Fine Craft

This exhibit opens today at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, CT.  It will run until Saturday, April 26.  There is an awards ceremony on April 11, and a day of weaving desmonstrations on April 18th.  The museum is closed on Easter and Easter Monday.

I am thrilled to have two pieces in this show, and I hope to visit the show on the very last day it is open.  I’ll be skidding into town just in time!

The chairwoman of the show wrote me earlier this week to say that “Sunet on Wilson Cove” has received two awards!  2nd Place for Wall Hangings, and a special award for Best Use of Color!  She made my day!  The jurors were Sarah Saulson and Anita Thompson.

“Thread of Life”

We are passing through an area of abandoned rice paddies.  The colonists worked very hard to cut down miles and miles of bald cypress swamp—and that has to be a hard job (wonder if they had slaves to do it then)—and now it has all returned to bald cypress swamp once again.  Hard to tell man ever tamed this area.

I have learned a little of why rice is no longer grown in South Carolina.  It turns out that the process of growing rice the traditional way, which means flooding the fields at some point in the growing season, can only be done by hand.  Because the fields are so marshy and at times underwater, everything from sowing seed to harvesting the rice has to be done manually.  In other rice growing states (Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and California) a hybrid type of rice is grown that requires irrigation, but is not grown in marsh conditions.  Mechanized equipment can be used for the whole process so the cost of growing rice is much less.  That pretty much put Carolina rice out of business.  There are still a few farms, but they do not export the rice and it is only available in small boutique type shops.  We bought some gold rice (not polished to white) from nearby Palmetto Plantation at the museum shop in Georgetown.  I made it last night, and I do wonder if some of the dark particles I found were just pieces of chaff or if they were critters.  I really to had to cull the rice before cooking it, just in case of the latter!  It has sort of put me off to making it again….

Since leaving Georgetown we have been traveling through the cypress marshes.  It’s always nice to be alone again….at least for a bit.  I never like being alone on holidays, and we are rapidly approaching Easter (tomorrow, in fact).  It would be nice to find an acquaintance we know when we arrive in Wrightsville later today.

Here are some scenes from the marsh. An abandoned rice paddy where cypress are coming back.

An osprey on the nest watching us as we pass.

Traveling through a landscape that has returned to unspoiled marsh.

And turtles sunning themselves on a cypress root.  I just had to include it even though it’s blurry! (So….what do you call a collection of turles?  A bale or a turn.  I’m going with bale since we are in cotton country!)

As I post this it is now several days into spring, and the weather has only gotten colder!  It’s been grey with high winds and horizontal rain.  I’ve been curled up down below knitting, while Bob has been standing out in the wind and rain at the helm, steering us ever northward.  The ICW in Georgia is very shallow so we can only move from shortly before high tide until shortly after high tide.  When the winds and currents are against us it’s not worth trying!  Hopefully tomorrow we will se a bit Savannah in sun with warm temperatures!  That’s what the weather predicts and I’m holding to it!

On the first day of spring we spent the morning walking the streets of Fernandina, while a dense fog had Pandora and various other transient boats lost in the mist.  It was perfectly clear on shore, but dense as pea soup out in the harbor.

Fernandina really is a beautiful southern town! Here are some of the lovely houses we saw along our walk.  I think this house might be the largest house in town–certainly the largest on our walk.  It is now an inn.

This house was fascinating from all directions!  It was hard to choose just one photo, but the view of this hand hewn porch won.

 I never get tired of looking for beautiful front doors, or doors of any kind.  A beautiful entrance to a house is just SO inviting!  And there were plenty of houses in Fernandina that just begged me to come sit on the porch or take a look through the front door.  I managed to refrain….

Camellias in bloom at many houses, along with azaleas and roses.

A series of lovely doors!

Even a side door caught my attention….

This house had such pretty birdhouses posted as finials on the gate to the front walk!

I know you want to see a close up!

I don’t know what this vine is that is growing on this outbuilding–I bet it doesn’t grown in Connecticut….

And an orange tree with both flowers and fruit.

