圣巴特里克节快乐 Happy St. Patrick's Day

圣巴特里克节快乐  Happy Paddy's Day!
This is how they celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Shanghai!  
The Green Dragon was the name of the Chinese-Irish entry in the round-the-world 2010 Volvo Ocean Race .  HERE are shots of the Singapore - Tsingtao leg.

How to view an ancient Chinese art scroll

Family Handyman One-Day backyard project

Mammalian visitor

a harp seal behind across the Back River behind our house
photo by Kevin Burns

This harp seal visited for a couple of days, lounging about on the ice shelf in the Back River behind our house.  We assumed the seal was sick - because it moved around little.  But a call - by our neighbor Kevin -to the Marine Mammals Hotline at the Maine Division of Marine Resources disabused us of that notion. (click on picture to enlarge)


The seal - an adolescent she estimated from the pictures - would probably stay about 48 hours and move on.  which it did - gone on the high tide in the morning.  Speculation about what brought his this far up river starts with food.  This is spring and there are smelts up the back river.  Smelts are small ocean fish which spawn in fresh water.  Spring is when they spawn and head down river.  The creek in Thomaston - a similar body of water to the Back River behind our house - is home to a dozen or more ice houses every winter.  smelt is the catch.

Japan's loss

Toshiyuki Tsunenari/Asahi Shimbun, via Associated Pres

Rob Salzman: homeless 51 y.o. ex-con finds work in film

Rob Salzman, of the Bronx, is an orphan, 51 years old.  Robbery, assault and drug dealing landed him in jail for most of his 20's and 30's.  Working out on the street, he discusses his life with good sense, and the good fortune that he has found work as an actor.  Very nice job from the Times.

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