Spring on a NH lake

It’s been a slow, weird Spring in this part of New Hampshire. The mild Winter gave way to cool and wet April and May and it did not warm up. Even on our lake, south of the White Mountains, we had two snowfalls in April. On May 16 it snowed just north of here, and northern Maine got 6 inches – a record for this late in the season. Now we are getting 80-degree days!

The lakeside woods were not green until a week ago. Many migratory birds passed through in March – various duck species, a pair of bald eagles. Now the summer birds are here: a pair of loons, Canada Geese (the first with chicks), a Great Blue heron, dozens of swallows swooping over the lake surface, and all the usual suspects at and near the bird feeder – blue jays, cardinals, yellow finches, orioles, red-wing blackbirds, many sparrows and a pair of mourning doves.

We have beavers at work this year; some neighbors report trees felled. Last week we called the NH DES Dam Bureau because the water level was a foot above normal, despite a couple of rain-free weeks. They discovered that the beavers had blocked the large culvert beneath the road that crosses the lower end of the lake, and almost no water was crossing the lake dam! Now the water level is almost back to normal, and our docks are no longer submerged –  just in time for Memorial Day Weekend!

Summer weekend people are arriving, and the lake has woken up. Fishing boats, canoes and kayaks have appeared, and this weekend they will be joined by pontoon boats, jet skis and water skiers.

So we rejoice to see the trees finally leafing out, and some nice sunsets appearing. Memorial Day weekend may be the start of summer for some people, but this year for us it’s the welcome start of Spring!

First Blush

A New Hampshire Journal

Late April, and flowers on the red maples bring a Spring blush to the woods

(In a “normal” winter/spring here, the lake would still be ice-covered until around April 25. This year the ice was out the first week of March)

Rain in February?

Ice Fishing Days

Across the lake

White

All white now

Spring?

Last week we hit our winter low temperature, -20 degrees F. This week the temperature reached 50 degrees, puddles appeared in the streets, icicles disappeared from the eaves… could these be signs of Spring? After A Long Cold Winter, it’s hard to imagine that all this snow is going to melt in the next few weeks!

Local snowfall this winter is around 90 inches. This area can get as much snow in March as it does in February, so we are certainly not “done with winter” yet!  But when temperatures have been so low for so long – weeks and weeks of 10-15 degrees below normal – and with most nights still close to zero degrees, it’s amazing how warm a 30-degree day feels! Even a few days of melting is a very welcome sign that the end of winter is near.

  Indeed a close look at trees and shrubs reveals swelling buds, as the sun rises in the sky and sunlight grows stronger.  If we get the five days above freezing that are forecast for next week, the sap will start rising in the sugar maples and sugaring season will begin, almost a month late this year.

The clocks go forward this weekend, but moving to Eastern Summer Time when the snowpack is almost 3 feet deep seems foolish.  

Nonetheless, extra evening light will be welcome! We have had one decent sunset over the lake recently, the first since last Fall. 

 

 

Flowers are appearing in the local stores, and Easter is a month away. Surely Spring is just around the corner!

 

Vacation

Three months into our new lives on Shellcamp Lake in Gilmanton, NH, we decided to take a vacation! The boxes are emptied, the shelves are up in the family room/library and in the garage, and we decided we deserved a break. So we went to Maine. No surprise, if you have read A Maine Winter. Now it was time to see Belfast and the Mid-Coast in mid-summer. We chose the weekend when the landlady of our “cozy cottage overlooking Belfast Harbor” was holding an “Open Garden” for the community and her wonderful flower garden would look its best. It certainly did!     Our RV found its way back to our favorite campground in East Belfast, overlooking Penobscot Bay. It was as lovely as we remembered from last summer, when we had first entertained the idea of relocating to Belfast once our home on Long Island sold.    We spent days revisiting parts of Belfast we had known all though our “trial winter;” the summer warmth, the tourists, the boats in marinas and harbor quickly erased our memories of snow, ice and cold!      One day was spent visiting Acadia National Park. During our winter stay, friends would sometimes ask “Have you been to Arcadia?” Our rather abrupt answer was “No-one goes anywhere they don’t have to during a Maine winter!” But now we were able to enjoy Acadia on a perfect summer day. We had forgotten how lovely it is – our last visit was over 30 years ago!       Then back to NH, which seems so much milder, gentler, more “southern” New England than the rugged coasts of Maine. What a pleasure to live in one and be able to visit the other!  But one thing Gilmanton and Belfast share is that early August already carries a touch of Fall! Some color is appearing in the sugar maples, the sumac beside the roads is turning red, and purple loose-strife fills the ditches. We shall enjoy every warm day in August, knowing that it will get cold all too soon!

Visitors

Summer has begun (officially, although the weekend started very chilly here). After 7 weeks in residence, we now smile condescendingly as “the weekend people” and “the summer people” arrive at their lakeside cottages now that schools are out! This week was “Bike Week” in Laconia, when thousands of bikers visit Lake Winnipesaukee and tour the local towns and villages. On Friday a group of 15 kayakers visited the lake and explored every inch on a sunny and breezy day.

 

 

We also have our own “visitor month” in progress, with friends and family from New York staying with us each weekend. Last week’s friends were returning from Maine to Long Island, and loved the (relative) warmth and tranquility of our NH lake. This weekend our older son and woman-partner were up from Brooklyn, and initially found it very cold here compared to perspiring NY City!  But by evening when the wind on the lake subsided with the setting sun, the NY visitors were reveling in the pleasures of canoeing, kayaking and fishing against a sunset worthy of “On Golden Pond.”

 

 

As a nightcap, they got the fire-pit going for the first time since we arrived!

Today was warm with no wind, and felt like summer. A perfect day to visit the local winery and sample NH wines in an idyllic setting. The winery also serves Sunday brunch, so Marian and I will be back there again soon!

Wherever our visitors come from, all agree that the Lakes region of NH is lovely, and a visit here represents a real “vacation” from the daily world of  NY. We are of course blessed just to live here!