Archive for Uncategorized
September 13, 2006 at 2:15 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Yesterday was one of those fabulous late-summer days in Vermont. We took the boat out for what will probably be the last trip of the year, and my brother Steve went waterskiing.
Steve’s a pretty handy waterskiier, and the lake was almost glassy calm at sunset, so I had the opportunity to shoot some nice photos. I’ll post a few on Flickr. All were taken with the new 55-200 mm zoom lens, using ISO 400 for better stop-action on the water.
These days I’m usually alternating between Program mode on the camera and Aperture priority. Instead of Shutter priority I stuck with Program mode and occasionally spun the command wheel on the Nikon to get a higher shutter speed. (If you don’t have a Nikon digital SLR none of this probably makes sense.)
The sunset light made for some fine lighting on the splashing water. I wish we could go out again today but some weather has arrived … rain and gloom. Summer is over up here in the northeast.
It has been cool enough at night (40s) so that we are using the furnace now. We still haven’t plugged the trailer in, and with the gray skies today it will be a test of our battery bank and solar panels to stay charged. So far we have been unplugged for three and a half weeks, a record — but of course one week of that we were not in the trailer. I’ll be interested to see how much solar we can capture today and tomorrow. We may plug in tomorrow if the batteries go as low as 50% of capacity.
September 12, 2006 at 8:41 am · Filed under Uncategorized
I took a couple of days off from the blog, only because we were in that sublime space between being busy and being relaxed. On Sunday, Adam and I took a long walk around the island and stopped off by the famous cribstone bridge that connects Bailey Island to Orr’s Island.
This bridge takes the stress of tides, ice, wind, and vehicles without any fasteners. It’s basically a big pile of stacked granite — the only such bridge in the world.
It’s quite narrow, and a real experience if you’re towing a trailer over it, as we did two years ago. It’s also the only way to get to Cook’s Restaurant, which is a worthwhile destination for lobster.
Now we are back in Vermont and back in the Airstream. Trip planning is underway for the next six months. Bert & Janie are still planning to meet us in Pennsylvania in a few weeks (right now they are in Maine near Mt Katahdin). Before we leave we will probably go to Colin Hyde’s restoration shop in Plattsburgh to look at the ’52 Cruiser, and Montreal. We’ve also got stops in southern Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maryland, but everything is still fluid right now.
September 9, 2006 at 10:00 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
This weekend the Tin Can Tourists, a vintage trailer club of which we are members, and the Tearjerkers, a club of teardrop trailer owners, had a small rally in Scarborough. We headed down there to visit our friends Zach and Deb, who were staying in the rally campground in their Airstream Westfalia.
A vintage Shasta trailer
There were probably a dozen teardrop trailers in attendance, plus two Argosies, a 1969 GM bus with over 2 million miles on it, three Serro Scotties, a couple of Bolers (fiberglass trailers), and a few Shastas.
1965 Serro Scotty “Sportsman” 15 footer
I was particularly interested in the Serro Scotties, since we have one in storage in New York. This one is similar to ours, but ours is unpainted (called a “silverside”). This one belongs to the couple that runs a Serro Scotty discussion group on Yahoo. If we can get ours fixed up, we can take it to some local rallies next summer.
Camping in a vintage 50s or 60s “canned ham” trailer like this is more primitive than in the Airstream: no bathroom, no air conditioning, limited water, no holding tanks, and very very small spaces. It’s fun because it’s a nostalgic experience, and the vintage canned hams are rolling art. It’s not about creature comforts when you take one of these tiny trailers on the road.
Who knows, perhaps they will see a revival sometime soon. Many of the little Shastas or Serro Scotties (or other trailers made by one of a hundred other manufacturers who thrived back then) are so light and towable they can easily be hauled by a small car.
This evening Susan made lobster rolls for everyone from the lobster collected yesterday. Fabulous! Dessert was Eleanor’s classic Tiramisu. We’re eating awfully well this week, and the best part is that we have plenty of leftover lobster for tomorrow. Hmmm…. lobster omelettes, or another round of lobster rolls for lunch?
September 8, 2006 at 10:18 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Going down to the dock to buy lobsters off the boat is just about as classic a Maine experience as you can have.
We headed down to the tiny harbor 1/2 mile from here, where the boats come in to Glen’s Lobsters every day after checking their traps all around the island.
