All in fun, and inspired by Ruth of synch-ro-ni-zing, I went for a walk with haiku in mind….
So many acorns
squirrels will feast this winter
Oaks will grow in spring.
Young couples picnic
Old hunters start the season
I walk a worn path.
Midas touched maples
Reach out in autumn’s embrace
Gone with the next storm.
Ferns flicker yellow
The forest floor is aflame
No water will quench.
Today, another of my photos was featured at Shutter Sisters One Word Project! Two in one month…I must do “imperfect” well:)
“ Even imperfection itself may have its ideal or perfect state.”
Thomas De Quincey
Apple picking is always a good photo opportunity…what is more beautiful than grandchildren and apples…
…and apple cake?
Tooting my own horn that is…I was following and enjoying Shutter Sisters even before I started a blog and I have often submitted photos to their One Word Project. Today one of my photos was actually featured, illustrating the word for October…Imperfect….
Shutter Sisters always inspires me, as does my granddaughter’s creativity, and I’m thrilled to have one of my photos displayed there.
“The action begins at sunset on Sept 22nd, the last day of northern summer. As the sun sinks in the west, bringing the season to a close, the full Harvest Moon will rise in the east, heralding the start of fall. The two sources of light will mix together to create a kind of 360-degree, summer-autumn twilight glow that is only seen on rare occasions.”
Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
A week ago, on September 22, we dropped off a car at the mechanics and took a walk on the beach…A beautiful night, there were plenty of walkers, joggers, dogs, surfers and swimmers. There won’t be too many more nights like this before winter. What I hadn’t expected, what I had failed to read about in the paper or hear on the radio, was that there would be a special Super Harvest Moon this night…a full moon coinciding with the autumnal equinox. What a marvelous surprise…What a marvel. It took my breath away to suddenly see this pale moon rise out of the ocean. Everyone on the beach seemed to have stopped to witness it…We wondered where the ocean liner was headed and whether the passengers on board were watching the moon too.
Sonnet of the Moon
by Charles Best, 1608
Look how the pale Queen of the silent night
doth cause the ocean to attend upon her,
and he, as long as she is in sight,
with his full tide is ready here to honor;
But when the silver waggon of the Moon
is mounted up so high he cannot follow,
the sea calls home his crystal waves to morn,
and with low ebb doth manifest his sorrow.
So you that are sovereign of my heart
have all my joys attending on your will,
when you return, their tide my heart doth fill.
So as you come and as you depart,
joys ebb and flow within my tender heart.
“There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”-- Water Rat, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain
On this first full day of autumn I am celebrating the fact that we have been “messing about” in our little boat more than usual this summer…we have had more free time and the weather has been dry, if not windy. Mr O does the all the hard work and I relax, read, prepare refreshments, and do the little crewing that is needed. We often have lunch or supper on the boat and once a year we try to sleep on board and make breakfast in the cabin. Once a year reminds us why that is enough.
Catnip is a catboat. I’ve looked up how catboats got their name and my favorite reason is that they behave like a cat: quick, agile, well-balanced, and quiet. I would only add that they have large cockpits just made for picnics and napping and inviting friends… Originally, however, they were designed for fishing and carrying cargo. How could I not fall in love with our sail with the beautiful graphic design of a cat in the letter M and with her sweet “lines”. The sales promotion says it all:
“Although 19 feet usually makes a diminutive vessel, the Menger Cat is really quite large for her length. She's big enough to be a real pocket cruiser for a couple, a great weekender for the family, and a very friendly daysailer for eight people. Yet she's still small enough to be easily trailered and can be stored in a garage.
But what does all this matter if a boat doesn't stir something inside you and give that indefinable feeling of a thing that's alive--a vessel you can sail with pride?”
It is a challenge to vary the photos taken on the boat… The light, the weather, and the people we sail with change but everything else basically stays the same. There are only so many shots of the mast, sail, and water that I want to take….
“A sailor is an artist whose medium is the wind.” Webb Chiles
Today was a good day for a walk on the beach with a good friend…
Today was a day of blue, green, and white….
Today was a day scented with the perfume of late blooming rosa rugosa…
Today was a day to listen to waves breaking on the rocks…
Today was a day to watch a yacht-shot plane flying low enough to take photos of sailboats…
Today was a day to wish I remembered binoculars…
Today was much warmer than we thought it would be…
Today was a very good day…
I recently realized that many of the videos I have taken have been taken with the intent to record the sound rather than the action. Outside the kitchen door, the night time sounds at the end of summer are nearly deafening…but in a heart warming way. This is one of the sounds that is so deeply connected with a season and with childhood that it can conjure up deep emotions and contentment for me when I listen. I wonder just how many crickets, cicadas, grasshoppers, and katydids are out there conversing. Now that it is September, and getting cooler, this song is fading and the windows are closed at night…a sure sign that autumn is near. With the volume all the way up I will be able to pretend I am still standing outside in the late summer…
Emily Dickinson - The Crickets Sang
The Crickets sang
And set the Sun
And Workmen finished one by one
Their Seam the Day upon.
The low Grass loaded with the Dew
The Twilight stood, as Strangers do
With Hat in Hand, polite and new
To stay as if, or go.
A Vastness, as a Neighbor, came,
A Wisdom, without Face, or Name,
A Peace, as Hemispheres at Home
And so the Night became.
We are a family that enjoys food…especially on vacation. Some things we enjoy on every trip to Maine.
Young’s Lobster Pound in Belfast, Maine is a place we usually stop both on the trip up and the trip back.
We now know where to stop for Geary’s Summer Ale before we get to the pound.
…and we know the steamers and lobsters are fresh because we watch them being delivered…
…and we can sit and watch the sunset.
It is amazing how many people can be squeezed at our friends’ table…
Communal meals here at Rocky Pond happen more than once each trip…
Hot popovers and iced cappuccino at the Jordan Pond House is a tradition for us after hiking up Mt Penobscot…
Blueberry pancakes are made at least once during the week…
…thanks to my son-in-law.
Lobster at the Union River Lobster Pot restaurant happens annually…
…It’s one of the few places that will seat 14 without any hesitation.
Crab rolls and onion rings…
…at Jordan’s Snack Bar can’t be skipped either…
…especially with children old enough to enjoy the playground there.
Maine is for enjoying food together…
