Oh Dear

I guess I should have thought more carefully the other day before posting my slightly self-righteous take on the recent visit of Girls Gone Wild to Dewey Beach.

I was reacting to an early version of the story from the News Journal's web site. I started having doubts when I read the full version the next morning and now that I have read Ryan Cormier's take on the story and Mike M's on Down with Absolutes, I'm having even more.

Filed in:

• Delaware
• Dewey
• WMGD

Imagine My Surprise

I just finished a novel that is set, in part, in my home town, only in the late 1800s.

I had not realized that it would be set here in Lewes when I pulled Tunnell's Boys off the library shelf. I just did what I always do, I wandered along the New Books shelf and, judging them entirely by their covers, picked two to bring home and read. That approach usually works just fine.

Tunnell's Boys is a historical novel by Tony Junker, a Philadelphia architect and sailor. It tells the story of two young men who meet as apprentice Delaware River and Bay Pilots. It is set partly in Philadelphia, partly in Lewes, and partly on the Delaware River and Bay and on the Atlantic Ocean.

The sail and steam-powered boating in the book is very well told. Mr. Junker knows his boats and the moods of deep and shallow waters. It works just fine as a sea-going adventure.

Thematically, this book is about war and responsibility and the duties of men and women in the world. Mr. Junker is a Quaker, and uses his story to examine some of the larger issues of life from the perspective of Quaker practice. The story turns on the US war with Spain over Cuba. It holds some parallels for our foreign policy predicament of today.

What fascinated me, though, was to read a novel set in Lewes, Delaware. I don't know our history quite well enough to know how much license Mr. Junker may have taken, but I know enough to say that he has painted a plausible past for the First Town.

Much of the action takes place on the waters of the Bay. The characters live and work on a schooner that anchors behind the breakwater off Lewes. They discuss the need for a second breakwater, to expand the anchorage. This would be built eventually. The old Cape Henlopen Lighthouse is there on the dunes, but a major storm erodes away the sand at the base, and characters worry that it may soon slide away. I recognized street names and places. It felt right; it felt like Lewes in the days of sail.

I do wonder about Mr. Junker's addition of a brothel, run and staffed by Cuban emigres, to 19th-century Lewes. I am not sure whether that might be accurate or not, and I'm not sure who to ask. Should I go up to one of the elderly ladies of the Lewes Historical Society and ask? I suppose they might surprise me.

I also found myself thinking of local "coastal conservative" Jud Bennett as I read this book. Jud is now working his way up in politics, and blogging. But he was once a Delaware River and Bay Pilot. I could see Jud, a big guy, bushy-bearded and commanding, climbing onto the deck of a three-masted ship and piloting her up from Lewes the Philadelphia.

In fact, I used Jud's face in my internal movie for one of the characters in the book.

I had thought to read another sea-story, fun and salty but nothing special. Instead, I found a sort of history machine, taking me back in my town's time.

Filed in:

• Delaware
• Bay
• Book
• Lewes

Questions I Ask Myself on Reading Some of the Latest Delaware Headlines

I took a peek at some of the stories that the News Journal is working up for the news on Wednesday. A couple of questions come to my mind.

Didn't we see this coming? Bobby Jacobs now faces forgery and theft charges related to his management of the Slam Dunk to the Beach basket ball tournament. Also, what took so long? And where is Bobby? (Print version, from 8/9/06)

Where do they get the seasonal cops for Dewey Beach? Two off-duty Dewey summer police officers are under investigation for allegedly drinking with an under-age woman on the Girls Gone Wild tour bus recently. Also, why has it taken so long for Girls Gone Wild to roll into Dewey? Oh, and, on a personal note: ew.

Update (8/9/06: 06:49 a.m.): The more complete, print version this morning, suggests that there may be more, or less, here than first suggested.

Filed in:

• Delaware
• news
• crime

Sometimes Life Really is Just Like a Game, Played With Real Money

I've walked and driven past this sign at least once a week for years. It always struck me as odd, but I never really looked closely at it to figured out why.

Until this noon. Walking back from 33 West with a Caesar Salad, I paused to take a closer look.

