https://chestertownspy.org Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown Fri, 18 Apr 2025 13:22:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/17/shipping-news-a-globe-sailing-skipper-visits-grace-creek/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/17/shipping-news-a-globe-sailing-skipper-visits-grace-creek/#respond Thu, 17 Apr 2025 12:30:22 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183674 His home is in a small town named Metz in eastern France. “It’s near the border with Germany and Austria.” I’m thinking that’s where his mother is too.  When I made photographs of him and his boldly painted sailboat motoring out of Grace Creek, headed for Oxford, he asked me to send them to him […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/17/shipping-news-a-globe-sailing-skipper-visits-grace-creek/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/10/lions-mane-jellyfish-a-reminder-of-our-cold-winter/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/10/lions-mane-jellyfish-a-reminder-of-our-cold-winter/#respond Thu, 10 Apr 2025 13:22:02 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/10/lions-mane-jellyfish-a-reminder-of-our-cold-winter/ The large, orangish and red jellyfish floating around the surface of our creeks and rivers are another remnant of the cold winter quickly becoming a memory. Lion’s Mane jellyfish typically inhabit colder waters of the North Atlantic but, drifting with currents associated with colder than usual temperatures, they can make it into the brackish waters […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/10/lions-mane-jellyfish-a-reminder-of-our-cold-winter/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/27/watermen-closing-out-wild-oyster-season/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/27/watermen-closing-out-wild-oyster-season/#comments Thu, 27 Mar 2025 12:30:10 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/26/watermen-closing-out-wild-oyster-season/ A warm and sunny afternoon in late March. Light winds. A dozen or so deadrises still oystering out on Broad Creek. Many of the boats have already come in; the earliest, two young divers who have been the first to get their 12-bushel limits for many days now. Price has been holding steady at $35 […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/27/watermen-closing-out-wild-oyster-season/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/14/our-cold-snowy-winter-could-benefit-rockfish-population/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/14/our-cold-snowy-winter-could-benefit-rockfish-population/#respond Fri, 14 Mar 2025 12:30:47 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182988 Long, wet, snowy and cold winters, as 2025 has brought us, are just the thing to spark at least “cautious optimism” in Maryland’s striped bass program manager. Beth Versak of Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources said this week that really cold and snowy winters can result in above-average spawn success. That could lead to a […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/14/our-cold-snowy-winter-could-benefit-rockfish-population/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/30/maryland-deploys-icebreaker-to-clear-channels-for-watermen/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/30/maryland-deploys-icebreaker-to-clear-channels-for-watermen/#respond Thu, 30 Jan 2025 14:27:09 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/30/maryland-deploys-icebreaker-to-clear-channels-for-watermen/ Freezing temperatures, just taking a break now, have been clogging Eastern Shore creeks making it difficult for watermen to get out to public oyster bars.  It’s tough enough for them to make any money during the lean months of January and February without the added complication of ice. One of Maryland’s fleet of buoy tender/ice […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/30/maryland-deploys-icebreaker-to-clear-channels-for-watermen/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/24/deep-freeze-driving-large-numbers-of-canada-geese-to-eastern-shore/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/24/deep-freeze-driving-large-numbers-of-canada-geese-to-eastern-shore/#comments Fri, 24 Jan 2025 11:00:30 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/24/deep-freeze-driving-large-numbers-of-canada-geese-to-eastern-shore/ A survey of the 2024 nesting season on Quebec’s Ungava Peninsula for our Atlantic Flyway Canada geese recorded one of the lowest reproduction rates on record. Given that, why are we seeing so many more Canadas in our fields and waterways this year than we’ve seen in previous years? The answer is obvious, but before […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/24/deep-freeze-driving-large-numbers-of-canada-geese-to-eastern-shore/feed/ 2 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/17/equal-and-opposite-summer-winter-and-poor-mans-fertilizer-by-dennis-forney/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/17/equal-and-opposite-summer-winter-and-poor-mans-fertilizer-by-dennis-forney/#comments Fri, 17 Jan 2025 14:00:25 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/17/equal-and-opposite-summer-winter-and-poor-mans-fertilizer-by-dennis-forney/ Here on Delmarva, the past summer was brutal: extremely hot and extremely dry. Now the principle of equal and opposite settles in; every action producing an equal and opposite reaction. This winter, starting 2025, is bringing extreme cold and lots of precipitation. Shades of the winters of 1977 and 1978. Several days of single-digit temperatures […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/17/equal-and-opposite-summer-winter-and-poor-mans-fertilizer-by-dennis-forney/feed/ 3 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/10/this-week-proves-pts-admonition-about-watermen/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/10/this-week-proves-pts-admonition-about-watermen/#respond Fri, 10 Jan 2025 14:32:06 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/10/this-week-proves-pts-admonition-about-watermen/ Two or three years ago, PT Hambleton told me there’s only two things a waterman has to worry about: January and February. This week proves his point. While California is fighting flames, the East Coast lies quietly beneath a blanket of snow now compacting into sheets of ice. North and west winds combined with sub-freezing […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/10/this-week-proves-pts-admonition-about-watermen/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/24/what-does-a-waterman-gift-his-father-for-christmas/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/24/what-does-a-waterman-gift-his-father-for-christmas/#comments Tue, 24 Dec 2024 15:03:20 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/24/what-does-a-waterman-gift-his-father-for-christmas/ A waterman, not long off hand-tonging for oysters this frigid late morning, came through the front door of a vintage shop in St. Michaels. Antique house filled with antique items. Wood, metal, paint, paper, glass, clay.  No plastic. He headed immediately up the wooden stairs to the second floor. Two days before Christmas. He knew […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/24/what-does-a-waterman-gift-his-father-for-christmas/feed/ 2 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/16/front-porch-orchestras-bluegrass-nutcracker-joyful-and-uplifting/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/16/front-porch-orchestras-bluegrass-nutcracker-joyful-and-uplifting/#respond Mon, 16 Dec 2024 20:58:09 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/16/front-porch-orchestras-bluegrass-nutcracker-joyful-and-uplifting/ The Front Porch Orchestra, a talented group of Eastern Shore musicians and artists, performed their spirited bluegrass version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker at Kent Island’s Cult Classic Brewery stage last Saturday afternoon and evening. Two performances, two full houses. Another performance is scheduled for Chestertown’s Garfield Theater on Wednesday evening, Dec. 18. Scored and arranged by […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/16/front-porch-orchestras-bluegrass-nutcracker-joyful-and-uplifting/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/15/high-quality-oysters-fickle-market-greeting-new-season/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/15/high-quality-oysters-fickle-market-greeting-new-season/#comments Fri, 15 Nov 2024 14:41:44 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/15/high-quality-oysters-fickle-market-greeting-new-season/ Oyster harvesting in Maryland’s Chesapeake waters on public bottom opened for the 2024-2025 season on Oct. 1. Hand tongers got the first crack at this year’s crop of market-size oysters since the season for power dredging doesn’t open each year until Nov. 1. The open season continues until March 31, 2025. There’s nervousness on the […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/15/high-quality-oysters-fickle-market-greeting-new-season/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/25/grace-creek-almanac-spanish-coast/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/25/grace-creek-almanac-spanish-coast/#comments Wed, 25 Sep 2024 12:00:03 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/25/grace-creek-almanac-spanish-coast/ SPANISH COAST – Our early September hiking along Camino Santiago’s coastal route carried us northward from A Guarda, near the border with Portugal. About 120 miles over seven days to Santiago de Compostela. Lots of rocky outcroppings and patches of beach, small vacation estates overlooking the Atlantic and nestled in tall dune grasses, clean and narrow […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/25/grace-creek-almanac-spanish-coast/feed/ 2 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/02/a-midsummer-trifle-on-nettles-white-ibis-and-hungry-rabbits/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/02/a-midsummer-trifle-on-nettles-white-ibis-and-hungry-rabbits/#comments Fri, 02 Aug 2024 12:29:04 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/02/a-midsummer-trifle-on-nettles-white-ibis-and-hungry-rabbits/ GRACE CREEK ALMANAC – Oppressively hot summer days can make a man lazy. But jumping off the dock, despite the water nearing bathtub temperature, revives spirits and energy levels. Instant air conditioning, even