Days 03 – A Quiet Harbor, an Old Friend, and Another Lighthouse

It was another early morning. One wants to catch the light, and by the time most tourists are heading off for breakfast, the good light is long gone. One of our favorite harbors is just up the road apiece. Sometimes, there are dramatic skies; sometimes fog rolls in. This particular morning, it was rather dull at first, then the sun lit up the clouds and eventually broke through.

I love lapstrakes, those wonderful boats, often dories, that looks as though they have clapboard sides. Hand crafted, they are classic. Think of the famous Winslow Homer painting, The Fog Warning.

There is one in this harbor that always draws my eye. As the sun broke through and cast its warm light on everything, it made the dory glow.

After a wonderful breakfast of home baked goodies, blueberry pancakes, waffles, sticky buns, the likes of which you have never had before, omelets and other fare, we headed back for imaging and critiques. It was going to be a short session, as we had a bit of a drive, our longest day of the workshop. Our location was a mere 12 miles and an hour and a quarter away. Yes, really! While that’s 12 miles … as the gull or shagg flies … “You c’aint get theah from heah!” as the New Englanders are fond of saying.

One has to drive up one peninsula, along Route 1, and back down the next peninsula. We started off with lunch out on the pier. The place, another great fish shack, has gone upscale in the last year. Now, there is a yellow, awning over the eating area, and the restaurant area is fenced in by more yellow vinyl. I’m not sure I like the “improvement” but then, I have known this place for eons. I think the improvements have taken away some of the charm of this pier. That said, the food is still excellent!

One of our friends lives across one the coves there, a lovely gentleman by the name of Homer, whom we met some years back. Homer is a hoot. Always welcoming, he invites us to sit a bit and chat, go into his house and photograph all we want. He is the consummate host. Charming and cheerful, one cannot help but love Homer, shown here with his favorite beverage at the end of a working day.

Well read with a love of “our” music and an fine appreciation for art, he has what we call a man shack. It is one of those charming small fishing houses hanging out over the water on a pier. Homer is a collector, and he recycles anything he can find. He loves stones, and makes ducks from two carefully selected ones. They really are ducks. There are old music posters from the 60s, baseball memorabilia from 40s, and old model toy cars from back in the days before they all became plastic.

One of the things I love is the critters he makes from lobster claws. Turning them upside down, the “thumb” becomes the nose, and the larger part of the claw becomes the lower jaw and teeth. He has a great sense of humor.

Those of you who have followed this blog know there is a certain lighthouse that I used to sail past often when I was on my dad’s classic wooden sail boat. Sometimes, we be leaving it to starboard (right) in the late-afternoon light. At other times, the fog showed us why we needed that lighthouse back in the days before GPS and Loran. So often, I photograph the lighthouse, but my eye was drawn by the steps of the lightkeeper’s house. They were it up by a gorgeous sky that didn’t last very long.

We headed back to the same restaurant for another tasty meal, just getting in under the wire. It was lovely sitting outside, sipping, chatting, and enjoying one another’s company. We had a long drive back, and we wanted to get in before it was too late. With rain forecast for the morning, we didn’t need to get up too early. Everyone was grateful for that!

Next: Out on the ledges …

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