I stopped by the public beach at Biddeford Pool, where the lifeguard stands wait patiently for summer to come. The parking lot was covered in ice, but I gingerly made my way to the beach.
The nice thing about the off-season is I have the beach all to myself.
Of course, it's a bit too brisk to linger for very long.
But I did manage a short walk and a bit of picture-taking.
It was later in the afternoon, and the sun was low in the sky.
The sun sets early here at this time of year, about 4:30 p.m. or so.
I'm always intrigued by this building, formerly a hotel and now a retreat center. If you've ever read Anita Shreve, you may remember the house that was formerly a convent that appears in several of her books. I imagine it might look something like this building. And since Anita Shreve has summered in Biddeford Pool, who's to say she didn't draw on it for her inspiration?
After my walk on the beach, I drove around the area a bit and stopped to take a few quick shots of a field full of Canadian geese. Actually, that isn't a field; it's a golf course.
The geese took off about the same time I did.
As I said to my Facebook friends, we Mainers see a different sort of beauty in the winter, a beauty that summer visitors will never know.