“Singing In The Rain” Redux- Our Fabulous Weather On Virginia’s Eastern Shore


by: Marlene email

I was just sitting at my desk  last Saturday morning, rain drumming on the office roof, working on a little overdue  project,  feeling just a teensy bit sorry for myself  because we cancelled our trip to Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville, VA ( www.cartermountainorchard.com ) because heavy rain was forecast for most of the day and I don’t like to drive in a downpour.  But I started feeling cheerier when one of our agents got a call from a customer who will be closing shortly on a home they just  purchased here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia , saying they were absolutely getting  hammered by snow,  falling  like  crazy  outside their home  overlooking  the Hudson River near New York City.   Snow in October, I  thought.  Wow, what a bummer  !   October is for enjoying fall foliage, driving to apple orchards,  sipping sweet-tart apple cider out on your deck on a beautiful fall afternoon or visiting  wineries to taste the new releases.  October is definitely NOT supposed to be for slipping and sliding on icy roads,  shoveling sidewalks or salting  down the front steps.   Or,  worst of all,  having your power off for days on end as proclaimed on the front page of the New York Times that Sunday– ”  Storm Leaves More Than 2 Million Without Power”.

Which brings me full circle once more to “Singing In The  Rain”  here on the  Virginia Eastern Shore.  Like last year, and the year before, and the year before that,  and indeed most of my nearly 25 years here,  when areas just north of us are being lashed by sleet, snow and high winds,  here on the Eastern Shore,  we are enjoying rain.   “Enjoying”  in the sense that it’s great to have  woods, fields and ponds  getting a good drink and water tables  being refilled — even though we might cancel trips so as not to have to drive  in heavy rain.   So many benefits, so few drawbacks !   Our moderate maritime climate, our fabulous weather,  is one of the many delightful aspects of life on the Eastern Shore.  A beautiful four season climate with long, pleasant springs and falls, the hot part of summer short with cooling breezes blowing off  the water,  the cold part of winter short  and moderate ( most winter days seem to be between 40 to 50 degrees outside) — by the end of February or first part of March,  farmers normally starting  plowing for spring plantings.  For avid boaters, golfers and beachcombers, it’s terrific– you’ll see them out and about all winter long,  “doing their thing”,  enjoying  every outdoor minute of   a  refreshing  45 degree winter’s day.

So last Sunday, when we woke up here on the Shore to a beautiful Indian Summer day,  leaves beginning to turn, skies clear and blue, slight breeze, temperatures forecast to be about 65 degrees and sunny,  it was hard to imagine what it would be like to live  in parts of New Jersey with 15 inches of snow and no power,  or in New York with a state of emergency declared in 13 counties  or in parts of Massachusetts or Connecticut, buried under up to 27 inches of snow and electricity forecast to be off  for up to a week.  And I didn’t actually have to imagine it because the Weather Channel covered it all in full detail,  fallen trees, closed airports, stranded motorists, 9 dead, the whole sad story.   Then,  just as I was making  another  pot of coffee, I looked out the kitchen window to a beautiful fall sight,  called to my husband to bring my camera– out in our little woods, beyond the back lawn and overlooking the water,  was a small family of  deer,  just passing through,  about 6 of them,  stopping every few minutes to look around and sniff the air.  Deer in  shades of  tans and browns,  trees dressed in greens and hues of  reds and orange, all set against the deep blue background of  our  Chesapeake Bay inlet– that’s what October on the Eastern Shore of Virginia looks like to us.   New York  may have  “The Big Apple”,  Massachusetts may have Boston and New Jersey may have Atlantic City…. but the Eastern Shore of Virginia has fabulous weather, our glorious, beautiful,  do-your-outside-thing- most- anytime,  moderate maritime climate.  So,  once again,  it’s  “Singing In The Rain”,  not shuffling

(Posted by Marlene Cree, licensed Virginia agent with Blue Heron Realty Co., 7134  Wilsonia Neck Dr., Machipongo, VA)

in the snow,  here on the Virginia Eastern Shore.

 

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