Friday July 08, 2005

Over the holiday weekend my wife and I went sailing with our friends Jamie and Lori from Salem Harbor to Provincetown and back. I took these shots on the evening of the 4th as we approached our return to Salem Harbor.

As we approached the coast north of Boston we could see fireworks, both private and official, up and down the shore. As we moored the boat, we had front-row seats to the Marblehead, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Salem fireworks displays. Tough to say who scored highest marks as all were amazing. Salem perhaps had a slight edge since they were closest and because they did a rather nice encore after an already impressive finale. Sorry no photos--a floating boat isn't a great platform for long-exposure photography.

Meet George Bryant. George runs a bulletin board in Provincetown, Massachusetts at the very tip of Cape Cod. He posts interesting items he finds as well as items sent to him by friends and acquaintances who enjoy his postings.

George isn't a blogger. His bulletin board is on Commercial Street (right next to the Angel Food market) and he posts to his board with a stapler. He's been posting for about three years now.

What caught my eye as I passed was a set of letters written by Calamity Jane to her daughter, letters in her journal that her daughter only saw after her death. Fascinating reading, especially for an avid watcher of Deadwood, probably the best show on television.

As I spoke with George, it became apparent that he is as interesting as the material on his bulletin board. He had some funny stories to tell about the matriarch of a prominent Massachusetts family that is well-known in my town. At about the time I found out he'd been in the shipwreck of a wooden sloop two years ago on the Maine coast, an acquaintance of his stopped by and I moved on to catch up with the rest of my party.

Next time you are in Ptown, do check out George's board and if George is around I'm sure he'd be up for a chat.