Letters to the Editor - Issue 119

The Pleasures of Awanadjo I look forward to each issue of your very special magazine, and I actually read every page in it for pleasure and enlightenment. The regular department “Awanadjo Almanack” is for me an especially fine mix of ruminations and illustrations. I miss the lovely sketch by Sam Manning of man and dog absorbing the grand view from their perch on Blue Hill that used to appear at the head of the first page of the column. Please bring it back! No Wonder Regarding “Long May They Run” (Winter 2012, MBH&H #117): The demise of the sardine fishery as we knew it was a foregone conclusion from the day Stinson planted the original sign! As any fisherman on the East Coast will tell you, a “Yellow Sou’wester” is Hard Luck. B&M Trounces Bush Just finished the wonderful article “The Musical Fruit: Favorite Baked Beans” in the Winter 2012 issue, MBH&H #117. We spent the month of October 2011 in a cabin we rented near Bar Harbor. While there, shopping was required, and during that we noticed B&M Baked Beans and decided to try the various types. We have always preferred Bush’s, that is, until we tried B&M Baked Beans. Now we are hooked on them. Our situation here is that we have been unable to find B&M beans in our stores, so ordering them has been our solution. Guess it’s all in the taste buds of the beholder. Since the author of your article has become, as he suggested, an “unpatriotic philistine,” we will counter that we are now “patriotic philistines” since we prefer B&M over Bush’s. Guess that balances us out. A Presto with a Pilothouse Great to see one of my most favorite magazines write a short piece about Presto 30s in the Boats of the Year issue (March 2012, MBH&H #118, p. 87). Builder Richard Ryder [Union River Boat Company/Ryder Boats] and designer Rodger Martin have truly provided a unique and excellent new product for us avid sailors. There is nothing like it available. My wife Dianna and I are the owners of Bobolink, the first pilothouse Presto 30, which will be launched as soon as winter passes and has been set up for some serious cruising. We feel that the pilothouse will enhance greatly the pleasure of spending time on the boat because of the additional physical comfort and surprising sense of spaciousness below. Credit Where It’s Due Thanks for publishing the photo and article about my Winslow, the Boatyard Dog® in the March 2012 issue, MBH&H #118. The photograph should have been credited to Lisa Bibko-Vanderhoop, a local photographer who offers a Seadogs Calendar of Martha’s Vineyard that features local and visiting dogs. For the Want of an Additional Digit... In our Boats of the Year profiles in the March 2012 issue, MBH&H #118, we listed the nearly 76-foot-long Isobel as having a beam of a mere 5 feet instead of 15. The boat is lean, but not that lean. Disagreement Regarding “The Prettiest Traffic Jam in Maine” in A Postcard in Time (May 2011 issue, MBH&H #114): Nobody stands in line for corn dogs. But Red’s has the best lobster rolls ever! I am only sorry that Peter Spectre didn’t choke on his fried clams. And the ones in Annapolis are pretty damn good too, so I guess I don’t agree with his comments on anything. I happen to own a business on Main Street in Wiscasset and do not appreciate his deprecations about our wonderful little town. Yes, there is a lot of traffic in the summer. It doesn’t last all that long. And it is worth the wait to have access to this whole stunning section of midcoast Maine. So maybe I can suggest that Mr. Spectre would do us all a favor if he stayed away and let the others through. Mr. Spectre points out that he always signs his own erudite observations.