It’s St. Valentine’s Day and Steve and I are sitting in the sunny living room listening to the wind howl. Mike’s on the tractor pushing snow around in anticipation for the next storm. The animals are browsing and life is just plain good.

We often get asked about what our winters are like. Flexible is the first thought that comes to mind. Here on the coast the weather can change drastically (snow, ice, brilliant blue skies, howling wind) from one hour or day to the next and we plan our activities accordingly. Generally the days involve 3-4 hours on the computer…I’m doing the program planning, marketing and webwork, Steve’s taking care of the books, ordering garden seeds and planning the projects/supplies we need for the summer.

All the other hours we seem to fill with our myriad of creative pastimes. I have been following a course in weaving that is helping with my goal of understanding the interplay of color and textures…and the studio is piled high with sewing and book binding projects. Steve spends his time playing music…in addition to his old-time music passion he’s been working on a jazzy, blues style guitar that is sounding terrific.

We get outside too…for skiing, snowshoeing or just plain hiking depending on what the ground is like on a given day. Our favorite way to meet with friends and have planning meetings is to walk, talk and then settle into the kitchen for a bowl of soup or cup of cocoa. Last week I met with Ana (on the right, above) and we talked about how her Searsport Doggie Daycare and Kennel could make planning daytrips and date nights more flexible for our guests. Stay tuned for the new schedule. Another meeting we had was at the Belfast Clay Studio where we filmed a video postcard to send to the children potters in Berdavan Armenia as we grow our fundraising support during the Armenian Picnic.

This is all easier in February because these extra minutes really add up…in December the outdoor chores need to be done by 3:30 because it’s so dark but now the sheep and chickens are waiting until almost 5:00 before they’re fed and bedded in for the night.

That’s our lives these days…and we remain grateful.