree. It had pine cones treated with glaze and soap-snow, winterberries in tiny clusters tied with yarn, photos of different Preserves in the Land Trust mounted on foamcore and painted with gold paint, plus a wonderful cardinal in a winterberry nest on top of the tree. We are very proud of it, and hope someone buys it for a lot of money!

On a more mundane level, the Inter-Island News reported this week that lobsters talk. A research team at the University of New Hampshire has documented 50 different sounds that a lobster will make at the approach of a cod fish. Their conclusion was that the lobsters are "sounding off in order to discourage fish predation." I can only imagine what they say on the approach of a kettle full of hot water.