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.

April 4, 2008 at 6:31 PM

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

Swimming Anyone?

Good morning everyone. Winter is still here in New England though it seems to be taking a rest these days. We have enjoyed a little bit of a thaw. We still have snow covering our field but it is thinning out in the sunny patches. Mary Day rests comfortably in the harbor, bilges dry, cover intact, waiting for the crew to return. Another busy week has passed so I will get you up to speed on everything that is happening here at the global headquarters. Jen is putting the finishing touches on year end taxes. Blockfest 2008 is finally finished. The blocks have received quite the massaging. And while we have the off-white paint out we are starting in on the lifeline stanchions, the davits, and a few other miscellaneous parts. Alex asked me last night how we were doing with our pace. We are doing great but in the back of my mind I know that there is never enough time to do it all. Having perfectionist tendencies is a curse. I want to do it all and know we will never have enough time. There se

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Good morning everyone. The sun has been kind to us these past few days and the crew has been spending much time aloft prepping and painting the mast heads and tarring the rig as part of our annual fall maintenance schedule. They were a little silly on tar fumes by the end of the day hence the rat board dance moves. Am I the only one who is reminded of Willy Wonka's little friends at the sight of the crew in their tyvek suits? Schoona-loompas? The smell of tar, after all, is what we sailors live for. Extracted from the stumps and roots of pine trees through dry distillation pine tar will cure what ails you especially some skin conditions and any emotional maladies from being too long away from the sea. All we know for sure is that Mary Day’s rigging is kept hail and hearty by coats of tar mixed with boiled linseed oil. Notice that I specified boiled linseed oil and not raw linseed oil. Tar mix with raw linseed oil will not “kick”. Don’t ask me how I know this… just take my wo

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