Filed in:

• sign
• dover

Blogroll Maintenance, Again

Here we are starting another month. Time to look over the blogroll and see what needs to be deleted.

Gerry Fulcher's Delaware Views Journal still says that it will start having content on August 1. Gerry? I'll keep it on the roll for now, but... Gerry?

Education and Community News from Home Town Delaware has been quiet for a month.

So, for that matter, has William Slawski's Newarking.

Meanwhile, I've added a few new links to Delaware-related or -located blogs. I've mentioned The Delaware Way, of course, but I have also recently found my way to Paul Bowman's Daily Life, Galaxy Girl, Project Gannon, and Zzardozz News and Satire.

Filed in:

• blogroll
• maintenance

Ninth Golf Game of 2006

Andy Southmayd and I played a round at The Rookery this afternoon. It was hot. Very hot.

The Rookery is a great course. It is wide open, in places, with a variety of challenges, lots of water, and strategically placed trees.

I played like, well, crap. I have a pull, a knot, a strain, or something in my left shoulder. My range of motion is affected, though I thought I'd be able to swing without too much trouble. Not so much.

Either I was topping the ball, which I thought I had cured, or I was hitting weak shots with odd, counter-productive spin. I think I was unconsciously correcting, over-correcting, for my shoulder.

Several shots were not bad, but it was not a memorable round. At least not for any good reason.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I did sink some long putts that I would be crowing about if it weren't for the fact that the best, longest putts I sank were all in the service of horrendous, blow-up hole scores.

"Woo-hoo! Great putt! Way to read that green! What'd you get?"

"An eight."

Filed in:

• golf
• 2006

A Symphony Orchestra Concert at Lewes

We celebrated our hometown's history yesterday evening at a concert by the Delaware Symphony Orchestra at the College of Marine Studies' Virden Center, here in Lewes.

The concert was part of a year-long celebration of the 375th anniversary of our town, which began in 1631 when a group of (Dutch) Europeans attempted to set-up a trading post that they called Zwaanendael.

From that small, and ultimately futile beginning (the settlers failed to get along well with the established population and were eventually attacked and destroyed), flow almost four centuries of history. Based on that settlement, we lay claim to being the First Town in the First State. It all started here (You're welcome).

We used to have a symphony concert in Lewes every summer. For some years the concert was part of a larger Summer Arts Festival which included some great acts. One year, before the girls were born, we got to see the folk-singer Odetta.

A feature of the festival each year was a pops concert by the Delaware Symphony. It always ended with a rendition of the 1812 Overture, performed with a battery of historic iron cannon blasting away in the finale. If you have never heard the 1812 Overture with real cannon, you are missing a wonderful musical experience.

I still remember the first time we attended the concert. It was held at that time at Cape Henlopen State Park and as the show started, a thick fog rolled in from the Atlantic. By the time the cannon were fired, we could no longer see the orchestra. The cannons' muzzle-flashes lit the fog all around us. It was like being inside the thunder-head cloud during a major thunderstorm.

This weekend's concert was in a large field alongside the Virden Center. We all brought lawn chairs and blankets. Many people enjoyed picnic dinners and gatherings of friends and family.

Karen and I packed a light supper of pita and hummus with carrots and zucchini. We sat and chatted with Andy and Lynn, who joined us for the show, and then sat back to enjoy the music.

The evening was fine. The week's heavy heat and humidity finally broke with an evening breeze, clear skies, and a hint of thunderstorms on the northern horizon. It was perfect evening to put your feet up and listen to the music.

The Delaware Symphony has new leadership since the days when they used to come down for a concert each summer. The program was still "Pops," but I think it was a more adventurous set than had been the case in the past. They started with Fanfare for the Common Man, which Karen and I both love, and continued with a set of variations on America by Charles Ives. Ives was one of America's first great composers and his approach to music -- standing it on its head, warping, twisting and resculpting familiar tunes -- appeals to my musical tastes.

There were also Sousa marches, but they threw in a Sousa dance number, described by the conductor as a "Victorian Tango." That's an interesting notion, isn't it?

