It was a Dark and Stormy Night, Day, Night, Day, Night...

We're just emerging from three days or so of nasty, wet weather. The remnants of Hurricane/Topical Storm Ida arrived Wednesday night and combined with a bit of a nor'easter to kick the crap out of the shoreline for a few days.

Thursday was a mess, with high winds and steady rains. Both lasted well into Thursday night.

That afternoon, we pulled up the web-video from the DelDOT traffic camera looking on the approaches to the Indian River Inlet bridge. You could see waves washing across a flat where a dune used to stand and onto the highway. Route 1 between Bethany and Dewey has been closed since.

By bedtime Thursday, both of our daughters' school had called to say there'd be no school on Friday. It blew and rained for most of Friday as well. This morning, Saturday, the wind was finally gone and the rain had faded to a day-long, gray mist.

This afternoon I took a drive around the bays and back north to check on my parents' beach house in North Bethany. It weathered the storm admirably. The beach was gone, however.


I took a short video to show what the beach looks like now. This is from the beach crossover at Bethany Village. There's about a four foot drop down to the "beach" and the waves are washing up almost to that sand face. At high tide, it looks like they lap against the remains of the dune.

The dune, which was fairly new, worked well and protected the houses as it was designed. The new dunes in Bethany proper also served well. There had been complains about these dunes, that they blocked the view from the boardwalk.

I think folks are now realizing that the fact that there is still a boardwalk is due at least in part to this new dune.

Fourth of July, Bethany Beach

We were in Bethany Beach for the Fourth of July parade on Friday. We were with my folks, three siblings and their spouses, and a clutch of nephews. It was great fun.

The Bethany parade is always a long, loose, sometimes casual affair. It features a healthy dose of politicians, small bands, decorated cars, family floats, loads of beauty queens, and masses of kids on decorated bikes.

We were treated to Senator Tom Carper (D), Congressman Mike Castle (R), and some local leaders. Sussex County Councilman George Cole and Dewey Beach Mayor Dell Tush rode together.

Both of the Democrats vying for election as Delaware's next Governor came by. Jack Markell was walking and shaking hands, including mine. John Carney was riding and waving. I caught his attention and Lt. Gov. Carney gave me a wave and a smile. "I wave and smile on command," he said (or something like that). Both gents looked like they were having a fine time.

Neither of the Republican candidates were in the parade.

Miss Delaware was among the several pageant queens on hand. They ranged from a very young Little Miss ... Somewhere to a more grown-up Mrs. Delaware.

I came across Miss Delaware's blog recently. She was crowned in June and started blogging a bit later. I took advantage of the opportunity of the parade to remind her not to let her blog get too stale. I have to give her credit; I didn't throw her. She knew what I was on about.

I was standing with a group of my nephews ranging in age from about 6 up to 15. I found myself wondering whether they were more interested in the beauty pageanteers or in the cars they were riding on. I was amused to read Miss D's blog entry from today about her several parade appearances:

After reflecting back on the day, I realized that Donald's car (a 1965 convertible, red corvette) had gotten as many comments/compliments as I had! The quote of the day: "Nice car!!" I guess that's what happens when you have such an eye-catching ride!

Indeed.

At The 29th Annual Bethany Beach Boardwalk Arts Festival

I spent some time on the Boardwalk in Bethany Beach this afternoon. Christina had a sleep-over Friday night at a friend's house in Selbyville. The girls, and the friend's Mom, decided to go to Bethany for lunch and to check out the Boardwalk Arts Festival and any shopping opportunities.

This is a very obliging Mom.

My job was to meet them there and pick up Christina for the return home. I had some time to fill while they had their fun. So I wandered around.

I got to meet the artist Abraxas, of Milton. I've been following his career for a while. Abraxas paints in an almost photo-realist style; but he takes reality just a step farther and does, frankly, magical things with light. Have a look at his view of the Kalmar Nyckel, for example. It was a pleasure to talk with him.

There were people wandering everywhere. There were painters, glass artists, potters, sculptors, and musicians.

There was a representative from Bluewater Wind on the Boardwalk. This is the outfit that is proposing to build a wind-farm of windmills a dozen miles or so off the coast of Delaware to provide much of our future electricity.

It turned out that I knew this fellow from occasional phone calls when he was in a previous job with the state. We had a nice chat.

He had a cute miniature windmill (solar-powered, ironically) and a set of panoramic views of the ocean from a variety of Delaware-shore vantage points. Each panorama is doubled; one showing the view without the wind-farm, the other showing just how little the wind-farm would be visible.

I asked what his reception had been among the art-show patrons. He said most people have been supportive. Those few who objected, he said, had a problem with being able to see the wind-farm at all from the shore. He said he can respect that concern.

One of the coolest things I found was this blown-glass putter. Artist Justin Cavagnaro, of Dagsboro, creates these and other glass art. His work was impressive; a few references I've found in local media after a quick Google search suggest that Mr. Cavagnaro worked for a time at the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass. I'm not an expert on glass art, but I know enough to be impressed by that credit and by the work I saw.

This is just one of the glass putters I looked at in his booth. It is a glowing green with flecks of gold leaf within it.

These putters are apparently functional as well as beautiful. He reports that several purchasers are using these putters on courses on a regular basis with no complaints.

The heft of the thing was a bit different, but I could see myself playing with one of these.

It couldn't possibly make my putting any worse, could it?

Mr. Cavagnaro doesn't appear to have a web site, but I took his card so we will have his e-mail: J[DOT]CAVAGNARO[AT]MCHSI[DOT]COM. Just in case anyone wants to order, I don't know, some sort of product. Or something.