Sawyers Island and Rowley River Saltmarshes, Rowley, Massachusetts

No surf and high fatigue levels brought us to a new spot - Rowley River Saltmarshes, part of the Essex County Greenbelt.

The Essex County Greenbelt Association is a member supported nonprofit land trust that has conserved nearly 14,000 acres of land in Essex County. Their goal is the creation of "greenbelts" consisting of river, trail, and other natural corridors, coastal systems and visually intact landscapes.

The new-moon tides put some roads underwater.

This marshland is part of The Great Marsh, which extends from Southern New Hampshire to Gloucester, and is the largest salt marsh ecosystem in the Northeast. The salt marsh is the single most important habitat in New England for the production and maintenance of life. As the "nursery" for many marine species, including herring, oysters, shrimp, clams, mussels, and many other species of fish and invertebrates, the marsh supports a highly divers population of migratory and resident birds, and provides two-thirds of the value of our commercial fisheries. The salt marsh also acts as a filter for nutrients and contaminants moving from the land toward the ocean.

Musclecar Monday - 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente

From 1960-1965, the Comet was based on the Ford Falcon platform. In '65 The 289 V8 was available in three horsepower ratings, 200 hp, 4-barrel 225 hp and the premier driveline option was the 289 cubic inch, 271 hp high-performance engine and four-speed manual transmission found on the Ford Mustang. The performance version was known as the Cyclone, replacing the previous S-22. Then in descending order of trim levels were the Caliente, 404 and 202, replacing the previous Custom and base models.

Gloucester by bike

Nothing epic (well maybe this Mercury) - but this is what you'll see when you ride around this burg.

film! it's what's happening

• just shooting pics over the past 2 weeks, pretty pleased but the killer noreaster telephoto images didn't come out.


• this old 50mm lens I use f1,4 - "cateye"- no need for hipstamatic effects

• take an old nikon slr (the trusty fm2), the older 50mm nikkor, plus some expired Fuji film and I'm ready to rock & roll; I guess.

Getting back to normal - very good surfin' on Thanksgiving.

Depending on what you call normal.

Thanksgiving had aways been a day for super fun surf. It was ideal, get up, suit up at home, let the first splash of cold water bow out the hangover-induced mental fog, and go light it up.

Then something happened, for the past 2 years Thanksgiving offered either no or poor waves. Thanks for nothing, Thanksgiving.

But cheer up spuds, the world is right-side up again!

Today: got up, suited up at home, let the first splash of cold water bow out the hangover-induced mental fog, and then proceeded to light it the **** up. Twice! - 2 sessions all before noon, and I got paddle under a bridge, ah the ever-loving creek! No big deal, just sayin'. Not much clearance but I made it. Sorry for the so-so pics, again, too anxious to paddle out to shoot the day's fun. But this old Dodge military truck was cool - happy 50th, peace corps!



Yup, you heard it, I'm an early riser now, so not only is the world right-side up again, the times, they're a changin' , somethings blown' in the wind.

With a little luck I'll have film pics tomorrow.

the nearest faraway place

It's been a rough week for us, and a very rough for some friends. We'll pull through.

But in the meantime hopefully some images from the Summer of 1967, yes, the fabled "Summer of Love" courtesy of the Surfing Heritage Foundation will put things in their proper perspective for you too. The ideal - it speaks for itself:.


Below: This is from 1964, and to think she's about 50 now. Her name is Karen, hey Karen, if you can see this are you still surfing San 'O?

A blessed child indeed.

Addendum:
As a matter of fact - I did a quick Google search. Not only does she still surf, she runs a surf school on the North Shore of Oahu!

Check it out:
http://northshoresurfcamps.com

Musclecar Monday - lest we forget the AMC Javelin

When the topic of conversation turns to AMC, things become comic. “Remember the Pacer? How about the AMC Gremlin?” Who doesn’t have a memory of some poor sod in the past who had to drive one.

Not A Ford, not GM, not Chrysler, but American Motors – the fine folks who brought us the Rambler. As a kid, my father would get caught behind a slow-poke and would mutter “Rambler Driver”. Even Mr. Magoo did in the opening of the now-banned kids cartoon (very un-PC by today’s standards).

But poor American Motors, the Javelin was a legitimate car with clean contemporary ponycar lines, and set up right, could humiliate an unsuspecting Camaro driver at the stoplight…again…if set up right.

Many buyers selected the "Go Package" available with the 360 and 390 four-barrel V8 engines and it included front disk brakes, dual exhaust system, heavy-duty suspension with anti-sway bar, heavy-duty cooling, as well as wide Goodyear white-lettered performance tires on styled road wheels. Also, strong participation by AMC in Trans-Am and drag racing served to enhance its image, and notable was that its motorsports efforts were achieved on a shoestring budget with the automaker racking up a respectable number of points against its giant competitors.

Today’s Musclecar Monday car is, from Kenosha WI, the AMC Javelin.

The Way Life Should be

Maine's motto - actually it's "Dirigo", latin for "I direct". They'll direct my sorry ass directly back to the bay state, the way I surfed. But everyone else killed it. I'll get 'em next time.

11-11-11 "Binary Day" yields no magic desipte swell, conditions.

So let's accentuate the positive.

Fall colors are better on cloudy days

Charlie and Annie rock

their well-heated van is always a welcome site, (as are they themselves).

The sanderlings haven't migrated south yet - 6 weeks late, they best 'git before the snow flies.

Tomorrow's another day - hopefully the wind won't blast things flat.

Surfing Heritage Foundation

What a cool site/idea/organization! How did I miss this one? All kinds of cool stuff – like their “Gem of the Week” - this week's gem was none other than George Greenough himself. Don’t miss out.

Loads of vintage photos, places (ten & now), you name it. Check it out if this sort of thing is your bag:
http://www.surfingheritage.org/

How could I pass on the model T sitting on Torq Thrusts? And Linda benson rocks (below).

Asteroid Flyby Last Night

Am I the only one who didn't know this?

To put this is perspective: Take an NBA basketball and place a tennis ball 24 feet away - that's the moon. The asteroid passed at 34,900 miles per hour in between the moon and earth, (about 4 feet from the tennis ball).

Read more here: Asteroid 2005 YU55 to find where to look. 'Ole YU55 is the size of an aircraft carrier.

With it’s size and speed, this asteroid would make a crater on earth 4 miles across, 1,700 feet deep and create a magnitude 7 earthquake. That would have ruined my day.

Joe Frazier 1944 - 2011

We love you, "Smokin' Joe" Frazier

overdue visit to the Granite State

Not much to report other than some fun rights & lefts, a typically super visit at Cinnamon Rainbows and an epic Burrito at Las Olas Taqueria (sorry I dodn't take a picture).


Special J photo: