A cold Saturday afternoon on the point of the cape

GROUND HOG DAY - The folks in Punxatawney say Phil didn't see his shadow Saturday.  Early spring.  The thin branches of leafless trees are already starting to turn red.  Maybe Phil's on to something.

Saturday afternoon proved a good day to walk the point at Cape.  Snow in the sand.  A bald eagle hovering in front of the bath house.  From a distance.  Not sure what it wanted to settle on, but it did.  Wrong direction for me.  Probably a large dead fish or sea mammal - in this cold weather, the meat stays fresh a while.  A meal for the eagle.

I thought about the dark brown does I saw on the way into the park at the ocean end of the parade grounds.  Their fur looked thick to me.  A couple of cold snaps will do that.  And several of the does looked heavy in the belly.  White tails have a gestation period of about 200 days. The bucks were in rutt back in November.  Mating season.  That means the does are about a third of the way into their pregnancy.  Definitely showing.

Out on the beach, lots of stuff.  Pieces of soft coral.  Cast-off sunglasses.  Timbers from old sailing vessels.  One of those timbers with long spikes up against the bayside shoreline.  Northwest wind blowing slushy ice into the curve of the point.  I thought of the blizzard of 1888 when many vessels in Breakwater Harbor - before construction of the outer wall - foundered as heavy seas blew ice-heavy masts over into the bay.  Many sailors died.  Was this a timber from one of those unfortunate vessels?

Quiet and cold on the point.  Winter at the beach.  Always something to do and nature beautiful to see.