Author Archives: admin

Cape Cod beaches after the storms….

Posted on by

It is a changed world out there after the winter storms of the last month or so. Many of us have seen the pictures and videos but to stand in these places and see and feel the devastation is almost more than a soul can bear….

To be fair, some of these breaks will heal themselves but some will not. Some dunes will replenish over time but others will flatten out even more. Some of this process is natural and some has been exacerbated by overuse and abuse by oversand vehicles and people ignoring signs to stay off dunes and cliffs. Even the smallest foot path in a dune can become a major sand blowout if the wind is right….or wrong….

We took a long tour the other day and these are some of the highlights–or lowlights, really…

From Gray’s Beach in YarmouthPort we could see the big break in the dunes across the way at Chapin Beach in Dennis

Corporation Beach in Dennis took a big hit…

There were plenty of birds like these brant there, taking in the view and feeding…

Beaches like Paine’s Creek in Brewster are really suffering…

Changes at Nauset Beach in Orleans are unbelievable…

Yeah, there used to be dunes there….some of the dunes are now in the parking lot and filling in the stairways….

At Coast Guard Beach, the beach was actually closed to keep the dunes at the entrance to the walkway from further eroding….

This view of a flooded Nauset Marsh was taken several hours AFTER high tide….

At Nauset Light Beach the cliffs are severely compromised and again, access to the beach was shut off…

The break at Ballston Beach in Truro has been well documented but was still shocking to see first hand…

Several homes there are quite compromised….

By the time we got to Race Point in Provincetown we thought we had seen it all….but we were not prepared for this…

So much sand had blown into the parking lots there that it had been plowed into huge dunes….that dwarfed what was left of the dunes it blew away from!

And there was the cause of it all….looking much calmer but still a little worked up…

it was a long, emotional day….

A day in Chatham

Posted on by

Saturday was a great day for getting out and about so we headed to Chatham to take a look at the beaches there. We knew the big blizzard had done a lot of damage and opened a new break on South Beach so we went to see what we could see. We were not alone. Parking lots were jammed and crowds of people were looking through binoculars, taking pictures and videos and walking out onto the beaches to see the breaks up close.

Our first stop was at Pleasant Bay, just because it was so pretty and sparkly.

The wind and water of the last few weeks left a trail of horseshoe crab molts all along the edge of the road and in the bushes…

At the fish pier you could see the few remaining cottages on North Beach in the distance

The fish market is all closed up, waiting for warmer days…

Lighthouse Beach parking lot was jammed and there were maybe several hundred people milling about…the views were spectacular, though sobering for those of us who know this area…this shot is looking back toward the harbor.

This view is looking down South Beach. Note the people walking but also the large pools of water. The break is not too far beyond the scope of this photo but I couldn’t capture it with my little camera from where we were….

and another view

Starkly beautiful, sad, sobering and thought provoking all at the same time….

Early spring blooms…

Posted on by

Just thought I’d put up some flowers I found in bloom this week. Today is actually the first day of meteorological spring and I’m going with that thought…

First, here are some snowdrops–in bloom just about everywhere on the Cape this week.

and the lovely yellow winter aconite

but the real prize is a real wildflower…our native skunk cabbage. It’s an odd little plant with an even odder blossom but it’s a sure harbinger of early spring around here….

All these photos were taken this week at Green Briar Nature Center in East Sandwich.

Drawing River Otters

Posted on by

For the last few weeks I’ve been working on sketches and drawings of river otters for a project I was asked to do. The finished piece is to be used for a children’s nature camp t-shirt. Projects like these are always fun but people all have different ideas as to what they want so starting with sketches of various poses is always a good thing.

We decided on two general designs. One was an otter looking out of the water which would be a vertical design.

This guy was the first finished drawing of that group.

This otter seemed a bit grumpy to me, especially for use on a kid’s shirt so I did another drawing.

I liked this one’s personality but we still wanted to look at a horizontal drawing that could fit the whole otter in as well as a fish.

This last drawing is the one we decided on for the shirt design. When the shirt is ready, I will show it here. You have to be a kid enrolled in the camp to get one, though. Sorry about that.

This was a great project to work on and I donated the art for the shirt design. The other two drawings are for sale, however. You may email me for more information about them or to to my Mary Richmond Design Etsy shop where they will be listed for sale.

 

Waiting for spring….

Posted on by

These sunny afternoons are stretching longer each day and making me long for spring…and yes, I know that spring is a tentative and shy season around here.

It is in February though that we start to see, hear and smell the first signs of spring…

Red-winged blackbirds are beginning to arrive. Their red epaulets are not as evident as they will be later on…

Song sparrows are beginning to think about claiming their territories…

Witch hazel is in bloom in many areas, a sure sign of late February…

There are other signs as well. Skunks are on the move, robins are returning (you can tell them from the more robust winter robins from up north because they are smaller and look tired and worn) and even the leaves of the mayflowers are looking fresh and renewed..

So sure, there’s yet another storm forecast for this weekend but we can keep finding signs of spring in spite of the snow and ice…

 

Losing ground…

Posted on by

The Cape lost a lot of sand in the span of just one day, more or less. It was a wild, wet and windy day but still, it didn’t take very long to undercut, flood or wash away dunes and sand cliffs that had stood guard over beaches and marshes for many, many years.

