Underway with the USMMA

Some nice footage and Irish song here from the lucky sailors of the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point.  The boat with the beautiful brightwork is their flagship Summerwind, which we saw last summer in Maine. h/t Bonnie at Frogma

Barcelona World Race leaders round Cape Horn

Loick Peyron and Jean Pierre Dick, Barcelona World Race leaders have rounded Cape Horn

Spring is here: first kayakers on the North River

at the GW Bridge  (click to enlarge images)

Willie, Mickey, and the Duke

So let's hear first from the Dodger fans. Here is Dave Anderson the great Times sports writer (and Holy Cross grad) rising to praise The Duke of Flatbush:

Over their careers, Mays and Mantle each earned adulation as arguably the best baseball player ever. Snider never did, but for a time in the ’50s the Duke of Flatbush was better than either of them. He hit 407 home runs, almost all for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, and a few for the Mets and the Giants at the end. But in the ’50s he hit more home runs than Mays or Mantle or anybody else in the big leagues.

Duke of Flatbush, a Brooklyn Icon - NYTimes.com

First day of spring - Circling City Island

We're a week short of the liturgical first day of spring -  Fat Tuesday - but that is just convenience and convention.  The real first day is the first one on the water.  That was today - when I rowed around City Island in my 8 foot plastic Walker Bay skiff.

Duke Snider, a Prince of New York’s Golden Age of Baseball, Dies at 84 - NYTimes.com

When I was a boy New York was blessed with three great center fielders - Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, and Willie Mays - the greatest of three greats. We lost The Duke of Flatbush yesterday. I was a Dodger fan - and so a Snider partisan. I saw him play at Ebbetts Field. I remember falling asleep at a twilight-night double-header against the St. Louis Cardinals.  I saw The Duke and the Cards' Stan Musial hit home runs that night over the towering - but near right field fence on the Bedford Avenue side of the stadium.

Duke Snider, a Prince of New York’s Golden Age of Baseball, Dies at 84 - NYTimes.com

Snowy Day - Tidemark Gallery

Sign of spring: Tidemark Gallery in Waldoboro, Maine announces it will reopen on March 2.

Dr. Ruth and Nate Berkus on Clearing Clutter - NYTimes.com

Dr. Ruth and Nate Berkus on Clearing Clutter - NYTimes.com

Tugster: Blog for 'Sixth Borough,' the Waterfront - NYTimes.com

Tugster: Blog for 'Sixth Borough,' the Waterfront - NYTimes.com

Finally - recognition for the work of Will VanDorp - Tugster - for whom every ship and every tide brings a new sense of wonder about the harbor.   And fter you check out Tugster, go to his pen and ink counterpart - Bowsprite

Friendship - President's Day 2011

slideshow HERE