The Sloops of the Hudson River is a fascinating work about these sailing craft that once plied the waters from New York City to Albany and beyond. The book is written by Paul E. Fontenoy and published by the Mystic Seaport Museum.

Those of you not interested in sailing vessels may want to pass. However, if you have a passing interest in how New York and its environs developed, you are well advised to consider this book. In the first place, Mr. Fontenoy tackles the details with a bit of flair, adding in personal contemporary accounts to bring life to a subject that would otherwise be too many facts and figures. Similarly, he has fold-out designs of various sloops which give the reader an opportunity to see their design from every angle. He goes all the way to produce financial records from various businesses to demonstrate the rise and fall of the traffic these vessels conducted.

After a bit of pondering, I propose that the development of trade, and in particular the efforts these owners and sailors invested into their operations, are demonstrable evidence to the evolution of the American Character. Here are people making their living on their own, without supreme guidance or central planning. They profited or failed much of their own accord, learning lessons from both experiences along the way. When their achievements of a more basic age are compared against those of today’s sophistication, I dare say modern progress seems a bit lacking.

If nothing else, those sailing types among my readers will enjoy the book for its technical excellence and readability. Enjoy it.

…is what Mr. Vernon Fletcher is at the moment. He came through his surgery well enough. Of course he’s been dosed with a fair amount of pain killers and some other pharmaceuticals. Surgeon’s report was generally positive. He should be departing the facility around the end of the week for further recovery at home. This is proof his inner tiger lives strong.

Mr. Vernon Fletcher goes under the knife today. It’s not a major procedure but big enough to cause concern. A bunch of talented surgeons will be doing their best to restore him to 100%. MVF has the heart of a lion and he’ll pull through. Thanks for all your well-wises. He knows you’re praying for him and is very grateful, as am I.

I’ll update in a few days.

Cocktail Hour seems to have fallen by the wayside. I’m not sure why. Several years ago, I instituted cocktail hour and I’ve been sticking to it as often as is practical. For instance, here’s a photo of my favorite drink from just a day ago.

Yes, I had this one at Charlie’s Bar in San Nicolaas, Aruba. But back to Cocktail Hour as a concept. The idea, for me, is to sit back, relax, reflect on the day, ponder what remains, and consider the future. Now, this is not an extreme effort, but a natural, organic unfolding. Call it a chance to let the mind roam without the usual boundaries of work or organized play. Often times, people jump from work, to home, to other activities without a bit of decompression. That’s a shame. An hour of calm is a good way to prepare for the storm.

Give it a try with the beverage of your choice.

No, not heat, but rather packing for a trip. This task is alternately mundane and thrilling in that it has to be done and yet ratchets up the anticipation for departure. Since I travel frequently, I usually have a bag ready to go. It just needs the final essentials and I’m ready to head to the airport. However, from time to time, I’ll dump the same bag and repack it with some fresh or key articles that are trip-specific. Thus, comes the inevitable decision about what to leave behind which typically leads to regret during the trip. “I should have brought that!”

Either way, it’s always good to be prepared. Pack light, pack early, and pack orderly.

Let’s think about a sports analogy… as in your team has the ball. It doesn’t matter what the other team did with the ball. If you want to play the game, and score points, and ultimately win, you have to move the ball toward the goal. You can’t sit around whining about what the other team did. You can’t moan about the rules. You can’t blame the fans for not cheering you on. You can’t win on defense. You have to get out there and carry the ball before the other team takes it away from you.

Think about that when you’re reading the newspaper or watching television. Too many people are blabbering about nothing, about the past, about things that don’t matter. Too few are executing the job at hand. Maybe they’re incompetent. Maybe they’re out of their league. Maybe they should be replaced.

Just saying.

Noodler’s Apache Sunset fountain pen ink represents a new level in expressive writing. Readers of this blog know that I use Mont Blanc fountain pens for my first drafts. To this point, I’ve stuck with Mont Blanc ink, using blue for most prose and red for emphasis and margin notes. Well, the red was starting to annoy my eye. It is powerful, which was my original reason for using it. However, it’s become a bit overbearing in places where a lesser amount of attention is warranted. Thus, I went on the hunt for another color. I searched the fountainpennetwork.com message board and discovered the following review of Noodler’s Apache Sunset. Click HERE.

Therefore, an inquiry was made to the Fountain Pen Hospital and a subsequent order placed. The ink arrived a day later, I loaded it into a pen and gave it a try. The following photo does no justice to the ink. (Sorry, but photographing ink is beyond my ability. Stick with the link above to see a better test.)

For the past several days I’ve employed this ink to great effect. The yellow stands strong on the page and the orange overtones draw the eye without the school marm’s scolding of the red.

Noodler’s produces many different kinds and colors of ink. If you prefer a fountain pen, give these inks a try. You will not be disappointed. Also, I’d like to thank all the members of the fountainpennetwork.com for their helpful reviews and information on the subject.

If you enjoy all kinds of food and want to read excellent reviews, check out Off The Broiler. You can follow this link: http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/.

I’ve been reading this blog for about a year now and have not been disappointed. All sorts of food are covered from Asian to Colombian and more. The photography is excellent as well. Check it out; I’m sure you’ll find it fascinating.

This is one of the things I like most about the internet, the ability to get first hand information. And when it comes to food, an honest review can be hard to come by.

My wife is an excellent photographer and created a beautiful 360 degree panorama of an Aruban landscape the other day. She took a series of photos then stitched them together with her computer wizardry. (Don’t ask me how this is done. I understand the darkroom but not the digital process.) At any rate, the final product is too large to put directly here on the blog. However, here is a link to it:

http://www.danielputkowski.com/main/aruba360/aruba_360.html

A viewer must use the link directly as you will not find it anywhere on my regular website. You can click on it above or copy and paste it into the address bar of your web browser. (Or so they tell me.)

So where was this photo taken? Well, we were headed out to the Natural Pool in “Old 918,” which would be my Chevrolet Silverado previously mentioned on this blog. The road to the natural pool gets gradually worse until you come to a sort of “last stop” for regular vehicles. Of course we proceeded up the worst hill as Old 918 never shies from a challenge. It climbed that hill like a roll through the mall parking lot. Now we were basically one ridge away from Aruba’s eastern edge; the windy side that is. We stopped for a look around. My wife hopped out with her camera and walked about 50 yards away. As she started taking photos, another truck, the red one you see, started climbing the hill. Naturally, he stopped to chat with a fellow pickup aficionado.

Back to the photo. As it loads, the extreme left of the photo would be looking south by slightly west. Scrolling to the right you gradually look west, then west by north, then north, then north by east, east, and finally a piece of south by east before turning west again. I think so, anyway. But check out that landscape? Hardscrabble rocks and cactus, Hooiberg (the haystack like mini-mountain), distant sea, tiny hotels far off, the WEB plant making smoke, it’s all there.

Enjoy and bon dia from Aruba.

Many thanks to my wife who is a genius at such things.

The World is a unique way to own a vacation home. Imagine a cruise ship where you own your suite. They have studio apartments as well as one and two bedroom units that you can purchase. The best part about this concept is that the ship moves from port to port, traversing the world to a new destination on a regular basis. Here is a short video of The World as spotted in Oranjestad, Aruba.

Readers of this blog know that I love to travel and owning my own apartment on a ship sounds like a great idea. Don’t have the money just yet and I prefer to stay put for a little longer than a few days. Still, the concept is very appealing. And if I hit the lottery, I might just grab one of these places for the fun of it.

Here is the website for the ship. Maybe you already have the cash for a nice cabin. http://www.aboardtheworld.com/