Kudos to the U.S. Coast Guard

Keeping the waterways safe and navigable.

What is it?

Is it a snake or a jelly fish?

Free Flight

A Blue Heron glides over the Tangier Sound on a foggy Thursday.

A Three Hour Tour

Captain Laird, of Crisfield, ferries students from Philadelphia to Smith Island for the week-end.

A Tribute to Veterans

The actual Memorial Day is on May 30th, for fallen veterans of all wars who did not return home safely. This cap was placed by a family member at a nearby cemetery.

Calm Before the Storm

Last night brought rain, lightning, wind and thunder. This photo was the bright spot before it got nasty in Crisfield.

Skipper watch

My cat is on patrol, watching out for pigeons and birds. He is having such a good time.

My favorite

Oysters on the Half Shell. Yuuum!

Friends

A former Marine and friend of mine, with his wife, on an overcast day.

Father and Son

It is nice to see a dad and son enjoying a day together. The young man in the red cap is a Marine and has recently returned from Iraq.

Working boat

This Trawler is headed back to port after a long day fishing.

Sailing

Nice sailing vessel underway off of Assateague Beach, VA.

Painting of The Captain Woods Buy Boat

Here she is in her glory. In the day of old when the Buy Boats were plentiful along with the Skip Jacks, their presence meant long days on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Work boats would come along side of these wonderful vessels to off load their bountiful catch of the day, then go back to harvesting again.

Like the Skip Jacks, the Buy Boat can be found in just a few places with numbers less than a dozen. Seeing one is a treat to be remembered for a life time.

Buy Boat "The Delvin K."

Much to my surprise last week, there was another Buy boat anchored at the Crisfield County dock. I could not resist to get a shot of her before she steamed out into the Tangier Sound and off into the sunset.

The Captain Woods

This is known as a "Buy Boat". In their prime, like the Skip Jack sailing vessels, there were dozens covering the Chesapeake Bay. They anchored out in the bay so that work boats could off load their catch of the day. By doing this out in the bay, it saved the waterman time and fuel from having to go back to harbor to sale their catch. There are less than 10 still functioning today. "What a loss!"

Captain Bud's Tiki Bar

I painted this local hangout last summer; it used to be my favorite. If you got there early enough you could dock your boat and walk right up to the tiki bar.

It closed over the winter, but will be reopening Memorial Day under a new owner. My boat is waxed and ready.

She never stops

My wife and I were riding around town on a drizzly, chilly day. We ran across several students getting off of 2 tour buses at Somers Cove Marine. She gets photos of them but I catch a glimpse of her. The students were being ferried over to Smith Island for an ecological day trip. Captain Larry Laird, (bottom left corner), was the man of the hour.

Boat Launch at Sea Mark Marine

It's rock fishing in Crisfield, and Prime Time II is ready for your charter fishing parties.

These are some photos I took of Prime Time being launched. That is a mighty fancy contraption for boat launching. Wish we had one for our boat.




After a day on the water catching all those big fish, walk across the street from Sea Mark to that orange building, Watermen's Inn, and have dinner, drinks, and celebrate!




To charter Prime Time II, call Captain Keith Ward at 800.791.1470.

And if you need any boat repairs, or specialty parts made, call Mark at Sea Mark Marine at 410.968.0800.

Jenkins Creek

Just a hop, skip and a jump from home. Chippies Shanty is the faded pink building.

Boat at Ape Hole

This is one of my favorite spots around these parts, "Apes Hole".

She works hard for her money

Another photo I took of my wife working.

She is truly the Rose of my life! She would have made a good Marine.

Little Birds Chapel

We have this nice little bird house in our back yard that is shaped like a little church. I made it out of some old barn wood and painted some stained glass windows and doors on it several years ago.

For its age, it is holding up pretty nice. The bell tower was made out of a piece of cedar.

The birds like it too.

Our Summer Toy

Well, here she sits; the fishing vessel ready to catch fish, if we can find them.

My wife and I have been out in her more times than we can count, and hardly have any fish stories to tell. The folks at Dave's Bait and Tackle can't understand it because everyone else in town catches fish. Big ones, too.

We will give her a try again this season. Wish us luck!

The Lady Maryland

This is a very nice vessel and accomplishes some extraordinary work with children of various ages.