on 95-degree days, when I climb out of the water and feel even light breezes cooling my skin. This droughty summer has […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/02/a-midsummer-trifle-on-nettles-white-ibis-and-hungry-rabbits/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/06/20/wild-caught-chesapeake-blue-catfish-phenomenon-booming-thank-goodness/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/06/20/wild-caught-chesapeake-blue-catfish-phenomenon-booming-thank-goodness/#comments Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:18:17 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=177336 Buena Vista Seafood in San Francisco deals in high-end seafood from all around the world. European blue lobsters, Kambatia Reef Fish from Kenya, California Purple Urchins, and Icelandic Arctic Cod, to name a few. Now, the company has added wild-caught Chesapeake Blue Catfish to its list of offerings. “Chesapeake blue catfish check all the boxes,” […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/06/20/wild-caught-chesapeake-blue-catfish-phenomenon-booming-thank-goodness/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/06/10/andy-harris-talks-inflation-russians-section-230-and-freedom-with-the-spy/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/06/10/andy-harris-talks-inflation-russians-section-230-and-freedom-with-the-spy/#comments Mon, 10 Jun 2024 13:49:57 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/06/10/andy-harris-talks-inflation-russians-section-230-and-freedom-with-a-spy/ In a recent interview at his office two blocks from the capitol in Washington D.C., Congressman Andy Harris touched on a wide variety of topics ranging from Russian activity in Ukraine and Queen Anne’s County to the threat of blue catfish proliferation in Chesapeake Bay. As elected representative for Maryland’s First Congressional District, which includes […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/06/10/andy-harris-talks-inflation-russians-section-230-and-freedom-with-the-spy/feed/ 4 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/06/01/two-men-in-space-two-centuries-apart-at-annapolis/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/06/01/two-men-in-space-two-centuries-apart-at-annapolis/#comments Sat, 01 Jun 2024 12:52:44 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/06/01/two-men-in-space-two-centuries-apart-at-annapolis/ During two recent regional hikes, Becky and I came across the graves of two American heroes, distinctive but also distinctively different. We stumbled across the first grave while wending our way through the US Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis. Cemeteries provide great windows into history. James Arthur Lovell, Jr., a captain in the US Navy […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/06/01/two-men-in-space-two-centuries-apart-at-annapolis/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/05/03/dribs-and-drabs-oysters-wisteria-locusts-and-crabs/ Fri, 03 May 2024 13:09:57 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/05/03/dribs-and-drabs-oysters-wisteria-locusts-and-crabs/ GRACE CREEK ALMANAC – It’s been just about exactly a year since my writing about blooming locust trees and their relationship with crabs. Watermen here in the mid-Atlantic forever have equated locust blooms with the season’s first run of peeler crabs.  The first shed. That means soft crabs are right behind. Some say it might […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/04/18/move-over-horny-goat-weed-here-comes-pollen/ Thu, 18 Apr 2024 18:36:37 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/04/18/move-over-horny-goat-weed-here-comes-pollen/ GRACE CREEK ALMANAC – So, this week’s hot news involves the unique, annual, and sublimely quiet spring storm sifting everywhere around us. No, not Stormy Daniels and the Trumpster. That situation’s neither sublime nor quiet. Rather, as you’ve probably guessed from the pictures, I’m writing about the pine pollen storm now in full fettle. The […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/04/05/march-rains-way-above-normal-april-likely-bringing-more/ Fri, 05 Apr 2024 16:40:20 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/04/05/march-rains-way-above-normal-april-likely-bringing-more/ “Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote …” GRACE CREEK ALMANAC – Even Geoffrey Chaucer, 600 years ago in the prologue to his Canterbury Tales, was writing about the rain. With another three inches this week, counting Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s downpours, soggy ground has grown even […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/03/21/grace-creek-almanac-bradford-scourge-orion-musks-starlink-and-frost/ Thu, 21 Mar 2024 16:49:53 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/03/21/grace-creek-almanac-bradford-scourge-orion-musks-starlink-and-frost/ Springtime, as this week clearly illustrates, is a dynamic time on the Eastern Shore. With temperatures fluctuating between the mid-70s and mid-30s, it makes me worry about the tender green sprouts of the Amish Snap Peas coming up in my garden.  I count on the afternoon sun to keep warming the soil and encouraging the […]]]>