Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club

Tue, 01/22/2019 - 11:00am

What a thrill it is to watch the seasons from The Hill where the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club stands as sentinel. The colors are never the same. There is the majesty, of course, of the ever popular summer season with its blaze blue skies and dazzling ocean diamonds reflecting the sun. Crisp to a snap white clouds, verdant pines and determined deciduous trees vie for attention over West Harbor Pond.

From every window of the new Sailing and Education Center, the parade of the seasonal sensations can be observed. Fall never disappoints with the explosion of first the gold of the sugar maples. They are surely the harbingers of fall fantastic. The other trees follow suit in their own time. Deep henna, bright red, and the rust of the sumac. The fall skies are the perfect canvass for them to paint their scene.
In a previous column I exclaimed the virtues of the holiday colors so I won’t belabor these. But I will say that the change of those into sturdy, solid, deep winter colors is profound.

Prior to what was being called “The Big Storm” over this past weekend, I noticed that holiday green has turned a soft Loden green fitting for a smart wool hunt jacket. The underbrush is a perfect khaki for the Jodhpur and spiky bright cinnamon sticks, just the right color for fine leather. The all so omnipresent granite ledge was dappled with old snow, a fine mount. The bare trees are the shade of gray flannel conjuring the image of a warm flannel blanket.

On the shore of the harbor at low tide the brackish water has frozen forming an impressive white cuticle for the winter dark water and vegetation.

As I gaze out of my window on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the spectacular winter wonder, I can’t help but smile. I hear the frequently asked question, “What in the world do you do in the winter in Maine?”