Scituate Lighthouse on a calmer day

TAKES YOUR BREATH AWAY

Nothing like taking my Texan visitors (my granddaughter and her fiance) to see the Scituate Lighthouse when the wind is blowing at 50 mph. and the temperature is in the low 20's! They will probably think that it's always this cold and windy. Of course they had to get out of the car to take pictures and walk around the entire structure. Luckily they did not get blown into the ocean. By the time we got to Hull Gut at the end of the peninsula that is the town of Hull they were wiser and remained in the car while we watched the ocean roaring through the gut and the view of Boston just across the water. We did have a nice lunch, warm and cozy and with a lovely ocean view.

Well, this is it. This is winter: gusting wind, swirling snow, plows rumbling by, high drifts, 18 degrees. No more leftover flowers hiding under dead leaves. No more pretending that fall will ease right into spring. This is the reality that is New England. This calls for full battle gear: weatherproof boots with slip-proof bottoms; heavy-duty windbreakers, storm coats, parkas; warm snug hats, a few long scarves and mittens over gloves. Think thinsulate, down, polartec, lambswool. Of course, all that is only for running from front door to car door to store door. If you’re really going to be out in it, you have to start further in with insulated long-johns and various layers of tops and bottoms, building your warmth from the inside out. Do New Englanders truly love this challenging weather that is so much a part of our culture? Maybe some do, but most of us simply endure until spring.

Psalm 8

O Jehovah, our Lord, how glorious is Thy name in all the earth. Thou hast displayed Thy majesty above the heavens. From the mouth of children, even the unweaned, Thou has ordained strength on account of Thy foes, that the enemy and revengeful might be silenced. When I observe Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast made firm: what is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou carest for him? Yet Thou hast made him little less than heavenly beings, and Thou dost crown him with glory and honor.....O Jehovah, our Lord, how glorious is Thy name in all the earth!

WINTER THOUGHTS

Though it is daylight, hanging over the misty snow-covered field is a thin and fragile three-quarter moon. It is so vaporous that I cannot tell if it is real or a reflection of the real. The field grass is frozen and white. The unbending trees cast long thin shadows over everything in sight. As usual, my gaze is focused more on the landscape that is earth than on the pale streaked sky. I am such a creature of the earth. The earth is familiar and what my imperfect mind can most understand. It seems more difficult to comprehend the heavens.