To be honest, I haven’t had the heart to go see much of the devastation, especially on the lower Cape. I did, however go see what had happened at Town Neck Beach in Sandwich. I have spent many, many years at Town Neck Beach either walking or leading nature classes there. It is a unique and beautiful area that has been under siege for years now due to the jetty built to hold the shape of the canal at one end of the beach. Like all jetties this one allows for sand build up on one side and sand depletion on the other since it stops the natural redistribution of sand.

The truth is that sand is always in motion and our beaches are constantly rearranging themselves. Sometimes watching the way they do that can be very depressing and hard to bear, especially when a beloved beach seems to just be slipping away…but when you know that the reason was man made and that nothing is being done to control it then it is especially difficult…

See this sand? This used to be a dune….it got blown through by water and wind in the blizzard last week and is now in the parking lot and the adjacent salt marsh.

This looks like a pretty scene…

until you realize that there used to be a big dune there. You would not have had an ocean view before the dune got washed out. This was a huge dune and it is not the same dune I showed you that is now in the parking lot…

This is the salt marsh behind the dune. There is a huge amount of sand there now where there used to be a rocky walkway…

here’s a close up view of the back of yet another dune. That’s right–this erosion was on the backside of the dune! The water erosion is from the high tide in the marsh!

Here’s another look at that big break…

This is not petty damage….the marsh behind these dunes (and there were 8 breaks in all!) is already flooded more often than it should be. If you have driven through Sandwich on 6A you may have noticed you drive over a bridge over the marsh. That’s the same marsh you see here. Constant flooding will not only compromise the marsh but the roadway itself, the homes and businesses nearby and well, you get the picture. Sandwich built a road and half a town on a salt marsh way back when. If the town doesn’t act soon, the ocean may be coming to take some of it back.

There’s a group formed in Sandwich to help raise public awareness and to try and replenish this beach. It is called the Trustees of Sandwich MA, Beach. You can get more information about their efforts on their website http://www.Trusteesofsandwichbeaches.org

 

Of birds and the blizzard….

Posted on by

If you’re on the Cape or even just in New England you know it’s been a crazy couple of days around here! Although it started as sloppy sleet here on the Cape the snow blew fast and furiously, clomping onto trees and wires like cement and dragging them down like cement, too. There was also tidal flooding and between the wind and water power is still out for almost two thirds of Cape residents and businesses. To be honest, I must admit I am one of the lucky few who lost power overnight but had it back by yesterday morning. I spent most of my day yesterday watching the snow blow and refilling bird feeders. Boy, were the birds hungry and cold!

All these photos were taken through an ice encrusted window but they do give the feel of the day….these two redheads shared the feeder for awhile. That’s a male house finch with the male cardinal…

These goldfinches were holding on for dear life….

This downy woodpecker is getting ready to make her move, waiting for the wind to die down a bit…

This flicker has had a rough time of it–she even has snow and ice encrusted on her feathers

Chickadees were a bit wind blown but they’re pretty sturdy

This tufted titmouse had a little bit of a prize

And this white breasted nuthatch was happy to find seeds and nuts here

while its smaller cousins, the red breasted nuthatches worked on the suet…

and although I’m not a big fan of the mobs of house sparrows I did make sure there was plenty of seed on the ground for them on such a rough day….

This cardinal seems to express the way we all felt while the storm raged around us….

Today, however, is a new day….

 

 

A gray day….

Posted on by

We sure have had a gray winter. We haven’t had a lot of snow but it’s been cold enough that the little bit of snow we have had has stayed on the ground long past its due….I don’t know about you but I’m finding it tiresome….I have had to drag myself outside to walk each day….

And then, there was this morning at the beach…so beautiful it took my breath away…

Everything was so still and serene…

There was still snow from last night but not a lot…

There were lots of tracks already–human, dog, gulls and crows mostly…

The incoming tide allowed for beautiful patterns in the underwater seaweeds

The jetty was frosted with just the right amount of snow…

And in the distance the dock and pilings stood tall against the gray water and sky…

But perhaps sweetest of all was finding this heart in the snow made by two sets of footprints and decorated with a snow angel in the middle…

Funny how some days you make yourself go out, expecting it to be sort of a blah, boring walk but instead you find serene, profound beauty….

New in the studio this week….

Posted on by

I spend a lot of time working in my studio or outdoors doing sketches, small watercolors and illustrations for various projects, many of which are never seen by the general public so I’ve decided to start showing some of my works in progress here on the blog. I am also working on updating my gallery pages to reflect more of my current work.

This week I’ve been focusing on sketching rabbits, otters and corgis, all for different projects.

For some reason I have always enjoyed drawing and painting rabbits. I did a huge series in high school that even included rabbit sculptures. I know, a little funny but there it is.

Here are some of my sketches from this week.

As you may know I have a corgi and I am working on a children’s story that involves a corgi…

Otters are especially challenging to draw but I’m working on them….

Let me know what you think!

Snow at the beach….

Posted on by

Every now and then I hear that someone is surprised that it can snow at the beach….it may not snow on southern beaches but it definitely snows here on our Cape Cod beaches….and it is quite beautiful!

There is something sublimely beautiful about the beach in the winter, especially with a bit of snow and ice….so bundle up and enjoy the view!