Shanghai Expo Fireworks Finale

They are psyched about the Shanghai World Expo in China.  Why, I don't know.  They're boring these world's fairs.  But the Chinese invented gun powder, you will recall.  And they love fireworks.  So here is the finale of the opening fireworks display last night.

Red's Eats

The late Times reporter and epicure R.W. Apple helped make it famous.  We stop across the way at Sproul's on the waterfront deck - where I am partial to the baked haddock sandwich - and the line is shorter.  Of course it's red's that's on the Boston Globe's map of best clam shacks HERE.  Their capsule review follows:


Red's Eats, Wicasset, Maine

Situated in an old-school trailer, this Wicasset shack is a Route 1 landmark famous for its lobster rolls which they maintain is created with an entire one-pound lobster. Best of all, Red's lobster roll isn't slathered with mayonaise (though you can get it on the side, along with melted butter), allowing diners to enjoy the true taste of Maine lobster. Generally regarded as the state's best roll of its kind.

Main St., Wiscasset, Maine

At base camp: Mt. Everest 珠穆朗玛峰

珠穆朗玛峰 - Zhumulangma Feng - Pearl Peak to the Chinese.  Mount Everest to us.


Paul and Denise Fejtek are heading for the summit - their fifth - as part of the Challenged Athletes Foundation (Paul himself has limited use of one arm).  the plan is Seven Summits - the highest on each continent (Antarctica is next).  Here  is a shot from base camp.  Their site - Seven Summits for CAF is HERE (and on the blog list at the right)

Greenland Char

Greenland Char by Pescadotes

I have dreamed of  Greenland ever since my late dear friend Louise Halper gave me a copy of Rockwell Kent's N by E, his story of sailing to to Greenland. Their boat dragged anchor in a storm and was wrecked.  That gave him the opportunity to stay until his shipmates could return the next summer with the materials needed to repair the boat.  Of course he did some fabulous painting, and he shacked up with an Inuit woman named Salamina who he celebrated and painted in a book of the same name. 


Images: Pescadotes, Rockwell Kent, Rockwell Kent, and  Chop plate, 11". Salamina design by Rockwell Kent and manufactured by Vernon Kilns. 

Issuma: Northbound

Issuma's current position.  Richard has been at sea since about April 10 when he departed Cajalba, Brazil where they build these great boats from wood.

Ahab of the tramp tugboats

Burkhard Bilger has a great profile of Latham Smith, pater familias of a tugboat family.  He's a Shakespearean sort - lives large in a small world.  If you want to tow a dredge up the Congo River where you'll find the spirit of Joseph Conrad he's your man.  If you  want to bring a bargeload of anything to any unlikley place call Latham Smith first - if his rival and son Dominque hasn't gotten there first to take the load.

You've gotta pay for it at  The New Yorker (April 19, 2010) unless you already have a subscription.  And don't all wives who live in Manhattan or who went to Barnard have one?  Borrow hers.  There is at least one freebie: a video of Allen Ginsberg aboard Ellsbeth - the first of the tugs Latham designed and built and named after his ex-wife the mother of his five kids.


It's a great read in the John McPhee genre - and of course Bilger does get a memorable ride on a tugboat.

Volcanic cloud over Iceland

Image: Associated Press - volcanic cloud erupts over Iceland

Clearwater - drydock and repairs

The famous Hudson river sloop Clearwater has undergone extensive repairs and refitting - including re-planking- in drydock up river.  There is an excellent photo essay by John Sperr posted HERE courtesy of Tugster.

Everest Summit Attempt for Challenged Athletes Foundation

Greg Hancock, who works with Marilyn for Parade, has joined an Everest project.  His goal is to reach the historic Mt. Everest base camp - 18,500 feet.   Some plan to attempt the summit.  Paul and Denise Fejtek are trying for the summit.  You can follow them on their blog Seven Summits for CAF.  An interview is below.
This site will through the magic of Google Earth show where on the mountain the trekkers are now.

Oyster-tekture - re-imagining New York Harbor - Rising Currents - MOMA

 

Oystertekture is a project of Scape, a New York landscape architecture firm which is part of Rising Currents - Projects for New York's Waterfront now at MOMA.  I loved Oystertekture for its vision of restoring the Gowanus Canal as a seed farm for oysters, designing new oyster reefs for the Bay Ridge Flats  along the Buttermilk Channel south of Governor's Island - the City's newest park.

Bluefin Trevally

from Pescadotes

The Hudson - America's River - by Frances Dunwell

Author and conservationist Frances Dunwell 's dramatic tales will bring to life the stories of visionary people who changed the direction of our national history, inspired by their deep relationship with the river. Using images of Hudson River School paintings, maps and period engravings, she captures the spirit of the river through the eyes of its many admirers.  She recounts how the Hudson River powered the growth of the country's greatest industrial and financial empire and also produced leading American artists, writers, engineers, and environmentalists. She makes the case for conserving the Hudson as a source of creative inspiration and demonstrates that the river continues to be a creative force today.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has praised Dunwell's "wonderful stories about America's river," and her "beautifully written book." 

All royalties from sale of the book are being donated to the Natural Heritage Trust for conservation of the river.

The book is available directly from the publisher, Columbia University Press

USCGC Escanaba calls at Pier 17, NY

A friendly Port visit by the US Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba.  Watercolor left and photos thanks to Bowsprite.

Li'l tug that could: spring on the St. George River

Time to put the docks back in the water on the swift flowing St. George River at Thomaston, Maine.  "The river has puked and the ice is out" says Jeff Armstrong of Jeff's Marine.  The last big nor'easter carried lots of dead fall down river - so it's safe to put the docks back in.  A 12 foot Carolina Skiff is just the right tool for the job.

Across the river is Lyman Morse - builders of dream yachts for hedge fund guys and fixer-uppers of just about anything you bring to the yard.  They're a 100 year old yard, after all.

At Jeff's you'll find skiffs to 26 feet, service with a smile, and hear the bell ring every time he makes a sale. Slide show HERE