Many streets smelled positively heavenly with mock orange shubs blooming at several houses.

Getting back onboard I happened to check my email and found a comment from Marjorie recommending that I make sure to visit Bristly Thistle, the embroidery shop right in Fernandina!  Yikes!  I am so disappointed that I did miss it!  By the time I was reading Marjorie’s comment, we had dropped our mooring and were headed to Cumberland Island.  If we went back we’d have to give up our visit to Cumberland.  It was not an easy decision for me, but I also knew I’d already tortured Bob for quite some time during my visits to all the pretty shops in the center of Fernandina.  Well, Bristly Thistle is on my list for next time.  I won’t make that mistake twice!

Just to give you an idea of shopping hell for Bob:  this shop had curiosities, vintage items and antiques.  I had a ball…..Bob, not so much…  now I’ve got ideas for what I can do with all my shells.

By mid-afternoon we had anchored off  Cumberland Island and were headed ashore in the dinghy. We walked to the ruins of the Carnegie mansion on Cumberland Island, and then into the small town that was built to hold the employees of the mansion.  It was beautifully clear on shore with blue skies above us.  We thought we were done with fog!  Not so!

 

If you look really closely in the photo you will see that I’m wearing on of my recently finished sweaters!  All in all, it was a glorious first day of spring!

We left just after sunrise on Sunday morning in order to take advantage of the rising tide. While we travel through Georgia we will only have 4 or 5 hours a day, just a couple of hours on either side of high tide, to make our way.  At low tide the Intra Coastal Waterway here is too shallow for Pandora.  So we will move while we can, and then stop each day to await the next high tide during daylight hours.  There are no towns on our route, so we will have several days of quiet passage and peaceful anchorages in the salt marshes.  The landscape is beautiful here, and there are still dolphins following our wake, and lots of beautiful shore birds.

Arctic terns are following us quite closely at our stern.  They are flying just about eye level with us, and at the same speed we are going.  It’s fascinating to see a bird in flight this closely.  Today I saw one bird cross its legs and rub them together like he was scratching his legs!  And I am making eye contact with the birds.  It’s so strange to look right into the eyes of a bird in flight and find him looking right at me!  I can see closely how they move their heads as they fly, watching the water for interesting tidbits.  I think we must have been stirring up stuff on the muddy bottom that attracted these terns.  I tried really hard to get a photo of one of terns looking right at me…..no luck!

 

 

It’s the first day of spring, yet decidedly unspring-like in Fernandina Beach, Florida.  We have awakened to dense fog, and the scenery in late March looks just like the little tapestry I did of our view here back in early January.  I am always going to think of St. Mary’s River in the gloaming…

There was a lunar eclipse this morning that I’ve heard was quite dramatic throughout northern Europe.  Here, I was quite excited to get up early (5.30 am) and view it, but since we had thick fog it was not meant to be!

On the morning when we left St. Augustine I saw a most alluring trick of light.  At one point during the sun’s rise from the horizon the water of St. Augustine turned a lovely color of cornflower blue!  I’ve never seen anything like it!  And the boats at anchor were glowing white as if they were lit from within.  It only lasted a moment—maybe not even 10 minutes—and it was so lovely!

The day we traveled north from St. Augustine to Fernandina Beach got windier and grey as the day wore on.  By early afternoon we had apparent wind of 25 – 30 mph coming straight at us.  It was screaming!  And with the tide against us as well we made very slow progress.  Long day.  We were exhausted when we got to Fernandina.

So it was lovely to wake up to a beautiful morning here yesterday.  We took advantage of the day to spend some time ashore.  Along the residential streets there are azaleas in bloom, along with camellias and even some wistera blooming amidst the palm trees.  Now that’s an odd sight!

Charming houses along the residential streets…

The business district of town has some classic early 20th buildings.  Here are the courthouse and the Post Office.

And a view down the main street in town.

 There are some great shops in Fernandina and some enticing restaurants.  I am particularly tempted by a shop with some funky, hand-made looking shoes.  Since we have fog this morning I may go back and try on a couple of pairs.

