Skip to main content

Good day to be a duck

Good Afternoon! It’s another beautiful day in the New England state of Maine, rain mixed with snow showers. The robins must be thinking twice about arriving back so soon. Speaking of signs of spring returning, yes Ed, the loon showed up yesterday in the harbor, gracefully swimming out beyond the Mary Day along with the winter ducks still lingering about. Canadian geese were spotted on the edge of ice on Lake Megunticook each perched on one leg. My guess is they were questioning the ice out date like the rest of us! (April 25th, no April 19th, …..). We all win in the end when it magically disappears.

Another great sign among us was the excitement of Sawyer and Nadie playing on the beach down in the harbor. The ice along the shore of the harbor has melted and the sand has appeared. They were quick to build their long awaited sand castle, the first of many to come for this summer. They were both glad to be down there and to mingle among the crew as we worked aboard. Sawyer is becoming a great reporter and wanted to take the following photos for the blog….


We end this day with the crew working in the rain/snow showers stacking the enormous loads of firewood for the 2009 season. Departure is receiving a few new supports for her thwarts, Rosie is being thoroughly sanded by Mr. Makita and Sara and safety training has begun. All in all it was a productive day for such a rainy one!


Hope your dry and in a warm place! Be well, do good, have a great rest of the day!

Comments

Unknown said…
Sawyer - Great pictures. Please keep up the good work. We love to see your pictures.

Captains and crew - It brings joy to my heart to see the Mary Day being spruced up for the coming season. Your hard work and dedication to excellence is appreciated by all who sail with you.

Popular posts from this blog

Hail Mary

My heart is heavy with sadness as I write this particular blog. Since the beginning of August our dear friend and cook for the last 12 years, Mary Barney, had been struggling with cancer. I have intentionally respected Mary’s privacy and I apologize to you for not sharing any news about Mary’s health sooner. On Monday afternoon Mary passed away very peacefully at home, surrounded by friends and “family”. Her departure was as graceful as the rest of her life. Many people, including Jen, have been doing heroic work to support Mary these last few weeks. Oddly enough Mary was never very excited about transitions though this was about the fastest transition she ever made. And as I struggle to let go of Mary I realize I am terrible with transitions as well. We used to joke about how we liked things just the way they are, thank you very much, so why change what is working already even if it might be less labor intensive. Hard works is its own reward. I used to joke about getting Mary a Cui...

A Golden Windjammer Anniversary

Happy Birthday Mary Day! 50 years ago today Mary Day slid out of the shed at the Harvey F. Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol, Maine marking the beginning of a whole new chapter in the history of the windjammer fleet. The Gamage yard had not launched a schooner since 1933 and Mary Day was the first commercial coasting schooner launched since 1938. That also makes her the first commercial coasting schooner launched in the second half of the 20th century and the first schooner ever launched for the windjammer passenger trade. There may be a few more firsts in there but that doesn't really matter. What is most important about this celebration is the fact that Mary Day was launched today and began her career touching the lives of thousands of people. This schooner was built by people, for people and has never done anything else but bring joy to peoples lives. She has become a legendary windjammer here along the Maine coast as part of the largest fleet of commercial coasting schooners...