Maine Shrimp Boil Recipe | Stephencooks

It's an aromatic, herbal broth!

Maine Shrimp Boil Recipe | Stephencooks

Men at work: Friendship harbor at year's end

Friendship harbor (click on photos to enlarge)

rigged for trawling

Friday, December 30, the last workday of the year was a busy day in Friendship harbor.  By a rough estimate of the dinghies at moorings in the morning about 20 fishing boats were out - baiting and hauling traps, or bringing them in for storage in the off season.  Others were getting ready for the shortened shrimp season.  The Department of Marine Resources has declared:

"The 2011/2012 fishing season specifications are a total allowable catch (TAC) of 2,000 metric tons, with the season closing when landings are projected to reach 95 percent of the TAC (1,900 mt). The trawl season will start January 2, 2012 with three landing days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Vessels may only land once a day. The trap season will start February 1, 2012 with a 1,000 pound landing limit per vessel per day [and no days out]."

Delayed a month, it will be a short season, hard on Friendship's fleet. 

Stones Point

26 for dinner at our Stones Point reunion 2011! Click on the photo for the whole slide show!

HATCHET COVE - N 43 58 714, W 69 21 019

Hatchet Cove

This was Father's Day...aboard Jim Bolen's Carolina skiff, picking out a spot for a mooring in Hatchet Cove, around the point from Friendship Harbor which - with 200 lobstering licenses in town - has no room for more moorings. (click on photos to enlarge)

Jim  Bolen - Bolen Marine Services

Ram and Sand Islands

Ashbri

James comes running

On Back River meadow, Friendship, Maine, March 2011

James is very happy that we bought the house on the Back River in Friendship, Maine.  He loves to run on the salt marsh.  It's Labrador Retriever habitat.

Friendship - President's Day 2011

slideshow HERE

Rockland, Maine: Lobster Trap Christmas Trees

It's an art form that developed when plastic-wrapped wire traps replaced the iconic wooden lobster traps.  They stack high - and green is one of the common colors used.  This one in Rockland was featured on the Discovery Channel.  You see some on lawns too.  Like this one at a fisherman's house on Main Street in Friendship.
(click images to enlarge)

Columbus Day - new moon - high tide on the Back River

Obamas on Frenchman's Bay

I love Frenchamn's Bay.  My first visit to Maine in 1984 was a stay on Hancock Point, on Frenchman's Bay, near Bar Harbor.  That is where the Obamas went for a boatride on their speed vacation to Maine.

July 4th Parade, Thomaston, Maine

The slideshow is HERE

VFW Post 3095, Friendship, Maine

Spring Sale

Spring sale at the Friendship Trap Company

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

Valentine's Day Weekend

Valentine's Day weekend - slideshow is HERE

Schooner docks - Rockland, Maine

The Bird Block, Rockland.  Coast Guard HQ is in the  brick bldg.

M L King weekend in Maine here

After the storm

18" fell on Friendship, January 1-3, 2010

Blue Moon high tide, New Year's Eve, Back River, Muscongus Bay, Gulf of Maine

Once in a blue moon something like this comes along.

10.9 feet, 9:39 AM, December 31, 2009

Here is the slideshow of the most-photographed cove on the coast of Maine.

Two days later

bīngdòng sān chǐ fēi yí rì zhī hán

冰冻三尺非一日之寒。

It takes more than one cold day to freeze a river 3 feet deep

Freezing morning in December - Back River, Friendship, Maine

The Back River is an arm of the Meduncook River which separates Cushing and Friendship. This shot was taken near high tide on Wednesday, December 16. Though snow had fallen, and there had been some cold days, there had been a thaw after the first cold snap, The ground was still wet and workable. Wednesday was a freezing day. Thursday it headed down to 5 F and the ground froze.

Shots of the Back River (the one above) were taken from our land. (Mostly through the living window.) Those from a height are mainly from east Salt Pond Road, Cushing. The slideshow is chronological from December 13 (when I got here) until December 31, god willing.

Back River Blue Heron

I am going to have to get a longer lens,
like the contributors to the great Spanish birdwatching blog Miradas Cantabricas. But these will do for the moment. These shots are taken right out back at our place in Friendship. The last shot is of the house from my skiff.