When Bob filled some water jugs on the dock  yesterday, he was right near the fish cleaning station.  Several pelicans thought it was handout time for fish scraps, and they stared Bob down waiting.  Unfortunately he had nothing to give them and they were not happy about that!  None of my photos quite catch the condescending looks these birds give you!–probably due to always having their beaks down so they look like they are looking down their ‘noses’ at everyone!

  My coral sweater is finished!—I even wore it during the windy, cloudy travel day here.  No photo yet, but here is the pattern I used—sort of.  My sweater doesn’t look much like this photo at all.

First of all, I don’t do hoods, so my sweater has a K2, P2 ribbed neckline leading into the Henley neck opening.  Then the color is bright watermelon, or coral, linen/cotton blend of Berrocco’s “Linsey.”  I finished the bottom of the sweater and the sleeve cuffs with the same K2, P2 ribbing that I used on the neck.  Voila!

I still have to sew on the 2^nd sleeve of my “For Irene” sweater designed by Carol Sunday.  I don’t know how successful my version is.  I made the body rather A-line below the armscythe.  That is a good look on me, but I may have overdone it!  It is quite large at the bottom.  I don’t have a full length mirror on board, so I can’t tell.  I guess I’ll find out when we get to our hotel in April for the upcoming wedding.  If I don’t like it, it will not be hard to fix, although not in time to wear for the wedding.  I can leave the sweater completely sewn together at the sleeves and shoulders and just undo the side seams near the bottom of the sweater and re-knit with fewer increases.  Luckily it was knit from the top down, so it will unravel easily!  Hoping I don’t have to do this—and hoping I can muster some energy for sewing in that final sleeve!  I am a slug when it comes to assembling sweaters.

So after a bit of shoe shopping this morning, we plan to sail to Cumberland Island midday—if the fog lifts.  Cumberland is a lovely spot, with wild horses, and wonderful shells.  I always meant to make some wreaths with the shells I gathered here two years ago.  Maybe I’ll finally get to that this summer…

We are headed north now.  We have a deadline—always a bad choice to have deadlines on a boat (so that is a bad decision!).  Mother Nature loves to mess with deadlines.  Another wise, old adage goes like this:

The most dangerous piece of equipment on boat is a calendar.

You see, we have a wedding in South Carolina in mid-April, and we want to be there!  We are also putting Pandora in brokerage this spring in order to buy another boat, so getting her to her brokerage home before the wedding would be the best plan.  I’m sure Mother Nature will have a good time with our plans, but we have to make the attempt.  So we are headed north.

For the past week we have sailed north and just taken enough time to stop each night to rest before continuing each morning.  These have been long days, either sailing out in the Atlantic or motoring up the Intra Coastal Waterway. We even had two days with good wind for sailing up the ICW. While these days have not included any shore leave, there have been lots of interesting sights on the water:  flying fish, manatees, dolphins, shore birds—even some very interesting man made birds that have been thrilling to watch as they fly overhead.

We missed getting photos of all the lovely wildlife, so I’ll just include some sunsets.

And this tiny island where someone had set up a tent!

Yesterday we arrived in Daytona and decided we’d like to see this city that we have previously always passed by.  We had a wonderful dinner at The Cellar, which is located in a beautiful early 20th c. house that used to be Warren Harding’s summer home.  What a lovely spot and a beautiful home.  The menu is amazing and so are the wine choices!

We ate in the pretty sunroom.  This photo (which I did not take!) was taken from the window table where Bob and I sat.

We arrived here on the last day of the annual ‘bike week’ here in Daytona.  We could hear the revving engines of many, many bikes as we set the anchor when we first arrived.  It put me in mind of the famous racetrack, and I did wonder if there were some kind of car race going on.  We will have to get ashore early this morning if we want to see the bikes before they leave town.  Perhaps this bike rally is a significant part of what makes Daytona so popular for college students on spring break.

Next stop is St. Augustine, a place we’ve visited numerous times, both by water and by land.  We will spend a few days there since we hurried out of town back in January when it was so cold!