Weather outside is frightful!

I'm sure I'll be getting a call later on from my Mom. She will be thinking that we are buried under 752 feet of snow because the weather people in her area (Florida) like them to think they are the only place in the country not buried under 752 feet of snow for the months of December through March! We are definitely getting a storm today, but mostly in the way of rain and wind. If this were snow? Definitely would be seeing the 752 feet.

So, no decorating outside for me today. Instead I'll be grocery shopping and wrapping a bunch of gifts. Later on we're planning on putting up our Christmas tree, but we'll see how that goes given this lovely weather!

One of the most interesting things about living on the MA coast (for me) is the passing of the seasons and how nature's cues just never seem to miss. Not only can we mark the four seasons by the appearance of certain flowers, leaves on trees, and the lushness of our gardens, but also by the wildlife that comes and goes with the different seasons. I really learned to appreciate this while working on the whale watches. Such amazing birds show up here for the summer, only to migrate to far away places in the south for the winter.

Since we are approaching winter now, we have new birds showing up...Many diving duck species, an occasional loon and these majestic relatives of the albatross called gannets.



Gannets are the coolest birds. Not only just the way they look, but how they feed. Watch this video, if you're interested...(Please ignore the first few seconds, as the camera was turned on its side!)

The gannets plummet into the water at some ridiculous speed like 150 mph and gobble up the bait fish that they are able to target from 100 feet up in the air. Someone once told me that in their chest they have a bladder that they fill with air before the hit the water so they do not shatter their brittle bird bones. It's supposedly the inspiration for the air bags we have in our cars. Isn't nature grand? I love that stuff!

Here's a gorgeous hawk that showed up in my back yard last year. The fact that we live in a pretty urban area made this a really interesting surprise for me!



Have a wonderful Wednesday. Hope to get back to decorating tomorrow!