The little sloop is close to a disastrous jibe, and in the tempest, it is sailing in it will probably lead to a knockdown - the sort of scenario that haunts every sailor's dreams.
New York Pilot Boat 5
This chest was not in stock long enough for me to do a proper set of photos. It sold at it's first appearance at the Maine Boatbuilder's Show to a pair of Boston Harbor pilots who were going to give it as a retirement gift to a colleague.
The Dumps
Who can forget driving to the dump covered in a carpet of dirty white gulls and watching the waves of birds parting magically before your car?
Golden Rule
In the Terrible '60s, every once in awhile, I'd try to behave, follow the rules, and get ahead.
The Present
began with the sort of joke store items kids love - flatus cushions, stinky stuff, boxes with exploding snakes rather than candy; you know the kind of thing.
The Author Steps Out
Over the past four months, I returned to the 1960s and '70s for some good and not so great memories. I've always tried to keep within limits of what could have happened when I took a frolicking detour from what occurred. I cleaned things up.
Wood
As consumers, there is much that you don't know about your favorite woods.
Lessons Learned
The lesson here is to be wary of assuming that someone can't achieve because they can't learn how you teach.
Favorites
It sails on my wall with a cherry ocean and sky heading east from Japan or China towards Los Angelos. I think my father is pleased that his ship is restored to an essential place in our lives, through the unexpected kindness of a fellow seaman.
GIGO
Garbage in Garbage out - GIGO.
Baltimore
After a few days, Bob and Chris would sweep us out of the house if we hadn't already crisped our welcome by arguing too loud at four in the morning.
R.M.S. Servia – 1881
I've been interested in steam/sail transition vessels for years. Ships with steam Auxillary and later sail auxiliary revolutionized travel at sea. Oceanic travel was no longer at the mercy of the winds.
Slap shot
Ultimately someone unfamiliar with his proud Canadian heritage would suggest that the game could be cat soccer. At which point, I'd recommend that they came around some night when the Maple Leafs played the Bruins.
Geedunks
I'd learned in the Navy that what geedunks ( sweets and specialty items not served at meals) the ship sold were not necessarily what I wanted. So I had a private stash.
What You Know
My recurrent dream that week was sitting down to write my essays in the traditional little blue books, but my writing disappeared as soon as I finished.
Eagle Eyes
While teaching, I always like to decorate the workshop with carving examples for students to use as a reference. Week-long excursions to teach away from home mean emptying the house of many of my carvings. But samples in three dimensions often are better than pictures or demonstration, and the extra work was worth it.
Viewpoint
Please don't laugh, but when I was little, I thought that country referred to the vacant lot with a tree.
Dress Code
There were worse sins that could get tallied, and we had no desire to attract attention to them.
Memento
Nothing is ever truly lost.
Communard
Not being one to hold my feeling in, I shared my opinions. At my favorite drinking establishment, the wise heads of the Harvard Gardens sagely nodded their heads in agreement.
Operations
I spent about nine years all told working in Operating Rooms, and a substantial bit of my education money came from working there. It was by turns the friendliest, and most stressful environment I have ever worked in.
A Cat’s Take On The Bible
My black cat, Smidgen, was sitting purring in my lap. Once in a while, it was her habit to correct my take on life by sharing feline wisdom tidbits, black double pawed cats specifically. The formula followed was usually a reminder that her Ancestors had been gods in Eygpt.
The Shop
A twelve-step program for compulsive tool buyers might help. But I have a thing about being away from my tools for meetings. Just taking the time to write this keeps me away from browsing the Lee Valley site, not to mention Rockler, Woodcraft, and Highland Woodworking.
Just Right
A shop with all the tools neatly racked, and no chips are like a clean desk—a sign of a sick mind.
Miss Right
He made it clear over the following months that while I was his buddy, she was his "mom."
A Rangeley Boat
it was the reek of pure Old Woodsman. Over the long lifespan of the boat, gallons must have been spilled in it, because no amount of restoration would ever remove all that smell.
