antares

Man, what a day...started out on a brief hike up the georges river trail to mt pleasant summit at seven AM...with Kimberly and Shadow. After looking out at the coast we headed down and made a wrong turn on one of the ATV paths. It was good at first and we explored an old cellar from a beautiful old farm, but in the end we got turned around and went to Warren bog. It was four hours and probably ten miles before we got back!

Mom's having a tough day but looks forward to the whole damn fambly arriving Saturday...little do they know the projects I have in mind for them. Mom if your reading this, check out this language and grammar link for an interesting diversion. The columbia journalism review is pretty interesting.

Oh my, even with my grandest intentions I find that the day is swiftly passing by and I've not even left the house yet! I had expected to rise early (as usual) check my online correspondence and an eBay auction that I'm currently winning for an old Isaac H. Evans cookbook, and then head to the shipyard. I thought by now I'd be up to my elbows in paint. Instead I woke at dawn and just laid in bed reading....what a delicious treat. Knowing there was no crew standing around at the shipyard waiting for direction made that possible. I am currently reading "Living History" by Hillary Rodham Clinton and have stacks of newspapers and magazines that I keep intending to look at.

I look forward to Saturday programming on NPR....Click and Clack from 10 to 11, then What do ya' know? from 11 to 1 then Says Who? from 1 to 1:30 (an entirely too short show if you ask me!) We play a game on the schooner that we call 'dictionary' that is very much like the bluffing round on Says Who? Someone chooses an obscure word from the dictionary and they write down the real definition while everyone else makes up a definition and we vote on which definition is the real one. Last weekend they cut What do ya know? short to start opera early....I was quite disappointed because opera truly isn't my 'thing'. I guess they made up for it by having the annual joke show on Prairie Home Companion that night.

I have to admit that I am not a celestial navigator. I was given a plastic sextant years ago and haven't had the occasion to force myself to learn to use it. I didn't have to learn celestial navigation for my captain's license although I did have to learn loran and gyroscope....two things I've never even seen much less actually used! My favorite toy is radar....something I trust and understand. I have a handheld GPS that I play with but it is more a speedometer than anything as it gives me fairly accurate speed over the ground readings (much more important than speed through the water!) Of course when it is not foggy (those couple days every summer) I use plain old dead reckoning.

But I did notice the beautiful pairing of Venus and the moon. I've watched Venus' progress through the sky over the last few nights as she leap-frogged the crescent. I've had an online conversation with Dan about this but I'll share with you that this phenomena reminds me of the cove stripe on a Concordia yawl....exquisite boats, typically white with a gold stripe with a star at the bow and a crescent moon at the stern.

I do have an interest in celestial bodies although I am seriously lacking in actual knowledge. It's something I keep intending to learn more about. Actually the first and only time I have been to Merryspring was this past winter on a weekday afternoon to hear a wonderful octogenarian (whose name I've forgotten) talk about her love of things astral. She was wonderful...spry, eloquent, humorous...and had that twinkle in her eye that I hope I have when I reach that age. She knew (and loved) her topic! That paired with the organic warmed cider and homemade cookies made for an absolutely enjoyable first experience there.

Well, Dan can tell you that I do go on and on once I get started so I should tend to my list of things to do (besides it's almost time to turn the dial to Click and Clack!) I wish you a peaceful weekend. Please do find or make the time to visit at the North End Shipyard. I would be honored to meet you and show you around my little shipyard world.....

Brenda

Brenda, glad to see you figured out hpw to join the "blog", and I hope we can come down to Rockland and see your ship sometime in the next week or two. Now we need to put in "links", like this one to the Issac Evans web page!!!

It truly must be spring...for me that means the sound of paint scrapers and electric sanders and the smells of linseed oil, pine tar, paint, varnish, and paint thinner. We're busy getting the Schooner Isaac H. Evans ready for another sailing season. The old girl is 118 this year and demands almost continual maintenance. Although it's an incredibly hectic time, I try to stop and notice that the grass is turning green once again, the birds are active, the sun stays with us for a few minutes longer each day, and people are testing their summer clothes.

Marge, you don't know me but Dan invited me to visit and join this blog. Until a couple weeks ago I didn't even know what a blog was!

Brenda

A fine spring day in Maine, getting some work done on the neighbors house and working with Sam Smith, an old friend who is the Smith part of Smith and May masonry. Its old home week as I work with John Collins, all 6'8" tall and a man who worked with me when he was fifteen...now he is 35 ! Its funny, getting taught by someone who was once your student.