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Salt Marshes of Mathews

direct YouTube link: https://youtu.be/VJ306yMVaLs

A nice reprieve from the middle of winter. This is 20+ minutes of sites and sounds from the salt marshes of Mathews County, Virginia. A week on a remote barrier island in the Chesapeake Bay. Over the holidays I had time to go back and review it.

We spent a lot of time kayaking through the shallow winding creeks, often just drifting with the current.

It’s long, so give yourself some time, and good audio – much of this is just the natural sounds of birds and beaches.

The odd noises starting at 12:00 are Clapper Rails. They’re really shy, I’ve never seen one up close, but one stepped out of the grass for a closeup, not realizing we were standing above it on the dock.

Birds seen and/or heard in the video:

  • Black Scoter
  • Sandpiper
  • Clapper Rail
  • Hooded Merganser
  • Boat-tailed Grackle
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Great Blue Heron

At night, there were Great Horned Owls, in the mornings Loons.

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Sunrise Paddle in October

direct YouTube link

A few weeks ago I posted photos from this little trip. I woke up before sunrise and couldn’t go back to sleep, so went for a paddle on Totier Creek.

There was steam rising off the water as the sun came up, a little chilly, but I had the whole place to myself. Just a glorious fall day. Leaves in peak color, glassy calm water, birds singing. So worth it.

Back up the creek I came across some Wood Ducks. They’re shy birds, and this was the first time I’ve seen one up close in the wild here. Even got a little video to prove it.

I could use a lot more of this, please.

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Two if by Sea ~ Video

direct YouTube link: Melonseeds Off Urbanna

Short clips from the trip. I didn’t have the wind cover for the mic, so as not much natural audio this time, but enough to feel right. Doug provided the nice clip of me as we crossed tacks along the bluff below Rosegill.

You can see how lumpy it was when we first left the harbor. Lots of bucking into the wind until the tide turned.

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Sailing on the Piankatank ~ Video

A dozen or so handmade wooden sailboats gather every spring at an old steamboat landing on the Piankatank River, a tidal river on the Chesapeake Bay. Sailors in the Old Bay Club of the Traditional Small Craft Association meet up with builders from the Deltaville Maritime Museum to camp and sail and admire beautiful craftsmanship.

Seen here are Caledonia Yawls, a Sooty Tern, Chesapeake Sharpie Crabbing Skiff, Melonseed, Matinicus Peapod, and a Herreshoff Coquina. As well as a few notable power boats of crabbers and fishermen.

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Short Sail ~ Season Re-Opener

The forecast changed abruptly on Sunday morning, and did a 180. A broad storm front was now approaching from the Midwest. So heading for the Bay was definitely out.

But there was still time to get to a local reservoir. Probably all for the best: It’s been so long since I’ve sailed these boats, so much chaos and mayhem in the intervening years, I need to step out slowly.

How long? Looks like four and a half years. Based on photos and posts here on this blog, the last time I sailed one of my own boats was MASCF in October of 2018. That’s incredible.

Got gear collected and did a dry run in the yard. Lights on the trailer work, tires not flat – check. Blocks corroded, but serviceable – check. Lines and spars intact – check.

We left home in sunshine and arrived thirty minutes later at Beaver Creek under grey skies, darkening to the west over the mountains.

How do you do this again?

Backing a trailer, turns out, is a little like riding a bike. It’s a part of your brain you don’t use for anything else; so once you find where that is and open the lid, it’s still there, right where you left it. Confusing and wobbly at first, but it comes back. Same with the sailing part. In a few minutes, everything feels familiar again. Fortunately, boats don’t hold a grudge. All this time ignored, and Aeon was just happy to be out on the water again. Light puffy wind, nothing too ambitious. Tacking and jibing, reading wind signs on the water and in the trees on shore.

After an hour the Blue Ridge to the west disappeared. We turned back. Got to the ramp and mostly loaded before the sky opened up and dumped rain on us.

Looking at these photos, we realize how much older and grayer we are now. It’s been a tough five years, for all of us.

More of this soon.

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Art Parade

This weekend we got to be in a parade. An art parade.

Our friend, the painter Giselle Gautreau, has as show that opens in April 2023 at the 2nd Street Gallery in Charlottesville. We have some of her art hanging prominently in our house. She formerly worked in large formats, then swore it off because the logistics are so challenging. But in this case she just couldn’t resist. She has several large paintings for the show that are too big to fit in her car.

What to do?

Well, you invite friends and family to parade the art down the middle of Main Street, of course. Which we did.

In the video, mostly shot by T, you see a tour of her studio in McGuffey Art Center, as well as her studiomate Michelle Geiger (who also has an upcoming show). Then we walk the big oil paintings – a few thousand dollars worth – down the street and six blocks away to the gallery.

Big fun.

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Ducks, Geese, & Peepers

Winter is almost over; sooner than past years, for sure.

Took a hike in the hills above a stream. The leaves aren’t out yet, but the sun and breeze are warm. Spring Peepers are back. Ducks and geese are migrating north again, stopping over in the sheltered backwaters.

When a new flock arrives, calling out, the ones on the water call back to them. Like the kids game we played in the pool blindfolded, “Marco! Polo!”

They set up quite a racket until the new arrivals land and get settled.