by elizabeth e.
Member since:
January 6, 2006

Brrrrr....17 Degrees...in Massachusetts

December 06, 2007 09:50 PM EST
views: 105 | comments: 43

Though winter won't arrive for another fourteen days or so, it sure is cold around here.  Early in the morn before the sun comes up I need to walk my dog.  I can honestly say there have been no long romps around the bogs or hiking the woods...too damn cold!  All I have to do is look out my front windows and see the changes in the pond and know winter has come early this year!

December 4, 2007  7 A.M.  Overnight my side of the pond started to freeze over.

 

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December 5, 2007

  

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December 6, 2007  7 A.M.  The pond is now completely frozen over...though not thick yet, soon the ice will be four to six inches... ready for ice skating.  When our boys were small, they waited in great anticipation for the ice to thicken.  They would beg Papa to take his axe down to the pond to see if the ice was ready.  Sometimes it took several days or even a week before Papa's axe would tell the truth....such agony.  But then one afternoon, axe in hand, Papa would say, "Six inches!"  Within a matter of minutes, skates in hand, the boys would run down to the pond.  

 

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 Now Papa and I watch other children, not our own, brave the cold winter days, frolicking on the ice, while we sit by the fire  content.  Sometimes it's nice having an empty nest!
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Comments: 43

queen.susan . Dec 6, 2007, 10:00pm EST
Great photos!
Thanks for sharing your part of
the country and the weather there.
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
elizabeth e. Dec 6, 2007, 10:01pm EST
Susan, that is such a cute icon.
Faith H. Dec 6, 2007, 10:10pm EST
I love your pond, Bob. It must have been great fun for the boys.
p.s. it is going to be 70 here tomorrow!
*LORA* M. Dec 6, 2007, 10:11pm EST
this is pretty
elizabeth e. Dec 6, 2007, 10:20pm EST
Faith, I'm divorcing Papa for the winter and coming South to Sweet Alabama...i know you have a spare bedroom...while your with the judge, I'll be at the beach! 70 degrees...oh, I'm just so jealous!
elizabeth e. Dec 6, 2007, 10:21pm EST
Of course Tom Brady rawks, Lora. Thanks for stopping by! Did you bring your hockey stick?
Ron B. Dec 6, 2007, 10:22pm EST
Neat pictures. It's been many years since I've seen 17 degrees.
Faith H. Dec 6, 2007, 10:23pm EST
Bob, you will be just another of the many snowbirds we have here, come on down, the weather's fine!
Melinda ~choosing happiness~ S. Dec 6, 2007, 10:36pm EST
Lovely photos! There is ice out on my river, too....but it moves fast enough that it never gets thick enough for skating.
JoAnne D. Dec 6, 2007, 10:41pm EST
Great photos, thanks for the share.
elizabeth e. Dec 6, 2007, 10:43pm EST
Ron, you should come on up....it's "colder then a rat's a$$" as Papa said when I asked if he would walk Tuck. But I wouldn't know about that...never had the opportunity to hold a rat!
elizabeth e. Dec 6, 2007, 10:44pm EST
Faith...forget school...I'll be on a plane tomorrow morn...just leave the door open, I'll make myself at home.
elizabeth e. Dec 6, 2007, 10:45pm EST
Thanks JoAnne for stopping by...now do you know why they call me Bob!
elizabeth e. Dec 6, 2007, 10:46pm EST
Melinda...once it freezes good, it will stay till the end of February. Two or three years ago, the ice stayed till the beginning of April. Brrrrr!
Minakshi w. Dec 6, 2007, 11:30pm EST
OOh..looks cold but interesting. The same stories used to happen in Kashmir, Bob. The Dal Lake would freeze over and the houseboats anchored on the banks used to look like tiny models placed on a thermocol sheet!
Kids were always out there on cycles and skates. You took me back to my childhood memories. That line...'watching other children' reminds me of a lil poem. Will mail it to you.
Minakshi w. Dec 6, 2007, 11:31pm EST
By the way, beautiful pictures. Give me winters, any day.
Nancy S. Dec 7, 2007, 12:03am EST
I would have been in heaven when I was a kid. Mainly we had creeks, flooded fields I flooded ditches.
Holly G. Dec 7, 2007, 1:23am EST
Great article, and photos!!! It made me cold...it's funny because here I am in Florida, with my flannel pj's on, all wrapped up in a blanket, freezing, and it's like sixty degrees outside. Hey for me that's cold...I can't believe I am a Chicago girl! Six years in Florida sure has made my blood thin! BRRRR!!
elizabeth e. Dec 7, 2007, 5:53am EST
Minnie. I will have to check my email and read your little poem. It is strange, watching from afar.
elizabeth e. Dec 7, 2007, 5:57am EST
Nancy, When Papa and I came back to the pond in the late seventies where I grew up our intent was only to stay a year or two and then we were going to head back to Alaska...but once Papa got a taste of this little place on earth, he wanted to stay. He said it was a good place to "raise boys"....the pond, the woods, the cranberry bogs...would give the boys the same thing we had in Alaska. And so we stayed.
elizabeth e. Dec 7, 2007, 6:00am EST
Oh, you "Chicago girl", Holly....now that IS a cold city in the winter. When the snowstorms come barreling out of the Great Lakes, Chicago is really COLD! I've only been there in the spring and summer, but I watch the news! Brrr! Florida would be a welcome relief.
This would be a wonderful pond to fall into through the ice...I did that a few times in Holland as a child. I must be in my second childhood.
Roy ☯ Hilbinger Dec 7, 2007, 6:36am EST
Great article, Bob! Gooseneck Cove has frozen over on the upper end, too. There's still open water where the tide flows strongest, though. I don't believe there's any place on the Cove that's officially "skateable". But there have been years when I've watched the ducks walk all the way across.
Fred Hose Dec 7, 2007, 7:34am EST
I know that it's cold out there, Bob.
I know that it's so cold that you can hardly take the steps along the walkway...but it looks beautiful. I love the SA sunshine climate but there's something so spiritual about living through the four seasons.
I've experienced this in the States and in Germany. To see a real Autumn...or see a real Spring...or whatever, is truly enriching
elizabeth e. Dec 7, 2007, 7:35am EST
Magi, actually both Will and Aaron have fallen through but thank goodness, both times they were walking around the edge of the pond from Mom's house to ours. School buses never came down our dirt road (it was paved several years go) and so they had to walk over to Mom's house to get the bus.

