When is cold, cold? Well, when you take your gloves off to click on your snow shoes and your fingers ache within seconds…it’s cold. It’s so cold that the sky is the clearest shade of blue and the ocean has smoke hovering over the surface because there’s no wind at all.
The weather is the only thing we’re talking about right now at the bank, post office and Tozier’s Market. From inside the house, you can hear the branches of the surrounding trees cracking, the nails popping on the deck and the eerie lack of crows calling out for treats.
I didn’t realize how often I look out the window during the day to see what the goats are up to until now…because they’re not coming out of their little house. Only the enticement of bananas and chunks of apple smeared with peanut butter makes them come out in to the sunshine since yesterday morning. It’s good that their wool has grown to about 5 inches of curls…no fear of frost bite here.
It’s perfect weather for updating our marketing. We’re reaching out in print advertising more this year…an ad in the Maine Campground Owners Association Guide and a small ad in the Belfast Bay Area Chamber Guide.
As you probably know, we do very little advertising other than word of mouth and our blog. Far more than half of our guests return every year or so and most send or bring friends. This vote of confidence puts us in the enviable position of not needing to cast a wide net…instead, our guests come knowing that they are time traveling a bit…things are quieter and less congested here at “the Shores.” No long lines and no one just working a job for the summer. We like it that way because we get to know the people who come and spend time here…so our two little ads are exciting…it let’s me play with Photoshop for the layout and we’ll get to test the market a bit.
We just printed the rack card for Fiber College too…it’s the event of Fall for us…4 days of spinning, quilting, wood carving and all things “strings and sticks” here at the campground. We are currently in the process of soliciting class proposals so opening the e-mail each day has a touch of Christmas surprise added to it.
The cold weather also means that we can get more accomplished inside the house…this afternoon the walls of my bedroom went from red raspberry sauce to Italian clay pots…don’t you just love a can of paint? And a bit of extra time…