I thought I might find more color in the evening sky tonight when I took my walk at Newburyport’s Waterfront Park. No such luck. It was more like a winter sky:

I’m not sure if Hurricane Bill’s presence off the coast of Massachusetts attributed to the winter sky effect this evening or not…

Still, I am totally enjoying the ever changing vistas of the Merrimack River in downtown Newburyport and my walks have been great for my spirit and given me more energy. I should start walking in Amesbury too. It’s such a beautiful town, right next to Newburyport. But so far I am enjoying the drive along the river that takes me to my walks at the Waterfront Park.

Diana Krall live in Newport Jazz Festival (1999):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Because there’s rain in the forecast for at least another 5 days or more… It’s time to ask the question… ”Who’ll Stop The Rain”:

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Bruce Springsteen, Live in Stockholm, 1993.

After spending a 7 months living in Eastport, Maine, I’ve moved back home to the Newburyport area of Massachusetts (Amesbury), where I grew up. I’ve been away from the area for a little over 19 years.

I’m settling in, finishing unpacking and gearing up for a new chapter in my life. Next week, I’ll be starting a new job, which I’ll be juggling with my business and my blogs. I love to stay active and busy, so I doubt I’ll have much free time on my hands for a while.

It’s nice to be home again.

I lead a busy life. I enjoy staying busy. Work to me is fulfilling because I always feel as though in my work, from my business to my blogs I am making a difference in the world.  

In a couple of weeks, I’ll add a new aspect to my busy life — a job. I’ve been self-employed for 13 years. The recession has taken a toll on my business, so I felt it was time to make that leap back into the work force while the business rides out the recession. Thankfully the job hunt was painless. I found something quickly.

This Friday, I will be moving again  – back home to the Newburyport, MA area, where I grew up and lived for 33 years.

I love living in Maine. I love Eastport. However, job opportunities are sparse here. I didn’t think when I moved here that the recession would hit even harder than it had when I made the decision to move to Maine late last summer.

It’s all good. It’s my “Mid-life Crisis Adventure 2.0.”

Sometimes you just need to go back to square one.

The past few weeks have been interesting… When I started my journey last fall, to move cross country from Los Angeles to Maine, I considered it to be my “mid-life crisis adventure.” I knew I needed a change and it was important to me to be living back on the East Coast where my roots are and to live near family.

Perhaps it is the long hard first winter here, but I think not, there are days when I wonder where the light is at the end of the tunnel. Spring is here, warmer days, longer days, but the sun is not the cure all, for I feel often still that I have not found that missing piece (or peace) I seek.

I’ve been sorting through what I want to do next with my life, like many who have been affected by the economic downturn we are in, I am looking to re-invent myself. Come what may… For now I continue to keep looking…

There’s a natural flow of tides that causes erosion on all beaches. Add to that storms and other natural effects and the landscape of a beach is constantly changing. I can remember as a child camping on Sandy Point on Plum Island (Newburyport, MA) and claiming a rock as my own. Much to my chagrin my rock was no where to be founf the following summer when my family set up camp on the Point for the summer.

While I was down in Newburyport last weekend I drove down to Plum Island because I had heard there had been problems there with homes built on the water front being at risk. The photo below is of the jetty at the Center Beach on Plum Island:

North Shore Magazine has an article about the situation on Plum Island: Last Days of Plum Island?

The romance and tranquility of Plum Island has lured homeowners to its long stretch of open shores for decades. But could the natural forces that spawned an entire community now threaten its very existence?

I’ve always been an ocean person, which is part of the reason I moved from Los Angeles, after nearly years there, back to the East Coast, to Eastport, Maine. I wanted to live near the ocean and that goal was unattainable in Los Angeles. However, watching homes slide of steep hills in Los Angeles during mudslide season, or get caught in wildfires and burn to the ground, I ofter wonder why people risk building and living in certain areas.

It stands to reason that Plum Island can only sustain so many large homes at the edge of the dunes before something happens and homes either wash out to sea or are at risk. The debate over what to do about Plum Island homes is tough one. There’s only so much dredging and nourishing of dunes that can be done, and then nature will take it’s course again.

Plum Island hosts a beautiful National Wildlife Reserve which “consists of 4,662 acres (1,883 hectares) of diverse upland and wetland habitats including sandy beach and dune, shrub/thicket, bog, swamp, freshwater marsh, salt marsh and associated creek, river, mud flat, and salt panne.”

These and other refuge habitats support varied and abundant populations of resident and migratory wildlife including more than 300 species of birds and additional species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and plants.

I hope residents of Plum Island find a way to preserve their homes with out disrupting the essence of nature that makes Plum Island so very special.

If you follow the path in the snow between the trees up the hill and then into the clouds, it will lead to the sun:

I’m muddling through my first winter here in Eastport, Maine. There are days I think I am adapting well to the cold after living in Los Angeles for nearly 19 years and then days when I am downright tired of winter. Yep… It can be a drain. We’ve had quite a bit of snow and a lot of drifting in the past 24 hours or so. Beautiful but a lot of work to shovel.

Thankfully I need only to take a short walk or hop in the car and take a drive around town to remind myself why I am here.

Spring in all it’s glory will be welcomed when it arrives!