Loggerhead

We've had a couple of Loggerheads
In the freezer
Since late summer

Today the Necropsy
Swing the door open...

My cigar is lit
Sacred is smoke at times like this

I'll dig a hole
Wash the freezer
My job

At the days end
Make mine a double
What will you have Sarah?

From The Bluff

From this vantage point
The bluff over Polpis
Watching the last days
The last call
Dredge
Nothing
Do it again
You have no where
To be

Christmas Stroll Event

Nantucket, MA

 An Evening of Music

 Friday, December 3, 2010

4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.

Come enjoy the music

Refreshments: Hot cider and cookies

Leonard Germinara Master of Ceremonies

            4:00 – 4:30 P.M.          Owen LaFarge, Pianist

            4:30 – 5:00 P.M.          Jake Vohs, Guitarist, Drummer

                                                      and Vocalist

            5:00 – 5:30 P.M.          Armen Ghazaryan, Violinist  

            5:30 – 6:00 P.M.          Tim Comings and Paul Connors,                 

                                                    Vocalists with guitar

            6:00 – 6:30 P.M.          Jim Sulzer, Classical Guitarist

            6:30 – 7:00 P.M.          Neville Richen, Special Reading

 7:00 P.M. the winner of the Nantucket Lightship Basket will be announced

Sponsors: Jazz Co. & Spoken Word Nantucket www.spokenwordnantucket.org

For more information visit, www.maah.org

For Scott

55 is just a number
The friends that sit around
Your fire
Salute you
Old man
Well done
Stay busy
Remain calm
Drink De-caf

Blue

The Swans have moved in
Blue and cold come on
Last chance days
Get all you can
Then go

One Lone Fisherman

On my noon time walk of the station I spot one lone fisherman in the harbor. It's just cold enough to be uncomfortable, the wind is the cherry on top. Sarah and I are going to have dinner with friends, we've been told to expect scallops for appetizers.  We got some venison from Bob and Deb last night.

Yeah, I'm thankful.

Peace

The humpbacked moon
Lights the remnants
Shells scattered
Bye valves

One

Sleep like you'll grow
In leaps and bounds
Mark well the moment

Lift your leg
To keep sorrow
In abeyance

Play hard
Chase
Play hard
Chase

Happy Birthday

Let Us Prey

The picture of two Osprey below is from 2008 or 2009.  The pair had been coming to the field station to raise replacement parts for many years and I've taken hundreds of pictures of them since our arrival in 2004. On Mother's Day weekend 2009 the male fell from the sky about 150 yards from the nest.  Sarah, with assistance from Vern Laux sent the body off to Boston that the cause of death might be determined.  The findings came back with no clear reason noted.   We did not have a nesting pair nesting at the Field Station this past summer for the first time since Sarah and I got here and they were missed.  One of our Jr. Rangers, James spent his two weeks as a volunteer at the field station observing 7 or 8 Osprey on station that appeared to be agitated at all times.  I spoke with Vern and he thinks that the territory with nest and dominance issues were being worked out and a new pair might be expected next year.  Here's hoping.

505

The distance west of here

Drums the storm front

Walk the dog

Down to the beach

We hang our noses

Into the wind

Spartina on a spit of sand

Somnambulating we

Before caffeine and kibble

Water will wake us

Send us home

Our breakfast waiting

That it is dream

Does not matter

Pictures of a Common Dolphin

Sarah's blog mentions the common dolphin that stranded here last winter.  I've posted a couple of shots at the bottom of the page.

The Change

The Change

The wind rattled me awake this morning and my first thought was I hope it’s not cold too!  It wasn’t but it feels like it won’t be far behind.  We (the dog and i) are up early to catch a glimpse of the Leonid meteor showers.  I say we knowing full well Swegen’s more interested in the scents left behind by rabbit, deer, and several feral cats that live here at the field station than celestial bodies.  A few years back on a bitterly cold winter’s night I witnessed one of the most spectacular Leonid showers of the century, no such luck tonight.  

As the sun came up a test pattern in pastels a stunted perhaps dead tree comes alive in crow squawk.  Swegen, not yet a year old spooks at the sound his long legs a hindrance as he tries and fails to beat the retreat. 

 BIRD

Night we chant with the wind

Bray the morning come

Pray for something warmer

Leaves us weary wayfarer’s

A wrecked ship’s miscellany scattered

Pirates Booty be praised

Flense the carcass right where it beached

Start a fire

If you decline to eat it raw

The skeleton will smolder for hours

Stay up wind

Incoming tide will extinguish

Ultra Violet and scavengers get the rest

Write it in couplets

Capture Oceanus at her best

The morning will find you

Dew dappled bedraggled

Hunkered down

Conciliatory

Two things:

1. I have a sticky U key.
C. The dolphins are still there

Note to self get eye exam...2 get a blog spot is easy
Navigation is hard

lmr leonard

Dolphins In The Harbor

Marine Mammal Stranding Team

The rain was heavy at times this morning.  We, my dog and I got started a little later than usual.  After a brief walk to the beach here at the field station we packed up and took a ride to get coffee. Swegen (1 year old Labradoodle), as it is with many dogs loves riding with his face out of the window.  The morning routine we've developed pleases us in such a simple way.  On our way back home I stopped in on the last known spot three common dolphins have been circling for the last few days.  By the time we arrive the heater in the car has lulled the dog back to puppy nirvana so I'm on my own for the moment.

It's a brief walk to the redoubt we've been using to keep watch on the cetaceans, the area they've inhabited since Monday is fairly small and high tide finds the area bracketed by scallop fisherman at first light. I did not see the dolphins, I can only hope they've found a route to open water and thank my lucky stars I didn't have to stand another two hour watch as was necessary for all MMST volunteers yesterday. 

Dolphins in distress
Work a conundrum like a hound dog searching
Draw my attention
Sound amazingly like horses snorting
Cat caught up in the visual
Raptor hovering
It's silent the clouds are close by
They've gone
We hope
But keep on watching