Lobster Boat Two-fer!

I walked down to the docks this morning and stopped to take some pictures of a lobsterman I know,  with his crew getting ready for a day of setting traps.......and learned of a great new book he is promoting.

Jay Gustaferro of Gloucester, captain of the Jean Elizabeth,  has been catching lobsters and fighting nukes since the 1970s and he is nowhere near done.

Looking up in Gloucester, Massachusetts

A new way to measure rainfall

Now I have a new way to measure rainfall-  

not in inches, but in time: How long will it take me to bail a dory before I can row it? 

Dory full of rainwater after a few days of stormy fall weather here in Gloucester, MA.....

...and after half an hour of steady bailing.

UPDATE:  December 10, 2014

After another few days of rain, I had company this morning when I went to the docks to see about bailing...Alex, a fellow member of the Gloucester International Dory Racing Committee, brought his hand pump.

I prefer hand-bailing with a sturdy re-used plastic bottle.

Bailing, bailing, gone!

and another update: February, 2015: A new way to measure SNOWFALL!

6-8 inches of slush-water under the snow

Since the dories are kept in the water year-round, the snow and slush has to be removed as well as the rainwater,  so that they will be ready to row on a good winter day. 

Gates

There's a saying that goes, "The road to a friend's house is never long."

I have another saying: "The gate at a friend's place is never a puzzle."

I get a certain satisfaction, when I arrive at a friend's yard, in being familiar enough with their gate to breeze through it, no matter how persnickety the latch may be.

Sometimes you have to lift and pull, or push and jiggle. You only learn these things through experience-  coming and going over time, visiting, dropping off muffins, returning a book.






It seems to me that gates and latches in New England are particularly quirky- just like my wonderful friends.

                            

Rowing the Grand Banks Dory in Gloucester Harbor

You may think that winter is not the best time to start learning how to row a dory off the coast of New England,

but you don't always get to choose when an opportunity like this will present itself.

A warm day with calm seas and no wind can be the perfect time to go rowing, especially in winter, when there are few other boats in the harbor.

Kind and patient friends (Peter Parsons, James Tarantino and Hilary Frye) invite me to row with them as a "dory mate."

I'd much rather row than sit there as ballast in the boat.  I'm slowly learning how to handle the two oars evenly and make the boat go where I want it to.

Staying warm is not a challenge when you are working hard to help move a 400-pound boat.

                                                                                                                                                                photo by Peter Parsons

rowing with Hilary Frye just as a snow was starting. photo by Peter Parsons

And just look what I get to see!

 
 
 
 

Ten Pound Island, Gloucester (MA) Harbor 

photo by Peter Parsons

 

a snowy owl! 

photo by Peter Parsons 

 

 

So Maude called this morning

Maude

 

 

Maude is an old friend of mine who lives near the entrance to Maudslay State Park in Newburyport, MA. http://www.maudslayassociation.org/

She called early this morning, while I was shoveling my car out and talking with neighbors.
A perfect fluffy six inches of snow had fallen overnight and  Maude wanted to know when I would be coming by with my skis.

I was there within a half-hour and I got to enjoy a perfectly wonderful hour of being alive and well in New England.   I realized once again that the word AWESOME is so often overused (especially by me!)  It should be reserved for places like Maudslay on a peaceful December morning after a fresh snow.

 

 

 

 

 

Asphalt Verandas

I live in a small city, Newburyport, MA, in the most densely-populated neighborhood of that city, the South end, or "Joppa." http://www.clipperheritagetrail.com/tour_waytojoppa.php

A lot of houses don't have back yards, or even front yards, so people here tend to make the most of the space they have in the summer, when they want to be outside.

 

I love the way folks can create a little oasis for relaxing and socializing right on the sidewalk, with nothing but a couple of chairs and a potted plant. Some are fancier than others, but you get the idea......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is where I love to paddle my kayak in the summer- Essex Bay, MA

 

 

 

This is the event in the spring which gets me excited about getting my boat into the water- the Essex River Race.  A few years ago, I entered the race and finished.  (Dead last! haha!)
Now I just go and watch everyone else in their human-powered boats.

 

.....like Jimmy Tarantino, of Gloucester, rowing his new dory.

 

 

 

Here are a few boaters getting ready to start, in the Essex River near the town landing.

 

 

 

A Seine boat team coming up to Conomo Point, at the halfway mark (about 2.5 miles)

 

 

 

 

 

Paddlers and rowers going out around Cross Island into the most exposed water of the race course.  See Crane's Beach in the distance?

 

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=crane's+beach+ipswich+ma&ie=UTF-8&ei=WLCPUdD0HtKo4AOEkoDgCg&ved=0CAsQ_AUoAg

 

 

 

 

I kept thinking- We are so lucky to live here!

 

Dirt Salad

(File this one under "Eye of the Beholder")

Some people call it Black Gold. I like to think of it as Dirt Salad.

It's COMPOST, and it's a frugal gardener's dream.

All year long I feed my backyard compost heap, little by little, with vegetable and fruit peels, eggshells, coffee grounds (lots of coffee grounds!) tea bags, floor sweepings, dryer lint.*

I throw in a shovelful of soil, and a handful of dead leaves once in a while, and let it get rained on.  In the spring, I turn it over and dig into the center, where the earthworms live, and shovel out just enough rich, black, organic composted potting soil to fill my flower boxes- for free!

 

 

 

 

 

Just planted a few minutes ago. They'll perk up when they dig their roots into that Dirt Salad!

 

 

*To me, it's like recycling, only with "garbage."  I'm already recycling paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, etc.,  so this is one more category of stuff I can keep out of the trashcan.