hello and good buoy

I was going to regale you with the story of how I went to my store in the Catskills for the first time in a month and freaked out and hated it and what I did to make it better, but I left my camera there, and pictures are necessary, so you'll just have to wait for that. Instead you are stuck with me rhapsodizing over old wood. You may know that I like rusty metal, see here and here, but splintery wood is good too.

Check out these old lobster trap buoys. 

From New England, hand carved.

 Each one with its identification carved into it.

Primitive

Utilitarian

 Used by lobstermen for marking the location of their traps.

And if lobstering is a topic that interests you (and why wouldn't it?) I recommend Linda Greenlaw's The Lobster Chronicles. Greenlaw is the only woman swordfishing boat captain on the east coast of the U.S. If you read or saw A Perfect Storm she was the captain of the Hannah Boden.

So I took these babies to the Catskills, but decided that since most of my customers there divide their time between NY City and the mountains they (the buoys not the customers) will draw more interest in the Etsy shop. I'll probably price them for less than this. Sheesh. Of course, whatever price I set, someone will say sheesh to me. That's the way this business is--the Wild West, remember? 

Speaking of The Perfect Storm, I thought the movie was okay, but the book was great. I've read it twice. I love those real life adventure tales, like Into Thin Air and Endurance. Do you like that kind of book, and if so, do you have a favorite?

Jen