johnny_knapp

High & Dry.

It’s interesting with islands, nothing really leaves unless it has to. Hayley running.

I’d say over the last few years, maybe a pandemic coping mechanism cum wellness industry explosion, I have gotten into plunging into cold water during the winter months. I have never done an ice bath, but rather enjoy sitting in the bay or ocean for brief stints. I find it to be nature’s version of Ctrl-Alt-Delete. A system reboot. The water in Penobscot Bay in the summer does not ever get really warm. Even in August here it was quite cold. Every morning, sun piercing the horizon, I would do a few cycles in the bay to start the day. Up and at ‘em.

Whoever’s pickup truck has the most guys in the back with the most Coors Light is the law of the island. That’s the way it was framed to us when asked if there was any police on the island or how things were settled. The guys who I presumed would be this “law” or lack thereof also doubled as the suppliers for our lobster. When we first went down to the docks to inquire about getting a few bugs for dinner, it was 4:30pm and all work was done and beers were cracked. Nobody was moving out of their seat. They did however promise a delivery the next day to our doorstep of fresh caught lobsters. No house number was given, just “the blue house on the point” which was more descriptive than we probably needed to give. If I was a betting man, I’d say they clearly already knew where we were staying as city slicker types probably do not blend in that well no matter how hard we tried.

I recently cleaned up my website, took down a bunch of crap, and refreshed it with material that I feel is more reflective of where I’m at and where I want to go. I chose this image for the homepage. There’s something about it in the way these large windows framed up a portal to the outside world. What a great architectural decision to make the east facing wall incorporate three large windows making it as if you’re floating on the water. The sun rising each morning was piercing almost uncomfortable. There was no hiding from it. Suns up, you’re up. Landing on the site this image is a place I want to be physically and mentally. Letting the light in, and preferably surrounded by the sea. Anyway, link in bio for the site refresh. There is a new piece added to it which is in the new @primitiveskills issue#5 which I worked on with @thegoldenwestservice. More to come on that.

On the island at the same property where there was a spigot, there so happened to be a bakery. The bakery was run by the local retired school teacher who was also the town clerk, firefighter, EMT, an author, and I’m sure had a few other descriptive notches on their resume. The bakery was a shed actually and inside it had the days menu on a board along with a few other notes and a cash box to leave money behind for the goods taken. The baked good were carefully packaged and stacked on wire racks. Check out was handled by karma and relied on the honor system. The way it should be. Heading on this trip I wanted to secure some @acecoffeeoutpost but could not get my hands on a bag so we leaned into the local roasters and picked up a bag of @44northcoffee while shopping @risingtidecoopmaine. It was a joy actually to check out the independent grocery stores in New England during the trip which are a far cry from the mega supermarkets of today with beeping noises, bright lights, and in some cases a robot that wheels around the store. Grocery stores like the aforementioned are stocked with unique brands, have friendly engaged staff, and always offer reusable packaging options. I guess there is no better time in the post to mention that I am recently sober. California sober have you. Seven months so far and I joke that coffee is the last fun I can have. Perfecting coffee on the go is always a fun game whether it’s on the back of a tailgate, bow of your boat, or here on the deck overlooking the Penobscot. @aeropress is our preferred weapon of choice and the @msr_gear burner is incredibly nimble and brings the water to boil in no time. Gone are the days of Cowboy coffee.

Wild flowers á la @jeweltonez. The water on the island for the most part was non potable. It had a dull red and orange hue to it as it flowed out of the faucet. I missed the memo somehow about this small detail and we left our water jug back on the mainland. Lucky enough there were some discarded containers in the yard which after some cleaning proved to be up for the task. Andy our taxi driver, said that the island’s retired school teacher had a spigot in her yard which we could fill them up at and it would hold us over for a few days. When I say taxi, I mean a rusted out pickup truck with no plates.

Took a trip this summer up to New England and ended up staying on an island 20 miles off the mainland in Penobscot Bay. There was a deafening stillness to the island with the only sound being the hum of lobster boats motoring by, the lapping of waves, and birds calling out.

The obligatory Maine digital dump 🦞