As you see, our waters aren’t always deep blue.
Tag: Outdoors
Roadside dock
Some folks use the striking weed in cooking.
Nature notes on Penobscot Bay
we’ve seen so many seals
harbor seals, more than gray
dozens of sunning seals
today I’m beginning to spot them unprompted
against the rocks
a lazy pace
or is that leisurely
nearly full moon
through a scrim
a bald eagle in flight
and a seal swimming
the next morning
a porpoise
after passing seals
weigh, haul away
where did those porpoises go?
an osprey flew over the water
before breakfast
this could be addictive
The Wolves
This cluster of small islands in Fundy Bay at the tip of Campobello includes a light house that’s become invisible in this photo.
Holding on, one way or another
the powerful image of tree roots in a rock fissure
one I hold from Little Miami River trails in Greene County, Ohio
repeated once again along the Isinglass, in New Hampshire, just below the landfill a half-century later
the memory, all the same
Take up a new activity means learning words that go with it
My week on a schooner enlarged my vocabulary.
For instance.
- A quarterboard proclaims the name of the ship at the bow.
- Quarterdeck, the little raised house behind the main mast, where the wheel is. The forecastle is the one at the other end, up by the bow.
- Dropping the hook, meaning anchor.
- Gaff, the more or less horizontal spar at the top of the mainsail and foresail. It makes those sheets irregular quadrilaterals in shape rather than triangular.
- Beam, the width. Crown, the roll of the deck for water to roll off. Sheer is the cut of the profile, usually voiced with aesthetic appreciation or disproval.
- Hatch, with the ladders down into the hold.
- Stern, the back, where we steer.
- Transom, the flat back of the boat , or, as you know now, at the stern.
- Yawl. It can be a kind of auxiliary sail, but in a schooner’s case, usually refers to the yawl boat riding at the stern when it’s not off somewhere on its own.
- Windward, meaning the direction the wind’s coming from, and leeward, the direction the wind’s headed. In a heavy wind, the windward side of the ship’s higher, while the leeward one dips toward the water. (When it’s really touching the water, the ship’s “running the rail,” meaning ripping along.)
I also like the term “running on one screw,” meaning propeller, except we didn’t have one.
We won’t even start talking tonnage, which seems to mean a lot for insiders.
As long as we were on uninhabited Babson Island
Maine Coastal Heritage Trust
Greek Revival bones
This pristine 1820’s home on Green Street overlooks Castine Bay.
Iconic figure on the waterfront
The statue, a leftover from a television series set in the town, really does look much better in the yellow slicker than the blue-gray one before. But he still doesn’t look like any of the real characters I’ve encountered living here.
In the channel off St. Andrews, New Brunswick
Just up the coast from us, what I’m told is a Canadian research vessel.
Jnana's Red Barn 