Dangerous Waters

Maine Coastline Near Bar Harbor

Why is it that nearly all the old photos I'm digging up these days seem to fall under the heading of Dangerous Waters?

Was reminded of Bar Harbor, more specifically its many restaurants serving local lobster, by the "Attack of the Cannibal Lobsters" video making the rounds these days, about some of the effects of the lobster population boom off the Maine Coast.

The report conflates the economic misfortune visited upon the Maine lobster industry by the population boom, resulting most likely from over-fishing of the young lobster's natural predators, with the more serious threat to the lobster population of shell diseases, suspected to be fostered by rising water temperatures.

Lobster cannibalism is a natural corrective to over-population, just as lobstermen driven out of business by low lobster prices is a market corrective to those very same low prices. In neither case will my appetite for lobster suffer.

Shell disease, though, that is worrying. Unfortunately, the video report has little to say about it.

Best lobster I ever had, I had in Bar Harbor, pulling in late evening from a misconceived late-October New England car camping trip. (A oil-leaking, gas-leaking VW station wagon, its frame "flexible" with rust.) As I remember it, eating that lobster in Bar Harbor, saturated in butter, was the only time I was warm on that trip.

High Tide Breakfast, The Marine Room, La Jolla, CA

Everyone has shots of the waves crashing into the panoramic dining room windows at The Marine Room in La Jolla, CA. Happy and well fed, we thought we'd check out the alley view.... OK, OK! Here's the conventional view...

Another Silly Dog Attacking A Sprinkler

Ella fighting a sprinkler to a standstill at Robb Field, Ocean Beach, CA. Now, why she gets wary biting the water out of a hose, if a human is holding it, I don't know. It's not as if she's afraid of getting wet. Guess it's just a matter of maintaining her doggie dignity.

Tanzanite Under Water

I love jewelry... Tanzanite is my latest pet obsession. I replaced a generic five-solitaire diamond ring, sort of a wedding band, with this new bluish-purple marvel of a gem on a 14kt white gold ring. In the center of the ring is a gorgeous cushion-cut tanzanite stone. Surrounding the tanzanite stone are six round brilliant-cut diamonds and six straight baguette-cut diamonds.

Russian Women in America

In case you haven't guessed by now, some parts of Parts Are Edible are not exactly edible, at least not by human beings. Some are little more than bait for the digital beings that also roam this, our common virtual world. And so, I am constrained to tell all you bots out there that the top five "russian women" terms for Christmas 2004 were single russian women, beautiful russian women, dating russian women, unclothed russian women, sexy russian women. And they were closely followed by another five terms, further revealing the desperate folly of lonely men: russian women for marriage, hot russian women, undressed russian women, young russian women, meet russian women.

Wet Belated Valentine's Day Flower

Happy Belated Valentine's Day to one and all...if you think you deserve it. What did you expect from a "grumpy site"? Timeliness? Nonsense. Our motto is, as ever, Better late than never! Always seems to work for blooming flowers, so why not?

Margarita

Margarita at Dog Beach, Ocean Beach, CA. (aka San Diego) That's Co- patrolling Dog Beach with Margarita. Yes, the hyphen was a proper part of the dog's name, part of which was unpronounceable as with "the artist formerly known as Prince." "Co-" as in co-dependent. We didn't name him. Forrest did. Co- spent his first two years of life in AA meetings and cafes, mostly in Pacific Beach, before coming to stay with us in Ocean Beach. A master of hitting up humans, he achieved a kind of local doggie renown. Now missed by many.

The Great Flood

O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubartutu: Tear down the house and build a boat! Abandon wealth and seek living beings! Spurn possessions and keep alive living beings! Make all living beings go up into the boat. The boat which you are to build, its dimensions must measure equal to each other: its length must correspond to its width. The gods were frightened by the flood, and retreated, ascending to the heaven of Anu. The gods were cowering like dogs, crouching by the outer wall. -- The Great Flood of Gilgamesh