Bonnie Frogma Will Be Missed

She always smiled,

even while she explored  . . .

and she explored a lot, and

invited others in.

Here‘s the first post of Bonnie’s I ever read, in which she recognizes a “Hudson River gentleman.”

Here‘s Bonnie’s post from September 11, 2006, in which she reflects on getting a second chance just five years earlier.

Here‘s a fun post in which Bonnie explains the derivation of her sobriquet, or nom de paddle, “frogma.”

Here‘s another in which Bonnie raves about one of her favorite places to swim and alludes to the reason she took up kayaking.

One more,  although there are so many more to reread . . . in which Bonnie waxes poetic about the “onolicious” foods–including Spam–of her Hawaiian childhood.  Want some recipes?   Once I met Bonnie and friends for a fun spam night on Fulton Street in Manhattan. Maybe we [whoever you might be] could meet up at one of these places and have some spam and swap memories in tribute to Bonnie?

Some ways in which Bonnie’s life and mine intersected include these:

*she was the second person [and first one I didn’t know] to comment on tugster in early December 2006, when this blog was only a week old.

*she convinced me without explicitly saying so to make the documentary Graves of Arthur Kill.  The way she did it was to invite me to join her kayaking;  we launched from the beach at Conference House.  She even provided me with the kayak to do so.  Later, after Gary Kane and I were working on the documentary, she winked and said something to the effect that she was pretty sure that my imagination would be captured by the derelicts we saw that day….  Here‘s the post I put up the day after our kayak excursion there.

*she inspired me in many other ways.  Here I did a blog post for her.

Bonnie, you will be missed and never forgotten.

Small Tugs 3

The first four photos come with many thanks to Bonnie frogma, the intrepid “river rat” who’s currently devoting lots of time to preparations for arrival to the sixth boro of Hokule’a.  I know nothing about this particular Lil Toot.

Bonnie took these photos on Jamaica Bay.  Note the cliffs of Manhattan in the distance.

Emily I believe is the 1961 built 35-footer.   Bonnie first posted photos of Emily here.

I took this photo last weekend.  I’ve seen 70′ Wollochet on AIS, but here’s my first view of her crossing sixth boro center stage.

What this appears like notwithstanding, I think the local boat under 40′ is called Miss Julia.

Here’s one of the half-century-plus-old WYTLs on the far side of Robbins Reef Light recently, one of the tools the USCG chooses for ice-breaking in the wintery Hudson.  Click here and scroll through to see a WYTL making ice cubes a half decade back.

Mako III is a 45′ tug the same age as I am.

Last but certainly not least, Allan Seymour sent this along from the Miami River, and I have no idea about a name or a story.  Anyone help out?

Many thanks to Bonnie and Allen for some of these photos.   If you’ve wondered about the name frogma, read this.

Unrelated and sad news just passed along by Michele.  Remember this post and this one about goats at the Narrows?  Here was my first contact.

Here’s the sad news.  Here’s the marketing concept.

 

 

1907 Tugboat

First, frogma put up a great post about Saturday, culminating for her in a ride on Pegasus.  Pegasus is as miraculous as a clear-headed 101-year-old relative, kind of like the remarkable woman whose 90th birthday I attended some years back in Pasadena.  The transformation Pegasus has lived is depicted quite well in this website.

She came calling at Whalen’s party (That’s Ellis Island in the background),

she was part of OpenHouse New York,

she even participated in the Labor Day 2008 tug race.

And . . . could it be, Bonnie, the inimitable kayaker, now plies the waters of the sixth boro on Pegasus?   If so, bravo!!

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.