First Winter In New England
Spring is around the corner, can’t believe it’s almost half a year after we moved to Massachusetts. Common questions I often get from people after they know we moved from California is always about the temperature. Do I miss California warmth? How am I holding up in cold weather? Later people will look at TT on the other end of the leash and say “Well, he must be loving the cold!”
You bet!
The week we moved here last October was during the peak of the fall display. It’s hard to drive above 35mph because my eyes were always busy looking at colors along the way. Even a random trail near our house looks surreal to be this colorful.
Besides the first few weeks of horrendous ticks attack on TT absolutely terrified me, I was convinced pretty early on that we moved to the best town I could ever imagine to live in.
Massachusetts started to lose daylights and color in mid November, trails started to turn brown and the sky went dark as early as 3pm in the afternoon. I wasn’t too bothered by the sunlight because I was and still am working across time zones on Pacific time. Instead of having free time after work at night like normal people, we woke up around 7am everyday, hung out, rode bikes, hiked or just did layback walks under beautiful morning light until my work hour started which is around 1pm, after that point I worked all the way until 10pm.
Waking up early changed our lives, we had bright relaxing mornings to either read, play music or walk together. The best thing is going out at 8am in the morning, it will be nearly empty anywhere. Being able to walk around and breath in fresh morning air without a mask on is fantastic.
After the first snow of the season happened at the end of October, snow came again right before Christmas. TT had all that bounding and rolling in the fresh new white stuff.
Wayside Inn Grist Mill
We went to a water-powered historical flour mill at 7am in the morning with a hope to catch a dramatic sunrise against the building, but later I realized the surrounding trees were just too tall. To view the sunrise at our house somehow was the best location because we live on a hill.
I had TT wear his old snowman costume on Christmas day. Surprisingly he outgrew his cloth again, I could no longer secure the cloth onto his belly, so it acted more like a snowman cape than a cloth. Cold weather definitely made TT become fluffier than he was in California. The tick undercoat actually prevents the flea and tick medicine, either drip or collar, to effectively make contact with TT’s skin. I switched him onto chewable tablets based on the vet’s suggestion.
One small issue we ran into was streets get a blast of rock salt and chemical de-icers after snow. That sometimes turns a happy winter walk into a torment for TT. There were 2 times we had to carry him home because salt irritated his paws to the point it was too painful he started to cry.
Spy Pond
The pond froze one day in February, we not only skated on it but also took a long walk with TT on the pond and went all the way on to the mysterious Elizabeth Island in the middle.
Sha-Sha found a new way to interact with her cat tree. On a Saturday afternoon in March I made catnip soap bubbles, this activity occupied us for more than an hour. We weren’t feeling desperate because of the endless WFH, we just love bubbles very much 
.
Leave a Reply