Outdoor Activities for Blue Water Land

The annual Floatdown on the US side is always fun to watch. They closed the river at 1 pm for this drunken dunkin'.






The second annual Artzcape showcases regional artists at Centennial Park on the waterfront.





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The Races

Click to enlarge my "Artsy" pic for today

For a nominal fee we were allowed to sit in comfort with drinks and a WC aboard the Duc D'Orleans II. An uncrowded front row vantage point.

Brad brought two "big guns", his Nikon cameras, for some great shots.

Brad's camera Nikon D300

 The Nikons do take good pictures!

Brad's camera Nikon D300

On display downtown, was "Miss Supertest III" proudly featured amid other displays and entertainment along Front Street in Sarnia. CLICK HERE to read about her.

Jim Thompson was the designer of the vintage racer "Miss Supertest III"
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A Classic 53 Foot Hatteras Tempts Me

For over ten  years, Wendy and I have admired a beautiful, older 53 foot Hatteras parked at the River Street Marina over in Port Huron.  This week we noticed if was For Sale.

As luck would have it we arrived just in time to see the owner moving the craft from the fuel dock to it's normal mooring along the Seawall. Helping on board was our condo neighbor and good friend Dave McPhail, who owns an on-line boat listing company named Boatcan.com. 

Dave McPhail of Boatcan got us a tour of the Hatt.

Dave obligingly got us a tour of this magnificent ship.  We were thrilled when Tom Jones,  the owner,  waved  us over and asked if we'd like  to board. Tom spent over an hour with us.  He  proudly detailed every part of the  vessel  and showed us how he meticulously restored the boat after a fire on board while in lay up a few years ago.

Here's the listing for this classic treasure:
http://boatcan.com/boats/hatteras-53-motor-yacht-cruiser

Tempting eh!

The powerboats arrived in Port Huron for the race tomorrow.

The racing boats are really works of art. Living sculptures with thousands of horsepower, waiting patiently for tomorrow, the big day.

We had a waterfront lunch at "the Athletic Club" http://www.trioporthuron.com/Menu.html on the Black River before driving down to Marine City where we caught the car ferry back to Canada.

All the way down the river there were cars haphazardly parked on the roadside and dozens of garage sales.  This weekend is the huge 125 mile long Michigan garage sale.

A busy day. Lots to see.
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Brad and Denise (Wendy's brother and his wife) arrived on Friday around 1 PM after driving down from Richmond Hill near Toronto.  There was lots going on this weekend so finding things to do was easy. In Michigan the Antique and Garage Sale Trail was on for the weekend and the Powerboat Races were scheduled for Sunday.

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Sinking Two Barges and an Excavator

A tug towing 2 barges containing piles of gravel and cement blocks ran into difficulty this week.  I don't know why, but  I coincidentally snapped this picture last week of the tug and one of the barges, showing the  excavator on board. Apparently the load shifted  on one of the barges as they made their way up the river, under the Blue Water Bridge. Realizing the extreme danger the captain turned back and made for the Winter Harbor (North Slip) where both barges sank in 26' feet of water at the dock.

A huge crane was used to remove the excavator but it was unable to lift the barges.

Watching the salvage operation from the dinghy provided some good  entertainment.   A few days after the big crane left, Wendy's brother Brad watches from the dinghy as and two large highway tow trucks with the help of a diver finally managed to maneuver the first barge to the shore.

Luckily they didn't sink in the river or recovery would have been way more difficult and expensive.
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Silly Doves.

Click pic to enlarge.

Mourning Doves love it here at our condo. They are attracted just as we are by the beautiful gardens in the courtyard. Recently a pair have set up house in the artificial flowers of a wall ornament at the entrance to W40 next door to us. As birds go, doves seem to be a little dumb. Can you see the dove in the picture?    Does she realize the silk flowers foliage around her nest are artificial? Does she even care?
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Trish and Greg Visit for an Artsy Affair.

Today, Wendy's life long friend Tricia and her significant other, Greg came down for a visit.  We crossed the border and drove up to Lexington and the annual outdoor arts festival.

The little town was abuzz with activity as we meandered from booth to booth along the town's main drag.  Lunch at Steis's restaurant included at delicious deluxe pizza ($16) and three large but lights ($2.25 ea) so even with the tip we were under $30.00 for the four of us.

Wendy's favorite house, in Lexington, MI.

Next we continued up the highway to the next seaside village of Port Sanilac since I had read there was an antique boat show on this weekend.

We enjoyed touring around this little village although the boat show was obviously over. Only one old Chris left to view.

A quick stop at T.J. Maxx/Harbor Freight and it was back to Canada and our condo where we were greeted by and Erin and Jake who had drove down from Strathroy to visit.

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Louise Brooks 1926

Just for fun!  An Art Deco look back to the Roaring Twenties. Louise Brooks was the silent film actress that popularized the stylish bobbed haircut of the twenties.

Below is the original photo and here's a read about the star of the silver screen. CLICK HERE.

Louise Brooks c.1926

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What? Another Coke Poster?

These stunning starlets of the silent silver screen around the turn of the last century really fascinate me. I guess it's because it's hard to imagine someone born in 1893 could look so beautiful. Maybe creating a Coke poster gives the whole exercise some sort of purpose in my mind. Read about Lilian, CLICK HERE.

And here's the original shot of Lilian Gish.  Beautiful eh?


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A New Coke Poster

Here's a new Coke poster featuring the beautiful silent screen siren Evelyn Brent.
Check out my other Coke Posters, CLICK HERE.

This is the original black and white card.


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Bird On Board 2011

This is a picture I did 3 years ago and never posted. It shows a mourning dove nesting on the bridge of the Phoenix (destroyed by fire Dec. 20, 2012). The balcony of condo unit W22 is in the background left.
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More "Ship Art"

Click the pic to enjoy the Ship Art.

We snapped a picture of the CSL freighter "Thunder Bay" full speed ahead near the casino on the St. Clair River.