July 21: West Quoddy Head, on the path to the Bog

Impression on the trail
where a grouse once bathed.
Spruce, moss keep secrets well.

July 20: Puffin Quest

Went Down East to join a bunch of birder friends on Andy Patterson's charter boat out of Cutler to Machias Seal Island, in search of a Tufted Puffin that has been seen there sporadically over the past few weeks.

What's the big deal? Well, the Tufted Puffin is a bird of the Pacific Ocean; only three or four have been observed in the Atlantic, ever. This one's been hanging out around this amazing seabird nesting island--a disputed US/Canadian territory--along with thousands of its alcid relatives: Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, and Common Murres.

Fourteen birds looking for one bird among thousands, but the seas were calm and skies clear, making it a perfect afternoon to linger offshore and scan for hours from the gently rocking boat. If the Tufted Puffin had been there, we'd have found it. And we had such an awesome time trying that we didn't mind that it wasn't there. As they often say, in the end it was all about the quest, all about the calm and beauty we found on the way.

Machias Seal Island Light

Atlantic Puffins and one Common Murre

Alcids offshore

A strange sea lullaby--
lapping of waves on island,
seabirds' mews and groans.

July 19: Doldrums

By six a.m.
even the singing vireo
is bored with his song.

July 18: Domestic dispute

Late night, back road,

woman blocking a stopped car--

we've all been there.

Posted with Blogsy

July 17: In the milkweed patch

Patch of milkweed--
bees also pause to enjoy
the fragrant beauty.

July 16: Grocery store

I say "thank you" twice

to the young grocery bagger,

but she won't look at me.

Posted with Blogsy

July 15: Night gulls in Portland

After the rainstorm

pale forms of gulls flit

above Longfellow Square.

 

Posted with Blogsy

July 14: Sailing in sun and fog

My friend Jacob took me out in his sailboat today, a J40 named Ex Libris. We sailed from Rockland Harbor out to the Fox Islands Thorofare between North Haven and Vinalhaven, and then back to her home mooring in Camden Harbor. The fog settled in by the time we'd sailed past the Rockland Breakwater. We sailed on through it out to the islands, where it was a perfect, sunny summer day, then back through the fog bank to reach home, where the sun was also shining.

Sailing through the fog, with only the radar to tell you where you are, there's a sense of existing very much in the present. No geographic borders seem to exist and space seems transient, shifting with the waves and wind. I was reminded (in both a literal and figurative way) of the classical Japanese Buddhist concept of "the floating world," which refers to the ephemerality of our dream-like material existence.

No horizon here,

just sea and fog--

our own floating world.

Fog bank and clouds above North Haven

Camden Hills

Boat in fog

Approaching Camden Harbor

Posted with Blogsy

July 13: Camden Harbor

Ospreys overhead
as we down our cocktails.
All's right with the world.

July 12: Moon-viewing from the beach

We've come here just for this:

full moon rising over bay,

bare feet in sand.

July 11: Moonrise

Rising full moon
hasn't yet scaled
the oak trees next door.