A Boat in Downtown Dover

An exhibit on 17th Century Delaware opened at the State Archives Building today. As part of the opening celebration, a replica of the boat Captain John Smith used to explore the Chesapeake Bay was (dry)docked outside the old part of the Archives Building today.

Smith used a boat like this -- about 30 feet long and built in two pieces for shipping across the Atlantic -- to explore the Chesapeake and many of its tributaries 400 years ago.

Some researchers recently used GIS tools to study John Smith's logs, map out his travels, and figure out that Smith and his crew came far enough up the Nanticoke River to have entered into what is now Delaware. So, of course, we now claim him as one of our own.

I love boats; especially wooden, sailing-type boats. I love the rigging, and planking, and ropes. So, of course, I took a small series of photos.

Blossoms Pending

We're waiting for these and other blooms to pop in our yard this spring. If my memory serves, this one in the side yard is an iris. (Update: Looks like this is a Lily. What do I know....) The day-lilies in the front yard are close as well.

From The Other Side of The Lens

I got to meet one of my favorite photographers this evening. Kevin Fleming, one of Delaware's best known photographers, stopped by to get a shot of me in my car for a story on commuting for the Delaware Beach Life magazine.

I have become a sort of serial subject for commuting stories over the years. I think it started with Terry Plowman, publisher of Delaware Beach Life, who did a commuting story (I think for the Delawarean) some time back, before he started his own magazine. That story included an off-hand comment about "the Zen of commuting" that caught the eye of a reporter working on Zen thing for the Washington Post some time later.

Recently, a writer working for Terry's new magazine called to ask me some questions for a new story about commuting.

I stayed away from the metaphysical this time.

And so, this evening, I got to meet Kevin Fleming, who came by for a quick photo shoot. He set up a timed exposure of me driving past him in my Prius. The end result looks like it'll be a neat-looking smear of car and background with me, a bit more in focus, behind the wheel.

It was a great pleasure to meet Kevin, and fun to watch him work.

Moments of Minor Transcendence

The other day I was driving through downtown Dover, on my way back to the office. I had the windows down; it was a bright, breezy, beautiful mid-day.

I had the radio on, tuned to a singer/songwriter station on Sirius. I don't recall what was playing, but it was acoustic and melodic.

It was just noon when I came to the intersection of State Street and Loockerman Street, in the heart of Dover. Church bells started ringing to mark the hour. It was a carillon, I think, playing a hymn.

What caught my ear was the fact that for just that moment, the song on the car radio and the music from the church steeple were in harmony and rhythmically in synch.

I love it when that happens. It is a reminder that there's order, if only accidental, in the chaos of life.

Monthly Blog-Roll Clean-Up

It's time to edit the "SITES I READ" list over on the right hand side of this blog. As a general rule, I try to edit them out when they've been down for a month. There's only one of those this month.

Political Pet -- Nothing since the end of March. Spotty up until then.

Stupid and Wrong -- He said he'd shut it down after the recent Smyrna election. He kept his word. He has been roundly praised by many Smyrna voters.

OMA / Kyla -- She has recently decided to abandon blogger and start over elsewhere. She did not post a forwarding URL, but invites people to e-mail and request it.

I also wanted to note that, while I do regularly check all of these sites, I can't say that I consistently read them. The left/right political split among some Delaware bloggers has become a deep vein of spite. I have lost interest in tracking personal pissing matches.

Most of my blog-roll is made up of Delaware blogs. I have an interest in linking to any Delaware blogs I can find. That doesn't necessarily mean I recommend them to you. Just so you know.

Spring Marsh Walk

I returned this week to the trail at the St. Jones Center south of Dover for another lunch-time walk. As usual, I combined exercise with a little photo-exploration.

This is the trail I took last fall and again in the winter. I wanted to see how things look now that the trees have new green leaves. The trees were quite lush, though the marsh itself has not greened-up yet. One tree I had admired back in November has been cut down.

I was very aware of the abundant insect life along this trail. Flies were zooming around. Bees bumbled from flowering tree to tree. Wasps were hanging here and there. I decided I like this walk a bit better in the late fall and winter.

I do plan to revisit the marsh/boardwalk areas as the season progresses. I want to see the marsh in full sedge.

Um... What?

Um... What?
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

Burger King, Milford. This just doesn't seem like something I want to eat.

Pride is Pride, I Guess

This evening I found myself behind a guy in a Nissan pick-up with a little sticker on the back of his camper-top.

It looked like the sign for a unisex bathroom; a euro-stick-figure man next to a euro-stick-figure woman. In a pale, mono-tonal, light blue.

There were differences. Euro-stick-man and euro-stick-woman appeared to be holding hands. And her skirt was shorter than usual.

There was writing beneath the two euro-people. I couldn't quite make it out what it said, so I had to slide up close behind the Nissan at a traffic light to get a look.

It said "Straight Pride."

Cute. But I think it would be more effective if I didn't have to sidle up so close to the guy's rear-end to see it.

Halfway Through?

I reached 44,444 miles on my Prius this morning. It was just as I pulled out of the driveway, on my way to drop off the recycling.

It's been 268 days since 22,222. I missed 33,333 somehow, but it's been a busy 8 months, 25 days.

A Roadside Edit

I've been checking the DelDOT signs for Beaver Dam Estates, on Route 9 between Lewes and Georgetown, ever since last fall, to see if they've fixed their "Beavere Dam" typo.

Somewhere in the last few days, someone applied a bit of blue-out.