Day 32: Hooked on birding?

No, not really hooked; but we did go to the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge east of Dover.

We have become, perhaps, a little more appreciative of bird watching during our stay here in what must be one of the best bird-watching areas in the country.

Bombay Hook is basically a huge wetland, much of it salt marshes, and it is managed to provide habitat for the hundreds of thousands of birds that migrate up and down the east coast every year.

We saw a bald eagle, numerous herons, the ever-present red-wing black bird and – our personal favorite – the semipalmated sandpiper (we just like the name).

On the way home we stopped off at the Fordham Brewery in Dover and got a personal tour from Jim, one of the owners. And I do mean personal, opening boxes to smell various hops, looking inside the freshly-cleaned kettles, etc.

The interesting thing about Fordham is that it started as the Ram’s Head brewpub in Annapolis, a favorite hangout for many Johnnies. Jim our tour guide still lives in Annapolis.

It seems like a very nice, efficient operation and the beer was quite tasty. 

The photo below is "Hop2D2" the device they have fabricated from available materials to add hops flavor to the beer.

A few weeks ago we drove past an auto repair shop and Betsy noted the oddity that there was a funnel cake stand in the parking lot.

The stand was closed and it was one of those portable types that can be pulled on a trailer so I opined that it was probably just parked there. Surely they were not selling funnel cakes at this location.

Guess I was wrong.

This was our last full day in Lewes and it rained off and on and then really poured after we got home. It was the most rain we have had since we’ve been here.

This weekend we are going to New York City to visit an old high school friend and go to the Yankees game on Sunday. We will come back to Lewes on Sunday to pick up the bicycles and other stuff we don’t want to leave in the truck parked on the street. We will depart Monday for home; via baseball games in Cleveland and Detroit. We should be home by Memorial Day.

Because we will be on the road my postings from here on out may be sporadic.

Day 31: Sweden attacks, Lewes Navy responds

When we looked out in the bay and saw the Kalmar Nyckle under full sail we took matters into our own hands; renting some kayaks and going out to sea to repel the invasion.

We also found time to stop on an isolated section of beach to look at an old shipwreck and save the lives of several horseshoe crabs (the Delaware State Marine Animal). These odd creatures come in on the high tide to lay their eggs in the sand and, as the tide goes out, some of them get turned upside down far from the water and unable to right themselves.

We went along and righted/"saved" a dozen or more. As you can see in the photos and the video, the crabs took a slow and sometimes circuitous route back to the sea.

We also found time to start packing (yes, we have to leave on Saturday morning) and enjoyed another awesome sunset.

Note: That is our condo in the background. The second floor porch on the far left is ours.

In addition to fending off the Swedes Betsy also took time to scare off a ferry full of New Jerseyians.

Apparently until a storm four years ago this 19th century shipwreck was in one piece.

All things considered, it has held up pretty well.

A grateful, righted Horseshoe Crab makes its way back to the sea.

After this u-turn.

Day 30: Straddling the transpeninsular line

Another forecast of almost certain rain produced a few drops and turned into a stellar, sunny afternoon.

We re-traced some steps from a previous trip to Fenwick Island on the extreme southeast corner of Delaware to look at a lighthouse we had driven close to on a previous trip but had not seen.

The lighthouse is in Delaware, but only by a few feet. It fronts on a street that is in Maryland and sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood that includes the two former lightkeepers' houses that are now private residences.

In front of the lighthouse is one of the original markers used to delineate the Delaware-Maryland border; with the seal of the Penn family on the Delaware side and the Calvert family on the Maryland side (photo shows the Calvert side).

From there we drove due west to the town of Delmar, which is home to the Evolution brewery, makers of some very fine beers. The seal on the city truck in the brewery parking lot tells you everything you need to know about Delmar.

It was a beautiful drive home, partially along the Mason-Dixon line, where a beautiful sunset awaited.

Before we left for the trip I jogged to the state park and Betsy biked there. Along the way Betsy was able to snap this photo of one of the animals in the park as it raced past me while I was jogging.

 

  

Note: I have posted the text of the SJC commencement address on a separate page which can be found at the top of the blog and accessed by mouse click.

Day 29: Touring the first town in the first state

We finally got around to visiting some of the museums and historic sites that are right under our noses here in Lewes.

