My 60th Post

I started Field Days: A Miscellany on my last birthday (or, I might prefer to say, my most recent, since I have no plans for ending this birthday thing), March 2, 2009, and have now completed 59 posts. You would probably agree with me that some of them are more interesting or compelling, or better written, than others, and that there is a fair variety of content (though many do seem to focus – perhaps too much – on the weather or what I’ve noticed in our little neighbourhood). Writing this one, the 60th, on the last day of 2009, carries some symbolic significance for me, I suppose. I don’t really want a summing up of 2009, nor do I want to speculate on the year and decade to come, which is what pundits and commentators do, but I do want to post something in honour of the occasion.

Here are some things I thought of writing about:

Peggy’s Cove on the 27th was a great grey day. The wind was out of the southeast and rain was coming, but the rocks were beautiful in that soft light and there were sheltered places to explore. The restaurant was open, with good fish hash and homemade beans, but the lighthouse was still locked. That didn’t stop A. from looking for higher rocks to climb on, and we did our share of happy rambling and scrambling, though I couldn’t find any crabs under the seaweed this time (the water was too cold for much looking!).

The 28th was a warm beneficence of a day, bright sun and light wind. The bulk of the storm had passed offshore and the swells coming in the harbour were beautiful. We walked out the trail at Sailor’s Point looking at the ocean, which was a glacial green with veins of white foam all along the shore. Rafts of eider ducks were floating just outside the roughest water. We spent a long time just sitting on the sloping granite out by the cairn, watching and listening. The large waves came in their usual intervals and thudded on the steep headland sending huge white plumes into the air.

And I thought of writing about a great lobster and shrimp strada one of my brothers made; about standing out in the wind chill with another brother after the sauna and watching the steam pluming from our bodies (unfortunately no snow to roll in); about mulled wine and cider and sweetmeats and family; about walking from Duncan’s Cove around to Ketch Harbour over the headlands and barrens, checking out the seals basking on the rocks, and looking for elves’ caves in the enchanted forest; about a night walk under the blue moon on a cold New Year’s Eve; about seeing the fireworks in the distance from way in the harbour and across at Eastern Passage and welcoming the new decade; and about just being too busy to find time to finish this gesture toward a blog post until now, morning, on a new day in a new year and a new decade, still hoping that we can all find ways to make our world better this year, even just a little.

So happy 60th blog post, and Happy New Year to you from me!