an infrequent repository of mostly new stuff
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”
Day’s End
It’s Thursday, instead of the weekend, so we have the ramp to ourselves.
Some of the guys are already there. Pete and Ron are rigging up. Kenny is launching.
Continue reading “Chesapeake Float ~ Day 1: Quarter of the Damned”
Deal Island Skipjack in Wenona Harbor
It’s only 10 miles from Crisfield to Deal by water, but it will take most of an hour to drive there. The edges of the shore are deeply frayed. Water and land trade places back and forth so often it’s hard to tell which is which. To get around the ingresses of water, you have to go miles inland all the way to 13, make a short jog north, then one turn and head back out again. On the way, you cross over broad expanses of beautiful open marshes, places not quite land and not quite water.
The place names here have a curious history of their own. On the way to Deal Island is Dames Quarter, where we’ll launch later today. The original name was Damned Quarter or Quarter of the Damned. Deal Island, not far beyond, was originally Devil’s Island. The grim names allude to a time when they were havens for some very rough characters who preyed on shipping up and down the Bay. Appropriately enough, the only thing separating The Devil from The Damned is a place called Chance.