Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from The Island

Greetings from the island everyone. I hope that all of you are doing well and had a great Christmas last month, and had a wonderful time with family and friends. The holidays are a wonderful time of the year to get together with those that you care about, and give thanks for the birth of Christ. I wish for every single one of you to also have a great and prosperous New Year.

The chilling northers are arriving about once a week now, right on cue for this time of year. I’m having to plan and negotiate my mainland trips around the nasty weather and blowing north winds, always making sure to keep an eye on the 3-5 day forecasts for Port O’Connor and Matagorda Bay. So far the tides are staying below normal, but that is expected since winter officially arrived on Dec 21, meaning that there will be occasions that I cannot get in or out of the lagoon cut that leads into the bay. I just have to make certain and stay stocked up on needed supplies. I often use these wintry weather days and nights to get caught up on my book reading.

My chickens and guineas are flat out refusing to lay during these colder weather times. Their molting stage, where they shed their old feathers and grow in new thicker ones for the winter, cause them to direct all of their energy into that and not into laying eggs. I’m hoping that once the molt is complete, they will resume laying at least a few eggs, because I’m still having to feed them and not getting anything in return at the present time.

The island beach has been very clean lately, not many seashells or treasures to be found. Beach finds and miscellaneous seashells tend to wash ashore in stages and various times from the Gulf. Sometimes for several weeks straight there will be a large assortment of shells and marine treasures mixed into the “trash lines” in the high tide areas along the beach. And then several months might go by where basically nothing worth picking up washes ashore. It’s just a matter of being there at the right time to walk and enjoy the sights and sounds and nice little finds associated with beach time. But whether little treasures are abundant or non-existent, the beach is forever a wonderful place to be.

That’s it from the island for now. Everyone please have a wonderful day and a very Happy New Year.