I’ve mentioned some of this in earlier posts but Lewes was “discovered” in 1609 by Henry Hudson (there were, of course, native people who had been living here for centuries). Hudson was looking for a northwest passage to the Pacific ocean and was probably a little miffed when the promising Delaware Bay turned out to be the Delaware River, and New York harbor turned into the Hudson River.

Although he did not find what he was looking for, Hudson claimed the area for the Netherlands (Hudson was English but was employed by the Dutch) and called the two places north bay and south bay.

A year later an Englishman by the name of Samuel Argall sailed into the "south bay" and he named the cape here in honor of the governor of Virginia at the time, Lord de la Ware. The cape was eventually renamed Henlopen, after a place in the Netherlands, but the name Delaware stuck and was eventually applied to the larger area that included the bay, the river and, ultimately, the state.

Hudson supposedly suggested the spot in the south bay that is now Lewes might be a good place for a whaling station and, in 1631, two or three dozen guys showed up to start one; calling the place Zwanendael in the Walvis. Zwanendael means valley of the swan and Walvis means whale (and it was also the name of the the ship that brought them across the Atlantic).

When a supply ship showed up a year later all of the guys were dead, apparently the result of a “cultural misunderstanding” with the locals. There are lots of theories about the nature of this “cultural misunderstanding” but the one that makes the most sense to me is that the Dutch boys got a little too friendly with some of the native women, and the native men exacted a harsh punishment.

Such has been the downfall of many.

In 1638 the Swedes settled in what is now Wilmington and that community flourished to a much greater extent than did Zwanendael.

For the next 40 years or so there was back and forth bickering among the Dutch and the Swedes and Lord Baltimore over in Maryland but that was pretty much settled when William Penn arrived in 1682 and renamed the place Lewes, declaring it to be the seat of the new Sussex County, one of Pennsylvania’s three “lower counties of the Delaware.”

The three counties gradually but steadily grew away from Pennsylvania and into self-governance, eventually becoming a separate colony just a month before the revolution.

This story is told in the Zwaanendael Museum (pictured below) which was built in 1931, the 300^th anniversary of the founding of the settlement by the horny whalers. The building is modeled after the town hall in Hoorn, the Netherlands.

The Presbyterian Church is just down the street from the museum and I’ve posted a photo of the church (below) to show what I have described in earlier posts as the propensity for churches in Delaware to be surrounded by cemeteries.

The next photo (below) is the Episcopal Church in “downtown Lewes”. This building was built in 1854 but it is the third church building on the site as it evolved from the Church of England into Trinity Episcopal Church.

In addition to (of course) a cemetery, the grounds of the church include a meditative labyrinth and you can see in the photo below that I am "getting my zen on" as I prepare to enter the labyrinth.

In the 19^th century the construction of the two breakwaters and the two lighthouses (that I have described in previous posts) helped Lewes become an important harbor for fishing vessels and for the pilots that, to this day, travel out from here to board ships near the mouth of the bay to guide them through the tricky waters as the bay narrows to a river in Wilmington and, eventually, Philadelphia. The photo below is the "lightship" Overfalls, literally a portable lighthouse. Lightships were used in the 19th and early 20th century. Built in 1938, the Overfalls is one of the last lightships constructed in the U.S.

Obviously, the folks here in Lewes are quite proud of their lighthouse/ship history.

In the 20^th century it is important to note that, as Rehoboth Beach and Cape May were developing as tourist spots, Lewes was primarily a working-class town centered on fishing for a type of fish known as Menhaden. Menhaden were netted in great quantities and processed for their oil. By the mid-20th century most of the people that lived in Lewes were linked in some way to the Menhaden fishing industry.

A major transition took place in the mid-1960s when the Menhaden declined sharply. Fortuitously, both the Cape May ferry and the state park opened in 1964 and a branch of the University of Delaware that is devoted to marine sciences opened in 1970. Now the town caters primarily to tourism and sport fishing, attracting well-to-do retirees and getting a nice boost from the university.

Although there was supposedly a 100 percent chance of rain today only a few sprinkles fell and we spent most of the afternoon walking around downtown, visiting the many historic sites. The threat of rain may have kept the workers away and it was a blissfully quiet morning.