Because it is a spring fed pond, there are certain places in the middle that remain thin throughout the winter. In actually, bogs are much safer to ice skate on.
elizabeth e. Dec 7, 2007, 7:38am EST
Roy, I need to see Newport in the Winter. Maybe we can hitch up on one of my vacation days...just tell me the day you have off and we'll go hiking to your favorite places. That will be a real treat for me. Love your latest video!
elizabeth e. Dec 7, 2007, 7:38am EST
Fred, just hop on a plane...I would gladly share my cold with you!
Debbie G. Dec 7, 2007, 9:40am EST
Bob, wonderful photos! I agree with the fireside plan. Right now it is hard for me to imagine taking little ones out there and supervising their fun. Ma., winter's were hard on me. I have pictures though, of the wonderment I knew from walking on the same waters we had kayaked earlier. Ice doesn't get that thick in this part of the country.
Cecile V. Dec 7, 2007, 12:40pm EST
Chillingly beautiful!!!!
Bridget M. Dec 7, 2007, 5:25pm EST
I remember the pond in the summers, we spent alot of time swimming there. Wow, it looks like the houses have grown. I don't remember the winters there though. We were bog skaters!
elizabeth e. Dec 7, 2007, 5:51pm EST
Brrrr...real cold, Amy. I need to find my long-johns if Tuck is going to get any more walks!
elizabeth e. Dec 7, 2007, 5:53pm EST
Yup, Deb, sitting in the computer room or in front of the fire in the living room or downstairs in the TV room is where you find Papa and I on these cold, winter days. Massachusetts winters are hard.
elizabeth e. Dec 7, 2007, 5:54pm EST
Cecile, Southern California winters look great to me now!
elizabeth e. Dec 7, 2007, 5:59pm EST
Bridget, when Papa and I moved to the pond many years ago it was just the Bowers (Geoff and Jenn Dixon) and ourselves who were over here. Mom's was the only year-round place on her side...and Pine City had maybe three or four year-round resident families. Most of the cottages have been raised and year round houses built and there must be at least 30 families over in Pine City now.
You're so right. We're enjoying our empty nest while we can. It will soon fill up for the holidays and we'll be frazzled and looking forward to it being empty again.

Lovely pictures and sentiment.
elizabeth e. Dec 7, 2007, 11:14pm EST
A quiet house after raising three boys is heaven, Ina!
Jean, just the teensiest bit odd, F. Dec 8, 2007, 1:10am EST
Gee, Elizabeth... I have nothing but admiration for you... I would freeze my TUSHY off in that kind of cold... I complain when the temp drops below 60... lol...
elizabeth e. Dec 8, 2007, 5:28pm EST
The Tushy is fine Jean, it's the hands and fingers that get chilled to the bones. I need to find my mittens!
TD (aka: JaneDough) Dec 11, 2007, 4:48pm EST
I'd KILL to go ice skating on a frozen lake! I haven't done that since I was a kid and skating rinks just do not cut it.

Honest to God, Bob, looking through your photos and photo essays is just about making me board a plane to come visit! Absolutely gorgeous!
Jessica S. Aug 6, 2008, 9:03am EDT
Nice article! Although I loathe driving in the lousy weather, I wouldn't change living in New England for anything!
elizabeth e. Aug 6, 2008, 10:00am EDT
Next winter TD, board a plane and come visit next winter and go ice-skating. We would love to have you.
elizabeth e. Aug 6, 2008, 10:00am EDT
Hey Jess...you found this article. Brrrrrr

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