Once again, Captain Mark Stover gave us a wonderful tour of what became quite a unique day.

Every year Mark gives me a call inviting me and anyone I wanted to come along with him on his Redhook sea cruiser. This year our daughter Mae was home from New York City just long enough for her return flight to be cancelled, and just in time for a boat ride with Captain Mark. Even mother Susan was able to join us, which is generally not possible. We had a lovely fun ride accompanied by Sabrina and her little cousin Rose, and a young lady named Suzanne who had lost her way to being on board the Virginia from Bath which was captained by her boyfriend. Mark told her that we were going for a toot around the harbor and she would be welcomed aboard. Mae and Suzanne accompanied Captain Mark at the helm.

One of my old baseball coaches used to say, “You win some. You lose some. And some are rained out. But you gotta dress for ’em all.”

Over the years and with hundreds of photographed weddings, the final say is always Mother Nature. No one particularly looks forward to an over ambitious day of rain, wind, or snow for their special day. But my experience with well-weathered events has been far from dismal. In fact, I dare say, weather has often created a more intimate interaction with parties involved.

Over their growing up years with oodles of summer and after school jobs, one experience always seemed to impress our daughters. Both girls worked with Lindy Bragg at “Calypso” in Boothbay Harbor. Frequently we would hear, “Mom (or Dad) I met the coolest people today at work. Lindy has some really neat stuff and many of her customers visit every year they come to the Harbor. They look forward to stopping by.”

It’s evenings like this that help sooth the soul.

I have often spoken of the mystery of surprise and the gift of wonder with my “work.” And this week’s photo is a brief confirmation. What a lovely evening in early June when the light is happy and just right for discovery.

We were sorting through some old family letters at home last week and came across mail from John Endicott, my wife’s uncle, dated June 18, 1937. The letter included instructions from Donald B. MacMillan as follows:

Alice Hodgdon Thompson, Hugh’s mother, was a bright and shining light when I photographed at the Hodgdon Yachts yard on Murray Hill Road in East Boothbay. She would always alert the crew when she joined them at break time, “Watch the language.” For the most part everyone obeyed with an occasional slip up Alice seemed to manage quite well in the shipbuilding environment, partly, and probably because she had grown up around boats and the workers who built them. Famous for building many significant vessels, Alice’s father Norman Hodgdon had a shop on the east side of the Harbor adjacent to what once was Cap’n Fish’s motel, now the home of the newly created waterfront park.

Spring is springing little by little. Here on Southport Island things are moving along at a snail’s pace.

Wiscasset is in full bloom along the Route One corridor. We know this because in the last week we have driven through Wiscasset Village six times – somewhat of a record for us!

It was a packed house! Hundreds of people coming to pay their respects on a beautiful spring day when anyone could have been elsewhere – a very impressive gathering for Mr. Farrin and his family.

One of the things that struck me during a recent visit with Dr. William M. “Barney” Balch, senior research scientist at Bigelow Lab, was his sense of curiosity. Our conversation reminded me of our very earliest interactions at the old Bigelow Lab in West Boothbay Harbor when I photographed with and for Clarice and Charlie Yentsch. Barney was there from the beginning of Bigelow at that location, a devoted associate of the Yentsch tenure.

For almost 235 days Kirsten Nueschafer sailed alone via the three Capes and just over 30,000 miles to win the Golden Globe Race around the world. She was one of 16 sailors who set off from Les Sables - d’Olonne, France, on Sep. 4, 2022, and one of three who finished. Others met with a variety of complications that took them out of the race. Kirsten actually deviated from her intended path to rescue a fellow Finnish sailor, Tapio Lehtinen, from the Indian Ocean. She was 95 miles from Lehtinen when his boat sank. She sailed hard through the night to find him, a small miracle in and of itself. Kirsten delivered Tapio to a commercial vessel and returned to carry on in the race.

Recently, during a drive to doggie day care, my car radio, tuned to NPR, revealed a most interesting bit of news.

It seems that an artist won a photography contest with an AI-generated image. Boris Eldagsen won the World Photography Organization’s Sony World Photography Awards for a piece titled “The Electrician.” This is pretty amazing stuff!

