Fish, chips, and ships

[forest_choir]

I had a really, really good weekend.
Friday, I left early so I could stop to photograph a field near my parents' house.
Early morning, not quite as misty as the day before, but rather nice.

Also, my coworker had brought me a gorgeous little bouquet from her own garden. (We trade bouquets back and forth all year.)

Pink is probably my least favourite colour, but I don't mind in flowers. In this bunch were primroses, pink and yellow columbine, Banshee roses, and one large peony. I also received a shipment of new roses. They look like three little sticks with leaves, but in a few years, they'll be full-sized shrubs. One is purple-flowered, the other two have spotted flowers.
I can't wait to see them bloom.
In the evening, Stormy and I watched a thunderstorm blow in.

One of these days, I'm going to have the foresight to haul myself down to the river before I see the wall cloud on the horizon.
I'd love to photograph one over the water someday.

Saturday morning, we picked up enemyfrigateand headed north.  On our way to lunch, we spotted the restaurant's van and started to get excited.

After fish, chips, and toffee pudding, we soaked our feet in the (COLD!) ocean, then photographed gardens on our way back to the car.
  

 
We drove still further north to Lewes, Delaware.  We were waylaid by nearly everything in this quaint town.  We visited the grounds of St. Peter's church and the beautiful labyrinth there. 
We also visited the graves in the churchyard, many of them those of sea captains.  The oldest resident of this cemetery is Mrs. Margret Huling, born in 1631.

Eventually, we headed to the main attraction:  the replicas of Columbus's Niña and Pinta, which were visiting the port for weekend tours. 
 
As we toured both ships and chatted with the crew, we realised a terrifying thought:  the ships had no footholds in their standing rigging...no way to climb the masts, no way to get to the yards.  We took many pictures of the rigging detail and generally shipgeeked out.

We also got to watch one young crewmember learn to tie a sailors' knot.
Thanks for coming with us, enemyfrigate. 
Next stop: Constellation. 

On Sunday, Stormy and I stayed close to home.  We watched Doctor Who and had an early lunch.    In the afternoon, we went down to the river just long enough to check that the water was warm, dashed back for our swimsuits, then headed back for a leisurely swim.  
This evening, I potted up the new roses while listening to the tree frogs.

I need more weekends like this.

Comments

[standing-oak.livejournal.com]

Goodness, I had never seen replicas of those ships before. Are those to scale? They're so tiny! I'd always been under the impression that they were at least twice that size.

Sounds like a great weekend. I don't have anything that cool to see around here. n.n;

[enemyfrigate.livejournal.com]

They are exactly to scale. They're *adorable*.

Those ships travel, btw. Watch a port near you.

It was a really good day. Perhaps I'll post some of the pics I got myself.

[standing-oak.livejournal.com]

Well, unless they come up the Mississippi river I have little chance of getting to see them.(sad) They're still little. I can only imagine what it must have been like to cross the Atlantic in those.

[forest-choir.livejournal.com]

Just seeing how close these ships were to the waterline was enough to rattle me. I can imagine all too well what it would be like on one in rough weather. In 2005, the Pride of Baltimore II, a reproduction 1812-era Baltimore Clipper privateer, was dis-masted off the coast of France.

It's a very dangerous business.

[forest-choir.livejournal.com]

They are *quite* tiny and very cool.
The Niña's crew averages 6-7 people.
The ships' website is http://www.thenina.com/ .
We honestly thought enemyfrigate was going to sign on as crew right then and there.