Day 28: 402 years later; Henry Hudson returns?

I was jogging by the ferry landing, returning from Cape Henlopen State Park, when I was stopped dead in my tracks by a strange sight.

Moored over at the dock was one of those three-masted ships; you know, the kind where you expect to see Johnny Depp at the helm.

The first thought that came to my mind was that Henry Hudson, who sailed into this very harbor in 1609 in a vain quest to find the non-existent northwest passage, had somehow worked out a deal with the powers that be so that he could return to earth and resume his quest for the passage, now that global warming is on the verge of creating a real northwest passage.

Quickly, I came to my senses.

“That’s crazy,” I said to myself. “There’s no such thing as global warming. If there was, Congress would be doing something about it.”

Based on this reasoning alone, I completely dismissed the idea that Hudson had been reincarnated and sailed the ship into Delaware Bay and docked it here in Lewes. With that possibility discounted, I went over to the dock to further investigate the odd-looking ship.

It turned out to be a replica of the Kalmar Nyckel, the Swedish ship that came to Delaware in 1638 with the colonists that founded what is now Wilmington (and later built what is now called Old Swedes Church).

The first Kalmar Nyckel made four crossings of the Atlantic. Today, for $60 bucks, a person can sail out into Delaware Bay on the replica for two-and-half-hours.

Spotting the ship and returning later with Betsy for a closer look and some photos was pretty much the highlight of the day, along with hearing Mrs. Osprey squawk and move around some in the nest as I watched on Osprey Cam.

Days 26 & 27: Graduation Weekend

“To the senior man and woman, who, through participation, leadership and sportsmanship, have contributed most to the SJC athletic program, a special blazer.”

Quoted from the program for the 2011 St. John’s College Commencement Exercises

In the photo above SJC Athletic Director (and 2011 commencement speaker) Leo Pickens assists 2011 award recipient Clayton Read Pasley into his "special blazer".

With two parents, two uncles, an aunt and a girlfriend looking on, Tex graduated from St. John’s College Sunday morning, the 219^th commencement in the College's 315^th year.

It was quite a day and quite a weekend.

Soon after we arrived in Annapolis we attended what Tex had described as a “little get together” put on by his recently-engaged housemates/landlords/fellow Johnnies; Kelsey Gilmore and Matthew Gore.

It turned out to be not a little get together but a full-fledged party, with a full layout of cheeses, shrimp, burgers on the grill, beer, wine, espresso and – get this – party favors. That was a very nice way to get the day started. Thank you Kelsey and Matt!

After checking in to the hotel and getting the vehicle parked (not as easy as it sounds) we met my brother Chet and his wife Sue, who traveled from New Hampshire, on the campus and the four of us along with Tex’s girlfriend Laurel Fischer (SJC, Class of 2010) attended an annual graduation weekend event known as “Class Day”.

In essence Class Day is a talent show and I want to put a lot of emphasis on the word talent. For more than two hours a dozen or so members of the SJC senior class treated a bladder-challenged audience of parents, grandparents, siblings and assorted others to a potpourri of music by combinations of voice, piano, guitar, violin and accordion. Poetry was read and a section of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was (hilariously) performed.

Adding to the aura the event took place in the “Great Hall” of McDowell Hall, a building originally intended to be the colonial governor’s mansion when it was constructed in 1742.

You can read more about this grand building and its award-winning restoration in 1989 at this website http://www.bohlarchitects.com/McDowell_H/mcdowell.htm.

I am certainly not one to judge talent in areas such as Bach’s “Chaconne” on violin, or a piano piece by Schubert, but for whatever it may be worth I was very impressed with the talent these kids – er, young men and women - displayed.

Perhaps the most unusual performance – and I know readers may find this difficult to believe – involved Tex and two of his good friends, John Vining and Blake Myers. Now I am sure that most readers would have thought that, with the college president looking on from the audience, my son would be drawing the bow across the strings of violin, tinkling the keys of a piano, or perhaps singing a duet or reading a classic poem.

Nope, none of that stuffiness. Instead, Tex displayed his skills as a bartender.

John read the preface to, and Blake read the text of, what I would call a cross between a recipe for, and a romantic essay about, the mint julep.

