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.
Tags: Chesapeake Bay real estate, Eastern Shore of Virginia, fall foliage, life on Virginia's Eastern Shore, Nature, Virginia Eastern Shore