4.25- Tai Chi at Lou-Mac Park

Tai Chi in Lou-Mac Park, Oriental, NC, on the banks of the River Neuse

Found these folks this morning doing some peaceful exercise at the beginning of what proved to be a beautiful day.

Later on (about 6:00 this evening) I went sailing in the 10' Bauer Classic dinghy... I sailed upwind out of Raccoon Creek, then up into Smith's Creek, then out back under the briodge, into the River Neuse


I reached Oriental Marker No. 1 in the Neuse, then tacked onto a course towards Oriental No. 3...

On the way back towards the harbor and Raccoon Creek I was able to set long tacks on beam- and close-reaches towards Pecan Grove, then run wing-and-wing ROARING (3.8 knots?) into Oriental Harbor, then jibe through the four or five anchored sailboats, while avoiding running over kayakers and being run over by larger sports-fisher power-boats coming in and out of Raccoon Creek/Oriental Harbor.

I passed downwind of the OYC berth and buzzed Town Dock with an almost-but-not-quite-too-late jibe, then patiently tacked back up into "the teeth of the wind," as they say, back to the OYC finger-pier...

I can definitely confirm my respectful comments about the Capt. and crew of "Red Baron" in my prior posting. I had a great time mimicking their maneuvers, but can't say my efforts were quite so tight as "Red Baron."

... Now I have been reading a bit on-line about the philosophy of Tai-Chi related arts, I was struck by the parallelism of some of the core beliefs with my personal experiences on my short sailing journey today...

... yin-yang ... movement leads to tranquility... tranquility leads to movement, etc... water, fire, wood, metal and earth result, then become diffused ... Creating Harmony...

OR, AS WE SAY AROUND HERE: "ANY DAY ON THE WATER..."

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12.12- Spirit of Christmas Boat Parade

A sailboat decorated with lighted forestay and backstay follows a lighted power boat in the Spirit of Christmas nighttime Boat Parade

(Click on image or here for full size)

After sunset today, a fleet of lighted and decorated boats paraded from Whittaker Creek to Oriental Marker No. 3 and back, as spectators watched from Lou-Mac Park and the South Avenue waterfront.

It was a bit difficult to capture the boats on camera as they passed about a half-mile away out in the Neuse River, but I like how the above time exposure shot shows the motion of the boat in the squiggly trails left by each of its many lights hanging along the forestay and backstay(check out the full size version to see the squigglies) They remind me of a seismograph output, or the medical monitors on the hibernation pods in "2001 Space Odyssey."

I have for the past few days been indulging in not quite sticking to the "Photo" (singular) part of the "City Daily Photo" concept, and I was tempted to do so again today...

But I must really stop that: that is why I have another blogsite, after all.

So, you can see more photos of tonight's Boat Parade, decorated boats, caroling crowd, and lighting of the "Spirit of Christmas Star" at my other blog, "The Dinghy Dock.""

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11.19- Snow flurries

A cloud moving out over the Neuse River drops snow near Smiths Creek and Oriental Harbor

Early snow in Oriental! As predicted, snow flurries moved through the area today. Each flurry was very brief, but I experienced three or four separate flurries during the day.

It really is snow, and not rain! In the picture below, the small white dots are snowflakes being lit up by the camera flash:

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10.15- Great Blue Heron at sunset

A Great Blue Heron comes in for a landing on the Lou-Mac Park Fishing Pier as the sun sets and the Hunter's Moon prepares to rise.

I had planned on bringing you Part Two of "Endurance," a feature essay about Capt. Bruno (see prior post, below), today, but I have a bit more work to do on that one, so it's not quite ready yet.

Instead I am posting a picture I caught today - a Great Blue Heron that was hanging out on the Lou-Mac Fishing Pier.

The bird was very stoically and majestically perched on the pier when I arrived on the scene riding my bike down South Ave., so I pulled over at a discrete distance and pulled out the little Kodak.

I had taken a couple of OK pictures of him standing straight and tall on the pier, silhouetted against the southern sunset sky, but was still waiting for the perfect pose when a couple came walking past the pier with their dog, and my Heron flew away (most birds, even the intrepid seagulls, flee their roosts at the sight of even the smallest of dogs in the vicinity).

As I reviewed the few pics I had already taken, all of which were out of focus or badly exposed, I cursed the little dog and its' humans for disturbing my photo shoot...

I resigned myself to the missed shot, and sat down to read my current book ("The Rescue," Joseph Conrad) as the sunlight continued to fade... After a few paragraphs, I caught the Heron in the corner of my eye circling the pier, and grabbed the Kodak just in time for this landing.

Sorry little dog and humans for my hasty curses... I already have plenty of pictures of Herons standing up straight and tall, and thanks to y'all I caught this action shot! Thanks little dog.

"Endurance," the Capt. Bruno essay (see prior post, below) will continue... It should be up tomorrow, but I'm not yet sure, since I normally post my "Skywatch Friday" entry on Thursday afternoons (go figure)... but my planned SWF posting is related to Capt. Bruno, so I may continue the story tomorrow... If not, it will be on Friday... TUNE IN TO FIND OUT!

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8.26- Mink on the breakwater

A mink (neovison vison) runs across the breakwater rip-rap.

This is one of the two young minks who regularly hunt for crabs and other meals in the breakwater along the South Avenue waterfront (next to Lou-Mac Park) here in Oriental.

The minks patrol this breakwater several times a day... they usually crawl under the rocks as much as possible, but occasionally must break out into the open to get where they need to go. When they know someone is watching, they won't sit still in the open, but will zip from one hidey-hole at full speed.

I know I have featured the "Lou-Mac Minks" before (see post of 7.16.08), but they are just too darn cute. I can't swear I won't feature them again in the future.

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See more daily photos from cities around the world at:

7.16- Neovison Vison (American Mink)

Here is one of two mink "kits" that hunt along the South Avenue breakwater... Actually, they are weened (saw one carrying a shore crab away to munch on), so I'm not sure they are "kits" anymore... juveniles anyway.

I used to see their momma last fall and over the winter, crawling among the rip-rap breakwater along the South Avenue waterfront near Lou-Mac park, which is where I shot these pictures today. The past few days I noticed what I thought was a single mink, guessing it was a youngster, so I took the camera today... I first realized there were two of them when they briefly left the rip-rap and ran about 20 feet down South Avenue before ducking back into the rocks.

Sometime soon I'll post some pictures of their momma that I took over the winter.

These two are noticeably smaller than momma, and they travel together hunting for edibles in the rip-rap, where there are plenty of crab, minnows, and bait dropped by fishers.

Adult mink are solitary animals, while the young will live together with momma for their first spring and summer and into the fall before going out on their own.

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6.30- Fresh Croaker

This is a "Croaker"(Micropogonias undulatus), the namesake for Oriental's annual summer festival, "Croakerfest," held the first weekend in July. A Croaker effigy is also dropped from a sailboat mast at midnight New Year's Eve after the Running of the Dragon.

This fish was caught today from the new fishing pier at Lou-Mac Park in Oriental. The white specks out on the river (above hand) are commercial trawlers shrimping on Garbacon Shoal, across the Neuse River from Oriental.

Despite its' importance to Oriental Holidays, few locals eat croaker, complaining that it is too oily and bony, and its' large head means little edible flesh. The fisher who caught this one told me he eats them all the time.

Croaker get they're name from the fact that they make a loud croaking noise (a bit like the purring of a 20 pound house-cat), which this one was doing with abandon. They create the sound by beating abdominal muscles against their swim bladder.

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