Monhegan Island News

02/25/2008

Paul Munnis

Note: Monhegan Island is a coastal island off of Maine's rocky shoreline. In the summer it is full of tourists, in winter it is a quite different experience. I get news from there weekly and thought you might enjoy a peek at island life in winter and perhaps contrast it with your own winter experience. Here goes:


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Monhegan News

Katy Boegel
Columnist

It's getting light now at six a.m. when I step out the door to walk the 40 steps to the back door of my store. After a wet January, February has brought more snow and some sledding for the kids. As usual for us the snow has changed over to some kind of wet precipitation. Drifts are high in places but the ground is bare in others and the roads are just waiting for the temperature to drop a few degrees to turn to ice.

Yesterday was a gorgeous winter day on the island. The snow had yet to melt and a rare calm day left us covered with layers of snow on the trees and houses. When I opened the store yesterday morning I felt as if I were inside that Rockwell Kent painting of the sunrise on snow-covered Manana. Today all is gray as we wait for the next storm.

Opening the store this time of year consists of making coffee, turning on the lights and unlocking the door. I make sure the pad of paper is on the counter and a pen for customers to write down their purchases. I usually have my little dog Macy with me for her morning constitutional and then it's back in the house to watch the news and wait for the kids to wake up. It's quite a contrast from the summer when I'm out there at six stocking produce, prepping the sandwich unit, making mental notes of what I need to order that day and several times a week putting chickens on the rotisserie.

Today I was excited to see that I almost have running water in the sink in the store. I know the temperatures are going to drop this afternoon but I may have a window of opportunity to wash the floor and fill up my water jugs for the coffee. I purposely did not order anything for Monday delivery tomorrow because storm warnings are posted with gusts to fifty so a boat from Port Clyde looks iffy at best.

We have had many missed boat runs this winter. It seems at least once a week. They always make it up the next day. With mail coming and going only three times a week boat days take on a high level of importance. Needless to say the storms also affect the lobstering.

Fishing days are few and far between. It's not unusual for them to go seven to ten days without hauling. I remember the days without electricity and phones and I'm grateful for my satellite dish, phone and computer.

To fill the time between boats there is knitting group, a book club at the library, poker nights and movie nights. I know the people who go to these things but I don't do any of them. I'm home with the husband and kids. We usually watch the most recent Netflix before dinner. After dinner there are baths or showers. These days my boys will play poker after supper with their dad and Wolfie and I watch some reality show after Nathan goes to bed. Wolfie waits for me to fall asleep so he can stay up later. The odds are in his favor since I have been up since 4:30 or 5 a.m.

And so the winter trudges on. Days between storms I spend clearing out the trash that has accumulated during the last bout of wind. I spend my time when the kids are in school doing my taxes by the coal stove watching the travel channel on the dish or a movie. At times it seems like a forced hibernation. The elements are often against going out for a walk and a trip inshore seems unattainable. I am content to stay here, watching low pressure systems rapidly intensify in the Gulf of Maine.