POPOVERS AND EGG SALAD
BUTLER FLATS LIGHT
BY DON DOUCETTE
We are housebound today not wanting to venture outside concerned that we might slip and fall after today’s first three inch snowfall of the 2020-2021 cold weather season.
I’ve just concluded mixing a fresh egg salad while Nancy’s batch of popovers waft a lovely aroma within our cozy little domicile.
Yesterday was rainy following a warm season as we endured a period of drought here in Massachusetts.
We ran away during the previous day’s rain event after buying seasonally correct take away pumpkin-walnut muffins and tea at the Rumford, Seven Stars Bakery and then motored to New Bedford in order to reach a favorite waterfront location at old Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
We chose an “out of watershed experience” for this short venture – mainly as, the picturesque 8.6 Acushnet River drains through the New Bedford fishing fleet anchorage as the largest river estuary mixing with Buzzard’s Bay tidal waters.
As we attempted to cross the U.S. Route 6, Pope Island swing bridge, we found the span engaged as two fishing vessels passed the open breach, one emptied of its full catch, returning to an inner harbor mooring – while the other vessel was putting to sea to unknown fishing grounds. The intended fishing destination doesn’t matter, as the mystery always sweetens onlooker imagination related to any unknown seabourn adventure.
The setting was gray and dank. The distant Falmouth shoreline across Buzzard’s Bay was absent in the mixed mire – Butler Flat Lighthouse was clouded in mist and more distant buoy markers trailed off into veiled obscurity.
We relaxed and observed others of the famous New Bedford commercial fishing fleet arrive and depart with powerful running lights ablaze and piercing the treacherous mist as we enjoyed our still-warm autumn tea and muffins – and all the while, a mix of gliding harbor gulls maintained perfect order.
Don Doucette
“Ten Mile River Rambles”
Friends of the Ten Mile and Bucklin Brook
Citizens of the Narragansett Basin