Building Gypsy Rose

For the past four years I’ve made the transition from Raven to land during the week of Thanksgiving, usually the Tuesday before. Last year we logged our last 30 miles of the year during a major winter storm – 30 knots of wind on the nose with a foot of snow in the offing. On the day Raven was hauled we hastily winterized the engine and fresh water systems and retreated while the nor’easter passed. When we returned to erect the winter cover over Raven’s decks we had inches of solid ice to contend with. It wasn’t fun.

This year, I decided to haul early. On November 12th I prepared the boat in a t-shirt under sunny, 45-degree skies with no wind. What a difference weather can make! We put the winter cover on two days later with a warm wind blowing 55-degree air from the south. Raven is currently tucked in at the Shelburne Shipyard and we’ve made the winter migration to Gypsy Rose on the land in Tunbridge.

The warm weather did not last, however. We arrived in Tunbridge as a long-lasting cold front swept down from the Canadian Maritimes. Snow squalls dusted the meadows in white and the overnight temperatures dropped to 12 degrees.

I’ve been enjoying my trips to fetch water at the stream that flows at the base of the slope. Tonight I stopped to photograph the ice that has begun to form on the stream bank vegetation. Water freezes as it flows down the stems and then begins to spread as “pools” of ice across the stream’s surface. I look forward to watching this landscape transition into its winter sleep.