[Above photo: This is the “Before” photo of my latest project, a Necky Chatham 17 foot kayak. Not pretty, yet. ]
23 July 2023
Ah, Maine. Like a lovely woman, she takes off her bundled warmth and, with a mix of modesty and seduction, dons a fresh summer dress, revealing her beauty. As I took my walk along the Eastern Promenade, then down and along the water yesterday evening I was struck by all the pleasure, potential pleasure, and beauty I saw.
East End Beach had swimmers, waders, dogs at play with their owners cooperating, stand-up paddle boarders, and kayakers. Looking further into Casco Bay were the ferries to Peaks and Great Diamond islands, three gaff-rigged schooners showing tourists the Bay, a massive cruise ship docked on Commercial (sic) Street, and many sailboats darting about. Proximately, I walked by the marina where two huge motor yachts were berthed. One was 150’, the other about 110’—does the owner of the latter feel inferior and long for the larger craft? There were many smaller powerboats docked there, many sailboats at moorings offshore, and, in the distance, I could see beyond the corner of Macworth Island the many, many moored sailing craft in Falmouth harbor. It has the largest number of private boats moored on the coast of Maine.
On Sunday, I left Center Harbor in Brooklin for the Island. The Brooklin Boat Yard is at the very top of the list of wooden boat building shops in the United States. E.B. White’s son, Joel, founded it in 1960 and ran it for many years until he died of lung cancer. His son, Steve, now runs it. The harbor is filled with spectacularly beautiful, to my eyes, sailboats, mostly wooden. Nathaniel Greene Herreshoff, Sparkman and Stephens, and other towering legends of sailing yacht design are all represented. The Herreshoff boats, and there are many moored in the harbor, are fine, delicate-appearing craft with long bow and stern overhangs to increase the waterline length when heeled, thus increasing the theoretical hull speed. His designs dominated America’s Cup racing for 3 decades. In addition to several of his delicious Rozinante ketches, there are also longer and leaner sloops. In fact, Steve owns one which he has painted in leopard-skin; in the famed annual wooden boat race on Eggemoggin Reach he and his crew are dressed in fake leopardskin. Just a thumb of the Maine nose to the Swells of Seal Harbor, Somes Sound, and the other fabulously rich enclaves on the coast.
It was wet and foggy on the Island; it certainly beats Texas and our well is full, but the rain gods have outdone themselves in Maine this year. Yet another benefit of all the wet is that the Island is bursting with Chanterelle mushrooms. We generally get a few each year, often more than a few. There are literally bushels awaiting picking. We had a glorious penne pasta with chanterelles in a cream sauce. The cream, from a local farm, was so thick it would hardly pour! Summer bounty. And all the rain has spurred my highbush blueberry plants to grow fabulous foliage and prodigious numbers of blueberries. I continue to water them myself, in the hopes that my scent will deter the deer that nibbled them down earlier.
The Southern Maine Sea Kayak Network (“Smiskyn”) had its annual barbecue yesterday in a lovely park in Harpswell. Those members who came, about 30, were welcoming and filled with a wealth of valuable information about kayak equipment, places to put in and park for trips, and so forth. A former kayak guide for many years at LL Bean moved to nursing home care and donated all of his boats and gear to the organization. Some was given away, some was for sale at ridiculously low prices, and there were 5 kayaks for auction. For $30 I got wonderful stuff—a cockpit cover, a marine compass, two Kokotat life jackets (PFD’s), and a variety of other goods. Then I bought a kayak. “What?”, you ask. “You already have two.” I can see that kayaking is one of those activities where it is difficult to walk past a bargain. The craft is a 17 foot 35 pound Necky sea kayak, in need of love, buffing, hatch covers, and lubrication or replacement of the skeg apparatus. The consensus was it must be Kevlar, since it is so light.
OK, it cost $150 and if Kevlar, was probably $5000 new. It will take $200 and two or three afternoons for me to refurbish it but I then will have a terrific sea kayak I can keep in Portland. I’ll leave my new P&H on the Island. The wooden one I built many years ago can be for Islander use. With luck, I can even score a place on the racks at the East End Beach, a 10 minute walk from my home, so I can launch easily. The hull condition—excellent—and the lightness of it all persuaded me. I love projects, anyway, and bringing an old soul back to life—It could be me!—will give me pleasure.
The craziness continues. Perhaps the most remarkable was Marjorie Taylor Greene’s accurate recounting of Joe Biden’s vision and accomplishments, which he or his handlers deftly turned to his advantage. Everything she mentioned, with scorn, seemed very positive to me and I’d guess to most Americans. Investments in education, rural poverty, urban problems, Medicare and Medicaid, among others, are generally very popular, as were FDR and Lyndon Johnson’s programs for the poor. Using government to actually assist the working people of our country appears antithetical to her world vision. In her warped view, what he has done is despicable. It is always interesting, but often difficult to discover, what attack dogs actually want, beyond attacking. If people could overcome their rigid party loyalty and dispassionately consider his accomplishments over the past 2 ½ years, most would find them remarkable and positive.
Another dark comedy has been Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s writhing and wriggling and revelation of his ignorance around his inability to own his racial biases. Basically, he is convinced that White Supremacists are not racist. “I just call them Americans.” Along the lines of “Some of my best friends are ______________ [Black, Asian, Gay, Native American, Jewish).” He’s a product of his times and environment. How deeply imbedded in southern culture are those benighted beliefs. Two steps forward and one step back is still moving forward, however!
A Psychiatrist in Myanmar 