an infrequent repository of mostly new stuff
Day’s End
Morning is long in the tooth. Missed breakfast. Almost missed coffee, which would have been a bad thing. You know the old church potluck trick, the tip-the-urn-forward-to-get-the-last-half-cup? Just enough caffein in the bottom to fuel requisite fumbling with a camp stove for a batch of the real deal.
St. Michaels Marina
It is dark Friday night when I finally roll into St. Michaels. Much later than usual. Too late to get a campsite or set up a tent, which I didn’t bring anyway. I’ll have to unhitch the boat and find a place to park, sleeping in the car with the gear. Later. First order of business is some food and beer while the restaurants are still open.
There’s a place we favor on the docks by the marina, the St. Michael’s Crab & Steakhouse. It’s at the end of a road, tucked back in a neighborhood off the beaten path, dog friendly (very), with tables outside. Not as touristy as others, mostly locals and regulars, and the food is good. Crossing the road to the bar I see there is water coming up through the storm drains. Not unusual right on the waterfront. I pull out the phone to check the tide schedule, though, and it’s not close to high yet. Four more hours of rising water still to come. Wow, this could get interesting.
Continue reading “MASCF 2014 ~ To St. Michaels on a Flood Tide”
Lightning and starlight over the Atlantic
Again more storms and no wind, but drama in the sky every couple of hours. Went for dinner back on the salt marsh and got chased home in time for the light show.
A cold front is crawling southward, arriving sometime today. We’ll head for Charleston to explore a bit (with raincoats) while it works its way through. It may finally blow things out some. Sunday looks promising.
After the storm, Skull Inlet
We’re spending a week near Beaufort, South Carolina (beyoo’fort. not NC’s bo’furt), and hope to do some sailing in the sounds and inlets while we’re here. A Stationary Front has stalled over the coast, though – little or no wind, hot and steamy. Small popup storm showers wander the horizon like grazing cattle. Not much good for sailing, but great for cloud watching.
Michael Bogoger, The Doryman
Speaking of boats . . .
Back in January, at the end of the Epic Cross Country Road Trip, there was a fun little bonus waiting: A chance meeting with longtime boatbuilder and maritime blogger known as Doryman.
Blue Penny Quarterly – iBooks Edition
Finished up another big project last week. This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the Blue Penny Quarterly, a digital literary magazine my friend Doug Lawson started not long after we met. We made a little splash this time with a special edition.
We’ve collaborated on the publication for a few years now. He does all the promotion and reading of submissions, winnowing down to four or five of the best per issue. I put it all together in a hopefully attractive package, and a downloadable format.
This time there are two formats. As before, in addition to stories there is photography and video commentaries from the authors. New is the iBooks version, which is available on the iTunes Bookstore for free. It’s formatted for iPads, iPhones and even iBooks on a Mac:
As in the past, there is also a universal PDF format, with embedded links to the videos. Both versions can be downloaded directly from the Blue Penny site here:
Blue Penny Quarterly Summer 2014 – 20th Anniversary Issue
This is something we both do in our spare time. There’s no money involved, either for the writers or for us. Just something we do to provide a venue for interesting new writers, some of whom have gone on to win awards and publish novels.
If you have any interest a small submission fee for stories, please have a look. If you have a story, submit it. We would love to see it:
Submissions for Blue Penny Quarterly
On the sandbar
The river and marshes are swaddled in fog. Scattered around the cove, I can just see the nearest boats. The far ones not at all. There’s still a breeze, which is odd. Means the fog bank covers a wide area. It’s a grainy fog, almost a mist. Can’t tell if that bell donging is a distant buoy or another boat out in the channel. Coffee will be good this morning.
Continue reading “Chesapeake Float ~ Day 2: Crossing the Bar”