Rainy Day at the Wharf (LBE)

This past Saturday, I went to Chestertown, Maryland, hoping to go from there to the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to see an open house and airshow.

The weather Saturday wasn't cooperative for an airshow and most of the performances were cancelled - but on Sunday, the weather behaved. I took a lot of pictures and some videos on Sunday and I'll need some time sorting them out.

But Saturday certainly wasn't a wash out. No, indeedy it was not. I think these pictures will explain why I think so. It did rain, and rain hard, most of the morning - it was weather that perhaps only a duck would love.


But after all the rain we have gotten, I think even the ducks would like to see some dry land.


Snug as a bug inside the boat, I watched the rain fall on the tarps, dock, and against the windows - its regular drumming was relaxing - or it forced me to relax and put the feet up and wait for the weather to change. The tarps were neat - they would slowly fill with rainwater and whoosh, they would reach their limit and dump buckets of water, only to repeat this process over and over. It was sort of like watching a fire burn in a fireplace.


I took the time to make a pot of coffee and put in the Star Trek Nemesis DVD and watched it for the first time. While I'm not a "Trekkie", I do enjoy good writing and spectacular special effects. This movie has both - and it really made me sit and think for a bit. Yes, I hear you saying "Ut oh".

In the movie, the android called "Mr. Data", played by the marvelous actor Brent Spinner, plays a heroic role. He is what many a nerdy and geeky guy would aspire to be... strong, fast, able to decipher alien languages at a glance, read 10,000 pages in a minute and have total recall of them all. But he is a machine... A technological marvel, while not yet realized, mankind may eventually build such a machine.

I am a Mechanical Engineer by training and a Computer Scientist by education and experience. I once aspired to enter the field of robotics - but my life's journey didn't take me that way. I do not, however, like many of my professional peers, think "technology is the answer" and the potential savior of the human race (as it is in Nemesis) - but rather see technology as neither good nor bad - its what we, human beings, make of it and how we use or abuse it.

A simple case in point would be the airliner. An airliner is a technological marvel too, containing many complex systems and many gizmos and whatchamacallits that took a host of people many years to invent, perfect, and develop. An airliner can take a family to Disney World and in doing so, create magical family moments and wonderful memories that last a life time - if we, human beings choose to do so.

An airliner can also be turned into a dreadful weapon of destruction and flown into a building - killing uninvolved, innocent people in seconds, and creating agonizing family moments and horrible memories that last a life time. Its up to us, humans being... as to what we do with tecnology.

At any rate, Star Trek Nemesis ends with Commander Data performing "super human" acts of courage, fidelity, honor, and even what we would call love, all emotions an android that spent his "life" looking to become human would wish to have. Technology as a savior. I don't think so...perhaps in the year 2420 or whatever year it is supposed to be in the movie. I was however, profoundly moved by what humans could create - and this movie is a creation and a piece of film-maker's art.


Somewhat shaken by the raw intensity of the movie and noticing the rain had slacked off to a fine mist, I got to my feet and took a walk to both clear my head and to think through what I had just witnessed. I used to enjoy talking to someone close to me about the movie we had just seen - but on Saturday, it was just me and the ducks. It was time to stroll along the wharf.


The age-old wooden boats at the dock greeted me in their timeless fashion. Many a storm has battered the Thomas J's deck, a boat used to harvest oysters back in the 1950s. This boat would go out into the Chesapeake Bay and follow the Skipjacks (i.e., sailboats) that harvested the oysters and buy them from the watermen - saving them the time to take the trip back to shore. Hence it was called a "Buy Boat".

Moving away from the gray mist over the river and the wharf, I headed to the nearby Inn and the long driveway up the hill.


Surely the Tiger Lilies in bloom can chase away the gray skies and the misty gloom.


The brilliant blue water in the pool beckoned to me - and later that day I got into my suit and took a dip - but not just yet...I decided to walk up the road a bit and see the new trees growing at the tree farm.


The corn is eye-level...and so very green.


The winter wheat is pure gold. My eyes took in this vista and I regained a sense of balance.

Tomorrow some more of the walk. Or if you want, peek at my photostream on flickr.