The Lady Maryland offers trips along the Chesapeake Bay during the summer, and this photo was taken when she stopped in Crisfield, Md. at the Somers Cove Marina.

This shot inspired me to do a painting of her, and is currently hanging in a gallery. I will have to get by there and take a photo and post it.

Rusty

I saw this old anchor close to Small Boat Harbor. I could only imagine the stories it holds.

On Assignment

Another photo of my wife hard at work. I get her old hand me down equipment. I can not wait until I get that lens she is using. I thought we were retired! LOL

Filtered Blue Heron

My wife is teaching me how to use filters. Here is a Blue Heron that I turned into a brown Heron.

Small Boat Harbor

This is a close up of one of my paintings. This is Small Boat Harbor where the waterman keep their boats.

Egrit

Just practicing with the telephoto.

Dinner Time

My wife and I went to dinner tonight. I took these photos of a flower pot full of spring forks, spoons and knives.







You can click on photos to enlarge.

Happy dining!

Two Little Cats

Here is another picture of Skipper who has claimed me as his human servant. I took it in our studio while taking a break from painting. I think it is a little more in focus than my last attempt.

____________________

Below are 2 photographs that my wife took of our Siamese, Czarina(I figured I needed at least a few good photos on my site). We found her in the yard last year starving; she was skin and bones. We took her to the vet and found out that she had round worms, and an upper and lower respiratory infection. While on medication she went into heat and we had laser surgery done on her because she was so weak. Now she rules the roost.

Being a seafood lover, I had just put a bunch of empty clam shells and we saw one of our other cats spying her through the window. Had it not been for clam shells she may not have stopped by our house. Little does she know that clam shells saved her life!
We have a little fireplace heater in the kitchen; she likes to meditate here.

I was resting my back in the studio with Czarina curled up beside me and Skipper sleeping on the pillow, with cat chow plums dancing through their heads, when all of a sudden I heard the click of a shutter as Czarina gave a big yawn.

And to all a good night.

Boats in Fog

Here is another pitiful attempt at photography. Difficult shooting in fog. My wife did not help me.

Boats

I am posting one of my outsider/folk art paintings that I recently painted.

I painted this from a photograph that my wife took.

Lucky Cat

I was filling up the cat food storage tin today and snapped this shot of one of our cats who enjoys the smell of fresh cat food in the morning.

I got my camera and took a snapshot. After his tummy was full of cat chow and Fancy Feast he settled down for a long afternoon nap.

I am still learning, and will never be as good as my wife, but it is fun.

BTW, this is Skipper, 1 of our 5 cats. He was found wandering in a graveyard when he was about 3 weeks old. A friend who works at the humane society called to see if we would take him. He is now 2 years old and weighs about 15 pounds, and claims me as his favorite human.

He eats way too much!

Look For Me in the Obits.

It snowed on Friday and I went with out with my wife who was looking for a feature shot for her newspaper. She photographed a mailman, and in this photo she is getting his name.

We woke up, and seeing the snow, hit the streets, knowing it was going to be a fast moving and light snow.

My wife has no makeup on and threw on her nearest hat , so she is going to kill me for posting this photo of her.

But, I am practicing, so perhaps she will forgive me. And I am a good assistant who works cheap. Being retired, it gives me something to do when I am not painting or working with the Coast Guard Aux.

My Dealer

This is my attempt to play with my wife's Adobe Photo program.

This is my favorite places to pick up fresh oysters and crabs. Now I am working on oysters - Chincoteague oysters are my favorite.

Crab season begins in a few weeks! When I am in the mood for a tasty sandwich, I go for the big flounder sandwich.

Book cover

I had the privilege of having Madeleine Mysko pick one of Vietnam paintings for the cover of her book "Bringing Vincent Home."

The painting, depicting the Vietnam War Memorial, was actually a commissioned painting I did for a doctor at Emory University. Luckily, I had a good digital photo of the painting, courtesy of my best friend, my wife.

Mysko's, a nurse at a burn ward in Texas, wrote this book from her experiences. It is a wonderful and moving book. Check it out at Amazon.com.

Birds in snow

My wife, a professional photographer, gives me all her used equipment, so instead of filing all of my photos, I thought I would share them.

I took these photos today after a snow storm hit our area. I made 2 trips to town to keep these little buggers in food, so I do not think they minded my interrupting their dinner.



This is a blue heron that hangs around our home.

Click on photos to enlarge.