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.

Fedoras, Bowlers, & Caps

As you know I am rarely seen on the street without a hat. I wear caps at home. I just don't like that I am so bald. I like being the odd man fashion wise - wearing fedoras often. And I do think that men look good wearing hats. Look at these baseball fans in 1910 watching a baseball game from a roof across the street from Shibe Park (Connie Mack stadium), home of the Philadelphia Athletics (later of K.C. and Oakland).

Click image to enlarge

Maple Juice Cove - 3:30 PM Low Tide

Here is the slide show

Winter shrimp -Port Clyde Fresh Catch

The winter shrimp run has begun. It's dragger caught now. Later we'll get trap shrimp. $1.50/lb on the roadside. Still bountiful sea.

What matters to you about the seafood you eat?

• That it’s wild-caught in an environmentally sustainable way?
• That it’s of exceptional quality and handled with great care?
• That you can trace the short, speedy path it follows from the moment it’s harvested until it reaches your plate?
• That you’re helping sustain one of the last traditional fishing villages in Maine?

If your answer is “yes”, then Port Clyde Fresh Catch™ lobster, shrimp, fish, and crab are for you.

The Onion: A jaundiced view of squid - by a yellow tuna

What kind of sick fuck would put a hook in a piece of squid where a fish could easily swallow it?

And they had fun, fun, fun..Big Waves at the Eddie Aikau Surfing Competition, Waimea Bay, Oahu

Images: NY Times

And the winner is... Greg Long

Hunters of Greenland

The Times has posted a spectacular slideshow by Ragnar Axelsson of hunters in the east of Greenland who spend up to two months on the ice. It looks like Ansel Adams' Yosemite carved in ice. A wonderful place to visit if it weren't so...cold.
Well maybe in the summer for the salmon run....if it weren't for the...mosquitoes.

One of my heroes - Rockwell Kent - was shipwrecked there and stayed, painting what Axelsson has photographed. His stay was warmed by... Salamina.

Provincetown Sleigh Ride

Nantucket Sleigh Ride is what they called being hauled around the ocean in a skiff with a harpoon in a whale - in the days of Ahab.

Dave Lamoureux paddles his 12 foot kayak off Race Point, Provincetown, Mass and gets the same thrill when he - occasionally - hooks a blue fin tuna - and 3 times now - lands one. The pictures are above and the story HERE

Images: Captain Andrew Poce via Dave Lamoureux, and the New York Times

Unnamed Tall Ship

From Bowsprite

Changing New York 1932-1935: Photographs by Berenice Abbott

The great photographs taken by Berenice Abbott for the Federal Arts Project 1932-1935, are available online thanks to the New York Public Library. Below are some thumbnails. Click on Changing New York 1932-1935 to view the images.

They are: St. Bartholemew's Church and Waldorf Tower, Starrett Lehigh Bldg - West Street, tug, Lackawanna RR- Freight Station-North River, Pier 11, Penn Station, rail freight cars - East River piers, Central Jersey RR rail-ferry station - North River, East River Skyport, Manhattan Bridge