Fishermens' Festival!!!!

This year's Fishermens' Festival was COLD! 38 degrees when I left my house at 9ish this morning. The ocean was slightly warmer at 41 degrees, but that did not stop the tykes from running the lobstercar races. The early runners stayed mostly out of the water; it was only later that they began to fall a lot. The guys in the Whaler rescued them. But, clearly, as soon as the kids got their feet wet, they slowed down and that was the kiss of death. This race is one where it pays to be light on your feet and fast!

The lobster car race is my favorite. But the others are fun, too, to watch. The high schoolers dress in boots and waders and race around a block holding large codfish. The sternmen of the lobster crews race each other shovelling bait into barrels. Other school kids bail dinghys. Lobstermen themselves race their boats to haul, bait and toss back 6 traps in line, starting from the docks. And then there's the tug of war - a real Scottish-type one with a long hemp line and many people on either end. How they choose up sides is still a mystery to me, but it never seems to matter who wins. It's all a good time.

Later we will all enjoy too much food and drink. There's a fish fry, lobster bake, a new raw bar with oysters, shrimp rolls and coffee. I'm off now to take my chowder to the church chowder and buckle supper. (If you don't know what buckle is, around here it's made with blueberries and a biscuit-like dough, on which you put ice cream. Not that I am eager for ice cream after the chill of this morning!)

Tomorrow, on Sunday, there will be a public reading of the names of local men who have been lost at sea, followed by a Blessing of the Fleet, a long-time tradition by the clergy of this town. The fleet parades by the Catholic Church, the closest to the water, and blessings are read, said, and sung. This year has a poignancy to it, because one of the grandfathers of the fleet, Earl Brewer, was lost off Spruce Point in a fog this past week.

So here's little Matt Duncan running 6 times back and forth from dock to boat to dock again, for a total of 243 cars. He didn't win, but he set a high standard for the rest. His brother, in street clothes no less, only made it to 206 before he fell in!



waiting for forsythia

In the gray green gloom of early spring, I have been waiting patiently for the forsythia to bloom. It has - finally. In my impatient moments, I painted the birch tree with its tiny buds. I could not wait for the blazing of the forsythia, but now that it is here, I cannot find the right paint to express how eagerly it blazes. I will someday.

The forsythia was blooming in Portland, just 40 miles away a month ago. Even just 15 miles inland it has been blooming for several weeks. It is the first time that my proximity to the ocean has inhibited, rather than encouraged, plants to bloom and grow. Though the spring - everywhere it seems - has been warm and even hot at times, the ocean's nearness has moderated my miniclimate, and my forsythia has just now bloomed. I recommend patience. The forsythia is putting on a spectacular show!

The tulips are also beginning to bloom as are the daffodils. Even though the snowdrops have been in bloom since January, having larger flowers showing up, with their bigger colors, has been welcome. I have not painted flowers in a few years, like I was painting them in California, and I am eager to paint them again. It is a different flower painting tradition here than California, and I will try and interpret my East Coast flowers as if they grew in California, under an Asian influence.

The tulips I planted last fall were planted for the wedding of my son, Dan. His fiance wanted tulips for her wedding on Memorial Day weekend. Alas for them, the winter and spring has been so warm the tulips are blooming in April instead of the end of May. Unlike the forsythia, they could not wait! So for now, the wedding will be full of lilacs instead of tulips, or perhaps even peonies. Who knows what weather will happen now? Lucky for Dan and Lindsay, they are adaptable! Patience, like the forsythia's blooming with the tulips, can bring its own reward!