Waiting...

Cape Cod Weather today: Cold and cloudy, but not the bitter cold we've had. It was relatively *warm* at 32 degrees... but grey and wet. Now it's late, so it's dark grey, to the point of black.

At the beach this afternoon, the gulls were funny. All along the shoreline, they were sitting on the rock jetties. Not swimming, not whirling and reeling overhead. Just sitting. Waiting.

Waiting for what?

Waiting for summer? Waiting for the tourists to return with their picnic lunches and bags of easy-to-steal potato chips? Waiting for the fishermen to return to the river jetty with their bait containers left open for the pickings? Waiting for tomorrow, when we as a country will witness a historic moment as Barack Obama takes the oath of office???

Or... Maybe they are as tired of this cold weather as I am. As we all are. The Arctic blast has chilled me to the bone, and I am so ready for it to be gone from the East coast. It's not that I'm ready for summer, or even spring. Certainly not ready yet for the rush of the tourist season...

I enjoy the quiet solitude of the winter season at the beach. The emptiness of the sandy stretch of land near my home. The quiet paths through the conservation lands in town. The nearly empty roadways and parking lots everywhere you go. And I enjoy bundling up in sweaters, and turtlenecks, breaking out the L.L.Bean gear and brewing hot chocolate for the kids in the mornings, to brace ourselves for the wait at the bus stop.

But it's been too cold this month. I am so done with January. Done, I tell you. Bring on the Thaw.