Flotation
Sitting on the float, I could look at my reflection in the water. If I shifted focus, I could see the thousands of small jellyfish swarming around the float and the nearby wharf.
Adventures in Coastal Living – Some Hot!
Please, If you speak a local English variant, hold onto it, cherish it and make sure your kids learn it. Don't allow the "standard" to swamp the individual beauty of your voice.
Free
The old saying goes that free advice is worth what you pay for it.
Twentyone
The problem with imagination is that it's boundless. On the wall is a poster telling you that you can do it if you can imagine it. Don't take it too literally.
Riding
I have to quit driving straight through from North Carolina to Massachusetts in one go. The fifteenth hour of driving is the worst.
Wishes
Listen, candy is sweet, but you can't make a steady diet of it.
Fearsome
"Glory is fleeting. But obscurity is forever."
Back Bay
"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading." Lao Tzu
Pond Life – June 2020
I needed a break from writing, So here is a short summer time video. I hope it helps put you in a relaxed mood
Unintended Consequence
No pay or slow pay. The wonderful world of small business debt collection.
Cardinals
Periodically the landlord, other tenants, the current resident feature of the Teahead's affection, caused a general eviction.
Tiger, Tiger!
Some people never learn.
True Places
"Queequeg was a native of Kokovoko, an island far away to the West and South. It is not down in any map; true places never are." Herman Melville
Welcome Mat
the Teahead of the August Moon- thought a poet and psychic would be an exciting addition to our menagerie of odd bits and pieces.
Hidden Countryside
There are three varieties of kale in the garden
Connect to the Whole
It was before email. The web was a very primitive concept barely imagined. Yes, this happened a long, long time ago.
Twenty
Take the good from twenty, cherish the memories, and then get moving.
Tip of the Iceberg
I like to believe that unlike the later hippie phenomena, Folkies were diverse as a group.
Boxes and Spills
An old saying says, "Keep your eye on the donut, not on the hole." Well, this time, I was deep into hole territory. A simple build turned major construction.
Be Thankful For Friends
Be thankful for your friends.
On The Road In The 1960’s – a travelers guide
There was no doubt. It was a piggish indulgence. We sat, each of us holding a pint of ice cream and a jelly jar of maple syrup. Said Bill, " …and as Saint Augustine said…it was wicked, but I loved it." I just nodded my palate and brain, too frozen to speak in return.
Playtime
If your play is your business, you have to take care that the fun remains in the mix - or you might find yourself doing something you hate.
The Grandchild
Closer than family?
A Certain Avoidance Of Good Fortune
Sometimes you have to be careful with debt collection methods.
Dig?
I've known many people who need to come clean about the '60s and '70s. Come on, folks, your kids and grandkids won't flip out when they find out that you wore a pair of love beads, gave the peace sign, or dropped a tab.
State of the Art
It may have seemed as though I flit about Boston University's world my first two years there.
A Sapping Season
Here is a video I made a few years ago about a typical sapping season for making maple syrup. I'm a strictly kitchen operation and aim to make just enough for family and friends.
Thunderstorm
People who know me well enough know that I don't do a great job of long-term anger. I complain loudly, but it passes rapidly. Stoic I am not.
Mid Watch
You get a sort of meager slumber. Night-Ops rumbling above, General Quarters can sound any time; and up you'd rise to your assigned station.
But
Let's see hitching rides in the rain with a hole in the sole of one shoe; squish squish to Boston. Owning one blanket, and the girlfriend who is staying over turns out to be a blanket hog; so romantic.
Boil!
Hidden in every February is the coming spring.
Stealin’, Stealin’
I was obsessed with themes in my earlier life, well I guess I am still.
Reads for a Winter’s Evening
Every winter, I look for entertaining and educational reads to fill the evening; I lost the TV habit many years ago.
The Movement
Friends had indicated with the twirling finger by the temple that Joey was nuts. In that decade known for the outre, Joey was a further outlier.