One of my enjoyable check ins over the years, here in the harbor, was my altogether too frequent visit with Ken Brown and Brown’s Wharf. Ken had fabulous stories of many adventures here in Maine, around the U.S. and abroad. It seemed there was no end to his wonderful tales. I was a devoted audience. He had friends from far and near, many who returned yearly to stay at Brown’s and catch up with Ken and family. He sat in the corner of the office pretending to be nobody special, watching and listening. New visitors to the Wharf had no idea who he was and he enjoyed the anonymity until someone got a little frisky at the front desk. I only saw him come out of the chair in a hurry a couple times. Once speaking fluent German he completely demolished an arrogant visitor who was giving one of the staff a hard time. The person was so freaked out he fairly flew out the door never to be seen again. Horace Lee would gleefully back up my observation. Horace and I fought over the chair next to Ken!

I looked under the bed this morning, and there I was!

While in the vicinity of dust bunnies, dog hair and a variety of boxes, files and other out of sight items, I decided to dig deeper. It was an amazing adventure which led me to older collections that have been accumulated elsewhere., i.e., the office! And, true to form, other mysteries revealed themselves. Stellar organizational skills have eluded me all my life. So, it’s fun to dig deep sometimes just for the fun of it to see what goodies may await.

One such item is shared in today’s photograph.

For all us flat landers who have migrated to the world waters, it’s a special privilege we share, given that, in many cases, our arrival at the ocean’s edge has been a life-changing experience. I speak from the personal experience of growing up in a small central Pennsylvania coal mining area and then teaching in a large New Jersey public school. The transition to the coast of Maine has been a true gift. We are so grateful to have started our family here, raised two lovely young ladies and managed to enjoy a very special life for almost 50 years. As a kid growing up I could never have imagined such a special place. We are very fortunate.

Jim Fossett’s photograph of the Footbridge reconstruction reminded me of my limited interaction with our famous harbor crossing. In my earlier memory I recall visiting Chetley Rittall at his boat shop in what is now Brady’s restaurant at the head of the Harbor. At that time boats had access via the swing span of the Footbridge to and from the very innermost part of the harbor. As I recall from noticing the tides in that neck of the woods, navigation needed to be well timed as there were some fairly significant ledges that might capture the attention of navigators. The channel really diminished as the tide drained – OK for kayaks but not so good for bigger boats. If a boat went into Chetley’s shop at high tide, and remained too long, the visit would be extended until next high water. I think all boat captains familiar with the harbor waters knew this.

What’s next? The life and tunes of Corey Tibbetts!

Remember “Cracker Jacks” and the little prize at the bottom of the box? It wasn’t much but it was fun to see what the prize would be. The process of anticipation!

What a beautiful day was Sunday, March 12!

After a stretch of unpredictable weather which brought us snow, winds and deep freezing, this day was a real gift. It’s the kind of day that helps us look forward to warmer days and more sunlight. And, it was the first day of the new shift to more afternoon light. At 7 o’clock there was still a glow in the western sky. I know we will be seeing more challenging weather before winter officially ends, but this day held promise.

Brothers and Sisters!

WBLM radio station in Portland became 50 years old on March 1!

BLM (which I always thought meant Bureau of Land Management— still do), had humble beginnings. It was started by Jim Mitchell (no relation) as an “easy listening/elevator music” station during the day, in a trailer in Litchfield, Maine. But under the cover of darkness — Rock and Roll baby! The first song broadcast in the overnight was The Moody Blues’ “The Story in Your Eyes.” The rest is history! Skynyrd, Zepp, Stones!

Recently I came across information about the Victory Chimes – she’s for sale.

My first encounter with this major vessel was during one of Boothbay Harbor’s Windjammer Days in the early 1980s. A photo I made in the Harbor showing Mark Friant and Merritt Grover zipping by the great ship became one of our first postcards. Mark and Merritt, I’m pretty sure, were still then in high school. They moved quickly about the waterfront back in those days leaving much flotsam and jetsam in their wakes! A dynamic duo to say the least!

Within a span of less than two weeks we experienced temperatures ranging from negative 30 degrees, with NW wind chill, to 50+ degrees with full bright sun. That’s a big temperature swing! Adjust to that Batman! What’s a mother to do?