(Note: I have posted this “recipe/essay” on a separate page on this blog. You can access it by going to the top of the main page of the blog where you will see headers titled “About the Blue Hen” “Tex’s Senior Essay” etc. On the far right of this list of separate pages is one titled “The Mint Julep”. If you take the pointer on your cursor and place it over the page tab and click once on that tab with the left clicker on your mouse it will take you to that page and you can read Soule Smith’s ode to the mint julep. To get back to the main page - i.e. the blog - click on home.)

As John read the preface Tex was at the back of the stage at a table setting up the various items that are needed to make a mint julep. Then, as Blake read the recipe/essay, Tex performed each of the tasks that were being described in the "ode". When Blake was finished reading, Tex had three mint juleps were ready for drinking.

The three of them then toasted one another and left the stage.

One of the inside jokes, which I did not realize until told later, was that Tex used the head of broken croquet mallet to pound the ice cubes into crushed ice (if you don't get that joke you have not been reading the blog).

I think it is fair to say that, among the many talents on display at Class Day, the performance by Tex, John and Blake stood out.

After Class Day we went to a reception, then to the patio of our hotel for a beer and some cigars and then to a restaurant where we were joined by John Vining and his family.

That was it for Saturday; at least as far as Chet, Sue, Betsy and Dave were concerned.

Sunday morning Betsy and I met her brother Rob for breakfast at Chick and Ruth’s, a famous Annapolis eatery, and then walked over to the campus.

The graduation was scheduled to be held on the front lawn of the campus (primarily, I think, so that there would be enough seating for everyone that wanted to attend). However, rain was forecast and skies threatened and the ceremony was moved indoors to the Francis Scott Key (SJC, Class of 1796) Auditorium. Each graduate got eight tickets apiece and, because there were exactly eight of us, the move inside was good even though it did not rain. I say good because it was warm and muggy outside and the seats in the auditorium were much more comfortable than the folding chairs would have been out on the lawn. The overflow watched from an adjacent room, via video.

After remarks from President Nelson and the singing of a well-known song written by 1796 SJC graduate F. S. Key, the awards were distributed. Just to give you a bit of the flavor of SJC, the best senior essay was titled "An Investigation into the Supposed Conflict Between Non-Eclidian Geometry and the Doctrine of the Transcendental Ideality of Space". 

The commencement address was delivered by the school’s Athletic Director Leo Pickens, a 1978 graduate of the college. Tex was a member of the speaker selection committee and a strong advocate for Mr. Pickens' selection as the speaker.

Now, to many (admittedly, myself included), this would seem like an odd choice – a very mundane choice – for such an august occasion. With the exception of crew, St. John’s does not have any intercollegiate teams. Thus, Mr. Pickens is essentially the school’s intramural director. Not the kind of resume most folks would normally associate with a commencement speaker.

But most folks don’t understand St. John’s College. SJC is an inwardly focused institution that could care less about having someone with a high profile from the outside world come in to tell graduates about how to apply their college experience "in the real world".

St. John's isn't trying to mold students to fit into a particular niche, it is trying to prepare them to lead a life well-lived.

I am not going to spend a lot of time in this post trying to explain what SJC is about because I have already done that to some extent in the page with the heading “About SJC” and I am also providing a link to an article about President Nelson and the college that appeared on the front page of the metro section of Saturday’s Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/at-st-johns-a-defender-of-liberal-arts/2011/05/11/AFMhWz2G_story.html

My take -way line from Mr. Pickens excellent address to the students was an advisory for them to “grow a big pair of ...(pause)... ears.”

In other words, focus on listening; both to yourself and to those around you. That was just one segment of his message but in a world that seems to have become increasingly shrill, an ever-narrowing cacophony of talkers, it just might be that those with the ability to listen and discern will be in great demand.

I am hopeful that Mr. Pickens' address will be posted soon so that I can copy it and post it on a page of this blog.

After the commencement there were the obligatory photos and champagne reception.

The seven of us went from the reception to a nearby restaurant for an excellent brunch. Rob then left for Atlanta and Tex and Laurel went off to begin the rest of their lives.

Chet, Sue, Betsy and I strolled around the Naval Academy grounds and downtown Annapolis.

By 8 p.m. we were back in Lewes, ready (or not) for our next chapter.