Travelogues by People Who Aren’t Going Very Far

 Harbor report: Low tide this morning, the WNW wind driving the surface slush to the eastern shore, particularly in the little protected cove at the head (north end) of the harbor. The woman who has been taking pictures of geese every morning since early last spring could find no geese on the eastern shore, so she left early. The geese had all moved to the cove at the northwest end of the bay, keeping close to shore. Four ducks in a little bunch had been surrounded by the geese and harmony prevailed until the ducks came up with something worth eating, at which point a couple of geese extended their necks towards the ducks who shuffled off in a little group as the geese enjoyed the tidbits. Shameful. Temperature at 24 degrees, wind at about 5 miles per hour. Only one sailboat left on its mooring this winter (about a 20 foot daysailer) compared with five or six last winter. The homeless guy who had to be hospitalized last January from exposure due to living on a sailboat in the harbor was back this year. He’d spent the summer in the lee of Prudence Island a couple of miles south of here where one of the residents gave him an additional sailboat, so the flotilla he arrived in Bristol Harbor with this winter was up to three boats: Two sailboats and his outboard-powered Quahogging skiff. Alas, on Christmas Day the new boat sank and this time the Harbor Patrol (an elegant name for a rather muscular outboard-driven 25 foot boat) towed the two remaining boats to the town dock and told the guy he was going to have to winter over tied up to land. According to the Bristol Phoenix, this does not sit well with him as he prefers to “live on the water.”