A note to my viewers

No doubt both of you are clever enough to already know this, but I'll mention it anyway:  if you click on a photo it usually will enlarge for better viewing.

Best,
GPA

Downtown Annapolis on a rainy winter day.

Annapolis is the state Capital of Maryland. We live roughly twenty miles west of town. Sunday afternoon's weather forecast mentioned the likelihood of showers but we decided to chance it and go walk around the old part of town as a way to wind down our holidays.

Yes, we got caught in a shower first thing, but with the temps near 50 degrees F it didn't seem too bad.  The City of Annapolis is already in the process of taking down the evergreen roping and lights from the street lamps.

The Indian Chief was in his usual location, holding up the wall of the cigar store.

The Historic Foundation's Museum Store was having a post-Christmas sale.  The steeple of St. Mary's church can be seen in the background.

The Middleton Tavern looked quiet.  A far cry from the summer crowd typically waiting for an open table on the porch.

This sailboat, tied up in Ego Alley, is still sporting the Christmas decorations from the annual Parade of Lights which takes place on the 2nd Saturday of December each year.

The Motor Yacht Susannah was up from Norfolk.  She's tied up by the Fleet Reserve Club.

Looking across the empty harbor from the end of City Dock.  The Chart House Restaurant occupies the old Trumpy Boat Works building.

The building with the green copper roof is the Severn Sailing Association's clubhouse.  SSA hosts many world class regattas each year.

Looking through the fog at the Naval Academy's remaining pair of communication towers.  Until a few years ago there were several more of these towers grouped together in this area.  After they became redundant the Academy tore all of them down except this pair.

Walking back from the end of City Dock we passed Steven's Hardware store.  There's always something interesting in the window display.

The curious devise with the numbered copper arm is a "Jeffersonian" rain gauge.

The owl is a semi-successful gull deterrent used by boat owners.

Walking up Pinkney Street we pass the Shiplap house (house with the red siding). This is one of the oldest remaining buildings in Annapolis.

At the top of the hill are State Circle and the Maryland State House.  This building is the oldest State House in continuous use in the U.S.  George Washington resigned his commission as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in this building.  The Maryland State House also briefly served as the National Capital.

Longwood Gardens

Longwood Gardens is a locally well known botanical garden located between Chadd's Ford and Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. As a boy I grew up on a farm in nearby New London, PA and so visited the gardens several times each year with my parents. 

Longwood was purchased from Pennsylvania's Quaker Proprietor, William Penn, by the Peirce family in 1700.  The farm was in turn purchased by Pierre S. DuPont (one of the "chemical" DuPonts) in 1906.  DuPont continued the development of the Peirce family's earlier arboretum and during the 1930s created much of the gardens which are preserved today.  Longwood was transferred to a foundation in 1946 and opened to the public.  Both of my readers can learn more about Longwood Gardens by visiting their web site: http://wwwlongwoodgardens.org/  Yesterday was a rare late December day with temperatures flirting near the upper forty degree mark.  My wife, her parents and our daughter decided to make the two hour trip north.  I decided to stay home and work on one of my boats since the air temps were just high enough for epoxy resin to cure before it freezes.  But no matter; my wife, the goodly Elisabeth, took the family digital along and captured a few exposures for your enjoyment.

 

Longwood has extensive outdoor fountains (not active in winter) but for the Christmas season the outdoor light display is well worth a visit.  Sadly, no outdoor pix this time.  The photo above shows part of the interior of the main conservatory.

 A closer view of the poinsettia-ringed column seen above.

One of several Christmas trees in the Orangery.   Note the waterfall; a nice indoor touch don't you think?  The rich really are different from you and me.

The tree at the opposite end of the Orangery

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Longwood has an extensive collection of orchids.  The Cattleyas were putting forth an elegant display.

An unusual holiday wreath made of orchids and fern.

Paper whites and Poinsettias; a touch of winter with the promise of spring.

Opening post: winter at Brigantine, NJ

This is the first post for random wanderings up and down the eastern seaboard of the U.S. My inspiration is Charles Winpenny's excellent "Cornwall Cam" which, as its title suggests is a photo documentary of Charles' walks around Cornish in the UK.  If you don't know about Charles' site, I highly recommend a visit: http://www.cornwallcam.co.uk/  Charles posts new photos on an almost daily basis.  I will not be quite so prolific but hope to have something of interest at least weekly.  I live near Annapolis, Maryland and travel up and down the east coast to race Classic Moth Boats.  Today's pix are from yesterday's visit to check our summer house on the island of Brigantine in the state of New Jersey.  An unusually strong winter storm had dumped snow on the island the previous Sunday and Wednesday when I checked the house, the ploughs were still very busy.

The city had managed to plough a single file track down our street.  The fence in the foreground is 4 feet high.  A bit of shoveling allowed me to move a load of tools that I'd brought along from Maryland into the garage for storage.

The drifts lay deep upon the dune.  Yesterday was sunny and relatively mild with winds in the sub 10 knot range and afternoon high temps around mid-30 degrees F.

At one point the snow had covered the beach but the subsequent high tides had eroded much of it away to the dune line.  The large building in the distance is the old Brigantine Hotel.  This is one of the few buildings remaining from the land development boom of 1927.

Zooming in closer on the Hotel.


A life guard shack, nestled in the dunes, takes it's winters nap.


Atlantic City is on the next barrier island just south of Brigantine.  The city's infamous Casinos loom in the near distance.

Fortunately Absecon inlet separates "us" from "them"!  But sadly, Brigantine is not as quiet an island (at least during summer) as it was when I was growing up back in the 1950s.

Many of the smaller houses on Brigantine, like mine, are being bought as "tear downs".  Large "MacMansions" are replacing these modest homes.  This is a pity in my opinion, but at least until the next hurricane comes along we're stuck with the new high buildings which block the summer's breeze.  I've resisted installing air conditioning in our house but this spring will finally yield to the reality that our house does get uncomfortably hot during the hottest months of summer.


A curious bare patch of grass courtesy of the 50 knot winds that blew during Sunday's storm.

On the bay side of the island, the Brigantine Yacht Club looked very forlorn.  Our family joined this small dinghy sailing club in 1951.  I've been a member ever since.

Ice almost completely covered the bay.  Bay ice is rarely trustworthy enough for ice boating and largely is a nuisance since it forms large blocks around the pilings of piers.  These blocks of ice are buoyant enough to lift pilings out of the mud on subsequent high tides which leads to lots of spring time work for dock builders and pile drivers.


This small sloop won't be moving any time soon.

           

Looking towards the southwest.  Another casino, this one the Borgata, seen across the bay ice.  Atlantic City's small wind farm is also visible.

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Zooming in on the wind farm.  Have you every wondered were the electricity generated by wind energy goes?  These mills provide enough power to running AC's sewage treatment plant.

One final look at the bay.  Zooming towards the north, one can see open water about a mile away from where I'm standing at the yacht club.