The 1812 Overture was well-played, even without the cannons, and they finished with a traditional Stars and Stripes Forever, guest-conducted by the Delaware Secretary of State, whose budget helped support the event.

After a brief pause to let the sun settle, there was a fine fireworks finale. A good time was had by all.

Filed in:

• Lewes
• Delaware
• history
• anniversary

Welcome to the Blogosphere, Miss Nancy!

Nancy Willing, often a blog commenter, is the newest to join the ranks of the Delaware bloggers.

Nancy has launched The Delaware Way.

She has been a consistent commenter on this and other blogs. She takes a dim view of the incumbent office-holders.

The Delaware Way is how our politicians use the system for their own personal gain. Let's turn the tables and game them for once.

I would say "welcome to the fray," but Nancy has been here a while. Now she has her own bit of Blog-Estate... Blog-Turf... Blurf?

Filed in:

• Delaware
• blog
• politics

Flower Surprise

This is Lily that is growing in my side garden. It's somewhat squeezed between a huge Butterfly Bush and a mass of Four O'Clocks.

Early in June, I thinned the Four O'Clocks back from this plant and was rewarded with several pretty flowers when we returned from up north.

I took a macro-setting close-up the other day. I cropped in close and adjusted a few brightness and contrast settings.

I like the result.

Filed in:

• flower
• garden

Seventh and Eighth Golf Games of 2006

Andy Southmayd and I were able to get out for two rounds of golf while we and our families were in Vermont.

North Country Golf Club
Early in the week, we headed across the islands at the top of Lake Champlain to Rouse'’s Point, New York, for 18 holes at the North Country Golf Club. We've played here each of the last several summers. We meet Andy's old friend and former Milton neighbor Rich, who vacations about the same time each year, just a bit farther south on Lake Champlain.

The North Country Golf Club is close to the Canadian border and seems to have members from both sides. One of my favorite hats is a North Country cap I bought a few years ago. It has crossed US and Canadian flags. Often, out on the course, we meet up with folks whose cursing (it is golf, after all) is in French.

About a week before we played, the club had hosted the Labatt's Invitational. In chatting with the bartender after our round, we heard that the Labatt's tournament, and for that matter, the Bud Light Tournament, always fill up quite quickly. I think we were told that the Labatt's featured 200 golfers and 400 cases of beer. Or something like that.

I had a few pars and was hitting some shots just they way they are meant to be hit. But I was still having a few "blow-up" holes. There was rain in the area, and our round wasn't completely dry, but we got in all 18 holes.

Alburg Golf Links
Late in the week, we set up a foursome from among Tyler Place guests and planned to play Bakersfield Country Club, a mountainside course in far northern Vermont that I love. But Bakersfield was going to have a tournament that day, so we made a visit instead to Alburg Golf Links, on one of the Champlain Islands.

Andy and I had played a Tyler Place Golf Scramble at Alburg five or six years back. It has since changed hands and I think has improved. We were joined on this occasion by Tim, with whom we'd played before, and Bob, a new friend on his first visit to the Tyler Place.

It was raining determinedly as we left Highgate Springs that morning; it often rains when I want to play golf in Vermont. I don't think any of us were convinced that we'd get many holes in, but as we came around a bend in the road and to the entrance to the course, the skies brightened and the rains stopped. We were able to play all 18.

Alburg looks like a wide-open course; it has sweeping views of Lake Champlain and a variety of elevations. It is a links-style course in some places and a mountain-meadow style in others. All holes feature an impenetrable rough. There is water, but most balls are lost in 10-inch grass.

I started out well, with good drives and a decent short game on the first few holes. I was going along swimmingly until Andy helpfully pointed out how often the universe acts to humble you when you start out a round so well. Sure enough, the third hole was a disastrous blow-up. After at, I had some good holes and some awful holes.

It was all quite fun, though a few holes on the back nine featured an astonishing number of biting flies.

I like playing in different areas, and I've now had my Lake Champlain golf fix for the year.

Filed in:

• golf
• 2006
• vermont
• newyork