Wooden Boat Show

So today, since it's vacation time for the Fellows and for my parents (and Rufus & Cathy!), we all went down to the Wooden Boat Show in Mystic Seaport. It was really cool.

There was an excellent combination of vendors who were selling things/showing off their projects as well as a great number of wooden boats themselves. It was a hot day, but not too bad and once we got water, it was fine. I chatted with a guy from Wooden Boat Rescue, which kind of struck me as hilarious. Seems like we rescue everything: dogs, cats, horses, wooden boats... Anyway, he was telling me about what different kinds of woods they used and why and how they restore a boat. But when I asked him if he thought that a boat that was 90% replacement wood was still the same boat as it was before, I realized that Deerfield has gotten too far into my head. Ahh! I spent a solid amount of time look at the different kinds of woods used and trying to identify them and reason out why they were being used there instead of a different kind of wood ... Oh, Material Culture Boot Camp! You have taken over my little brainsickle.

There were a ton of dogs out, too, which was wonderful. For anyone who has spent more than five minutes with me, you know how I am about greeting dogs that I pass. Or that pass me. Or that cross within a 50 foot radius of me. And since I don't currently have a dog of my own, mooching off other people's has become a priority. In fact, I know many of the dogs owned by people on "The Street" in Deerfield. I know their owners only as "Jake's woman" or "Samantha's guy." I keep wishing they would just leave their dogs with us for an afternoon or evening so we could get all our dog therapy done in one blow. But I digress!

Dad had a great time poking around, he ended up getting some books that are signed & remarked. Here's what I learned: when a book has been "remarked" by the illustrator, it means that he (or she) went through and rather than signing like the author does, drew a unique picture in the book for you. He (in this case) also signed at the bottom of the picture, but it's really nifty because each of Dad's books has this totally unique illustration in it that was done especially for him. They're maritime-y books, of course.

The wooden boats are beautiful: you can tell how much time, ingenuity, pride, and dedication go into the creation and maintenance of these things. I think the best part of the show was witnessing the love these crafts-folk have for what they do. Wooden boats are fine and all, but I don't really know that much about them. What makes the whole show so special is seeing all the passion the people there have for what they do.