Witnessing Weather

We are at the cabin now, blessed with a highspeed internet hookup and projects. The spring is blooming into glorious summer. Even though we have electricity, plumbing, and our dsl line, we are so much more aware of weather here than in the city. It's not like we're living in a tent, but for some reason, it feels close to that.

A lot of it is our metal roof; even the slightest sprinkle announces itself. Beyond that, thunder is louder here. The wind rushes through the pines and hemlocks with great drama and sweep. A fog envelops the water and veils us from even the edge of the woods. Trying to read or write, I get distracted when a weather front comes through, or when the sunshine bursts out from behind a cloud lighting up the trees across the stream at sunset. In the suburbs or city, I'd never even notice that. Here I track the times of sunset and moonrise, checking out the sky many times each day to assess what is going on outside. Of course, we have to guage whether we can go hiking, boating or fishing based on the weather, that's certainly part of it. But I think being out here, away from dense clusters of dwellings, I'm drawn to consciously witness the weather here. Looking out the kitchen window at the shed during a sudden shower, I imagined what it would have been like 150 years ago, whether people in the Maine woods always had weather on their minds, or if they just took it as it came, without much comment. For me, up here, it's a constant source of wonder.

Cabin Fever... Help!

It's sixty-one days 'til Memorial Day and the official start of cabin season. I'm not sure I can wait that long. This year's strain of Cabin Fever has been particularly resistant to the usual vaccine. And it keeps getting worse.

When I closed the cabin last fall, I brought home a list of cabin-related projects to carry me through my convalescence. I also had an armload of cabin-related books to read. The projects are now done and the books have been read. I guess the only tonic remaining is to watch cabin-related movies.

With over a hundred channels of TV, Netflix and the public library's stable of videos & DVDs you'd think I could get through the remaining 8 weeks, right? While I was watching PBS run 'Alone in the Wilderness' for the fourteenth time, I started making a list of 'cabin movies'. Sadly, most movies that take place at cabins have to do with axe-murderers and the like. Anyway, here's what I found:

On Golden Pond: Who hasn't seen this classic? Both Henry Fonda & Katharine Hepburn won Oscars for their performances. Filmed on Squam Lake in New Hampshire.
Alone on the Wilderness: Watch an eccentric but likable character build a log cabin by hand in the Alaskan Wilderness.
American Values, American Wilderness: A documentary by Christopher Reeve.
Adventures of the Wilderness Family: An L.A. family (the Robinson's) decides to move to the Rockies to build a cabin and live off the land. Might appeal to the under-10 set.
The Lodge: Young lovebirds check into a lodge run by a creepy guy. How many times has this story been told? Skipped the theaters and went straight to video.
Great Lodges of the National Parks: PBS documentary series billed as the perfect remedy for cabin fever. I haven't seen these yet but they're on my list.
Adventure Lodges of North America: This one's also on my list.
Cabin Fever: Some college kids party in the woods where a hermit gives them a lethal virus.
June Cabin: A group of friends has a reunion at a remote cabin. One of them goes missing. One of the worst movies I've ever seen.
Wilderness Survival for Girls: Three high school girls at a remote cabin, a strange man arrives, etc. (Is it just me or is there a recurring theme here?)
Sam's Lake: Following the death of her Father, a girl invites a bunch of girlfriends to a remote cottage haunted by a decades old murder.
Ghost Lake: Following the death of her parents, a girl retreats to her family's lakeside summer house... wait a minute! This sounds just like Sam's Lake!!

Do you have a favorite cabin movie? If so, please leave a comment. Sixty-one days is starting to look like forever.

Eric Sloane, Renaissance Man 1905 - 1985

Bill has a camp uplake from us. Whenever he comes calling he compliments me on the improvements I've made to our cabin. Bill is a retired pattern-maker and is amazingly handy himself. His own camp predated the road so he had to mule his building materials in on his back, on a sled or by boat. Having no electricity (still doesn't) he built his camp without benefit of power tools. I value his opinions and suggestions.

On one visit he asked if I'd ever read anything written by Eric Sloane. I had not. He then loaned me his well-read copy of 'Diary of an Early American Boy'. I devoured the book and have since bought every Eric Sloane book I can find.

In addition to his obvious talents and work ethic, Sloane repeatedly benefited from being in the right place at the right time. In that way his early life reminds me of Forrest Gump. Sloane took an early interest in art. He learned how to draw numbers and letters from a neighbor, Mr. Goudy (designer of the popular Goudy font) and started painting signs for money. Living near Roosevelt Field on Long Island, he painted the names and numbers on many planes and got to know many of the pilots. He learned to fly from none other than aviation pioneer Wiley Post, the first pilot to fly solo around the world. He quickly became obsessed with the sky and clouds, themes that would become central to his art. His first cloud painting was bought by none other than Amelia Earhart and another covers an entire wall at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

At age fourteen Sloane ran away to become an itinerant sign painter. He worked his way across America, painting signs on barns, buildings and stores. He studied America from a vantage point few people experienced.

Fascinated by weather, The Farmer's Almanac and the early American farmer's ability interpret "weather signs", Sloane is credited with being the first television weatherman, having come up with the idea of having farmers from all over New England call in their weather observations to a Dumont, New York TV station where they could be broadcast to the regional audience.

Over the course of his eighty years, Sloane wrote thirty-eight books and created nearly 15,000 paintings.

In the early 1950's, while restoring an antique farmhouse in Connecticut, he discovered a boy's almanac, inkwell and diary dated 1805. The contents piqued his interest in the life of early American settlers. By adding commentary and illustration, the diary provided the framework for the book Bill loaned me, 'Diary of an Early American Boy: Noah Blake 1805'.

While he may be best known for his paintings, it's his fascination with the lifestyle and ingenuity of early settlers that appeals to me. He is a recognized authority on Early American rural architecture, tools, folk wisdom and meteorology. Through his paintings and his books, Sloane's spirit lives on today as if he's determined to keep the invincible Early American Spirit alive. For this I will always be grateful to Eric Sloane and my thoughtful neighbor, Bill.

For a list of Sloane's books, go to www.townsendbooks.com/sloane.htm