It’s been a week of weather extremes and visual delights here on Skinny Island since we last checked in.  On Monday we used the fireplace in the Little Hacienda for the first time in a year, thanks to a dip into the thirties, forty-five below on the Skinny Scale,) and an abundance of beautiful cured oak given us by a neighbor, who, unfortunately, lost his house to foreclosure.  Given how often we can use the fireplace, we have enough wood now, on top of what we already had, to last us well into our nineties.  Stay tuned.

Two days of cold, and then we bounced right back to the upper seventies for the remainder of the week, with inoffensive winds bandying about through all quarters, but laying mostly out of the west.  Obliging tides and comfortable temps made for many good beach walks.  We saw quite a few more plover and willets in residence, and while the larger colonies have moved on elsewhere, a good many skimmers.  One morning, on just a short stretch of beach, we found upwards of twenty starfish.  

Several mornings, the sunrise was nothing short of spectacular, with just the right placement of clouds to hold and spread the intense coloration.  Afterwards, the light seemed unusually playful in and outside the house, imbuing both furniture and living things with a sharp-edged glow.  The geraniums, in particular, were radiant.  I think it’s something about the fuzzy texture of their leaves that makes it so.

And we finally got some much-needed rain.  The overnight variety, that, gently merging with the sound of the surf, is the best sleep aid we know.  Colder again today, with a bracing north wind.  But it’s back to the seventies again tomorrow.  No complaints.