We bought six 1-1/4 lb lobsters right off the boat for $42. The guy who sold them to us wasn’t sure if we had five or six in the bag, so we let them out in the bed of his pickup truck to re-count.
Adam has an outdoor lobster cooker, powered by propane. We steamed them in a stainless basket. This looks like a good accessory for our Airstream … if I could find a place to store it!
Then Adam placed them all on the deck to cool, like fresh-baked pies …
… and not long after, Eleanor and Emma helped pick out all the meat. We’ll save it until tomorrow, for a special dinner. This weekend both Adam & Susan and Eleanor & I will be celebrating our anniversaries. We’ve been married 13 years.
September 7, 2006 at 10:14 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Remember last night when I mentioned the moon rising over the Atlantic? Tonight I got a picture of it.
Click for larger.
Little of note has happened today, but Bailey Island continues to delight the senses. In the evening I always notice the sound of the waves on the rocky shore. Every morning I open the sliding glass door and smell the sea air. During the day the seagulls screech overhead, the sun warms our little cottage, and a slightly damp sea breeze ventilates.
This cottage has no insulation, so we feel the change of temperature through the day. It reminds me of old Adirondack camps that I’ve visited — creaky floors in the morning, and the outdoors just a thin board away as we sleep. The sensations are a lot like camping, which is probably why we like it.
September 6, 2006 at 10:01 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I thought I’d share a couple of pictures today of the crew “at work.” I am usually found at my laptop doing something most days, but I don’t often post pictures of any of us because work is not the exciting part of our lives. Work is, however, the focus of many days.
Here you can see Emma at her workbook, practicing skills for reading. She’s coming right along, which I like to see. It’s as exciting as when she was learning to talk and every week I noticed new words in her vocabulary.
Eleanor spends time on her laptop too, once in a while. Usually she’s emailing friends or researching recipes.
Today was tumultuous. Emma’s uncle Steve departed this morning after breakfast. The rest of us worked through about 2:30 and then drove up to Bowdoin College to pick up Adam. (He caught the bus from Boston to come back up here and hang with us for the rest of the week, which is very cool.)
While we were out, a friend called from Vermont to ask for some advice about a business partnership that went bad. I had to give some hardnosed advice. I always hate having to tell people to get a lawyer. And, I worry about my friends who are having trouble, although in this case I’m certain they will land on their feet. (I should worry more about myself, since inevitably someone threatens to sue me for libel at least once a year! Such is the downside of being a publisher …)
In the afternoon I bought the Nissan Extended Warranty for the Armada. It’s comforting to have that resolved since our original warranty is up in 5,000 miles and I expect to log another 25,000 miles in the coming year — most of which will be towing. If we eat another exhaust manifold, it will be covered. We’re good until we hit 100,000 miles.
And then, in the late afternoon, I got word that an old friend, and a fellow who I respect very much, is battling cancer. I think we are going to try to rearrange our plans for October so that we can drop by and see him and some other old friends in Maryland. I’ll have to start researching places to put the Airstream as close as possible, or find courtesy parking in someone’s driveway.
Finally, Adam came over and we all had dinner together, and talked about everything while the moon rose over the Atlantic. It has been a day of work but nonetheless a good one. I am reminded that we are fortunate to have great friends, family, and freedom to roam the country visiting them.
September 5, 2006 at 7:14 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Susan and Adam have left to go back to work today, and I’ve had to hit the laptop again myself. But there has been time for Emma to go for quick snorkel with her uncle, who is visiting, and we took a walk along the rocky shore at low tide as well.
Last year we were here for three weeks, but this time we are only staying a few days. There’s no real deadline on this visit but we have many things to do back in Vermont. Otherwise, I would prefer to stay a couple of weeks and then head up the coast to Acadia National Park. Acadia is a terrific destination, and really underappreciated. You can hike there for weeks and keep finding excellent spots. It has everything: beaches, mountains, carriage trails, hiking, history, historic houses, wonderful restaurants, boat tours, and fantastic scenery. From here it would be about three hours drive.
But we didn’t bring the Airstream, so there’s no temptation. That was a deliberate choice. I would really like to go up to the Canadian Maritime provinces (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, PEI, etc) to join Bert and Janie. Bert will be testing the difficulty of getting online up there, so I’ll have that insight to use when planinng a trip next summer or fall.
« Previous entries ·
Next entries »
