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Columnists

Humble and Ambitious

Martha Ball

Thu, Jan 23

Category:

Island Notes

There are, all around us, bits and pieces of other eras, scraps of history quite literally along the roadsides we travel every day. In particular, cement steps have long fascinated me; they belong, in large part, to the time Block Island first opened her doors and said “welcome” to the outside...
January Saturday

Martha Ball

Thu, Jan 16

Category:

Island Notes

La st weekend some temperature records were broken. The longer we keep track, and the more easily accessible that tracking becomes, the more we see very little is new again. It happens, I learned years ago, flipping back through columns with a like date and finding the weather I thought so...
The 2019 Bird Count

Kim Gaffett

Thu, Jan 9

Category:

Ocean Views

The 2019 Bird Count By Kim Gaffett A letter to Miss Elizabeth Dickens on the 2019 Community Bird Census: Dear Miss Dickens, You were missed on our annual Community Bird Count, which of course was on Dec. 26. It felt like a drab day of low numbers with no sun, and although...
The Machinations of Autumn

Martha Ball

Thu, Jan 9

Category:

Island Notes

A utumn is napping. She has been outside, done a little perimeter re-con, chased a few geese, sat in the yard and barked at something far, far away, then came in for breakfast and a snooze. Yesterday, I was ignoring her morning barkfest. She does it when anything moves out on Mansion Road, or on...
The Collaborators

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Sat, Jan 4

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“ You get something remarkable and unique when it’s a combination of collaborative, that you just can’t do with your own DNA. You just can’t.” — Jakob Dylan The night I witnessed Jakob Dylan’s dad play his Fender Stratocaster in Newport in ’65, it was clear that a shift was happening in...
Carry Me Home

Martha Ball

Thu, Jan 2

Category:

Island Notes

T he Thursday before Christmas I intended to go to the mainland to have my car inspected. I watched the weather and fretted for days beforehand, tracking a forecast of wind and deep cold that held steady. The latter did not make me happy but it was the former that caused worry. The day before I,...
The light of eternity

Pastor Peter Preiser

Sat, Dec 28

Category:

Columnists

In this column, we’ve shared some thoughts about seeking the divine in the everyday moments and place of our lives. Let’s conclude by considering the search for God in the light of eternity. The Psalmist writes: In the eyes of God, A thousand years are like a passing day, Or as brief as a few hours...
Christmas and the animals

John Willis

Fri, Dec 27

Category:

Columnists

We all associate Christmas with children. Most of us have experienced Christmas mornings of surprises around the tree, smiling little faces and happy memories that will last for years. The true meaning of Christmas is the birth of baby Jesus surrounded by Mary and Joseph and the wise men with their...
Intentional Emptiness

Martha Ball

Thu, Dec 26

Category:

Columnists

I t was Christmas Day, mild and sunny and surprisingly quiet when I drove out the Neck around one in the afternoon. The sun was low the whole day, the fluffy plumes of the gone-to-seed phragmities between the road and the New Harbor glowed pale against a milky sky. There was a small cluster of...
Song sparrow stanzas

Kim Gaffett

Fri, Dec 20

Category:

Columnists

It is the time of year when during any walk — along a nature trail, busy street, or in the dooryard — you are apt to be accompanied by a scampering, yet spritely, avian companion. The song sparrow, Melospiza melodia , is the quintessential LBJ (little brown job). It is easy to see the beauty...
The Watermen

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Dec 20

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“Never leave the playground and you won’t grow old.” — Anonymous South County resident Paul Murray and Block Island’s Jeff Cowles have known each other for years and share a couple common interests. They work — Murray’s retired — on home heating boiler systems, and they both have passions...
The Escape

Martha Ball

Thu, Dec 19

Category:

Columnists

A utumn stood in the yard in the snow, on high alert looking south to the wide open field. There might be geese out there, although she saw no geese. There might be deer but, again, she saw no deer. Still, she sensed something was there, that elusive something that lurked around the edges of the...
Church is still good for you (and your family)

Pastor Peter Preiser

Sat, Dec 14

Category:

Columnists

We have all driven by what was formerly the West Side Baptist Church of Block Island. It’s a private residence now. The details as to why this particular church closed its doors may not be as important as the fact that this is happening with increasing frequency in our country. The Gallup Poll...
Decadent Dessert

Pam Gelsomini

Sat, Dec 14

Category:

Columnists, Dish off the Block

I created this decadent delight for a contest where you had to highlight eggs and you had to infuse a local ingredient or theme. Living in Massachusetts (when I am not on Block Island), cranberries came to mind… and loving dark chocolate, I thought, what a great combo --- tart cranberries, sweet...
The Watermen

J. V. Houlihan

Fri, Dec 13

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“Never leave the playground and you won’t grow old.” — Anonymous South County resident Paul Murray and Block Island’s Jeff Cowles have known each other for years and share a couple common interests. They work — Murray’s retired — on home heating boiler systems, and they both have passions...
And then the sun came out

Martha Ball

Thu, Dec 12

Category:

Island Notes

I t is mid-December and these days are the shortest of the year. Still, I seem to wake when the first light of summer would be creeping up around the horizon, when it is very dark now and will be for hours, yet. If I am lucky I can retrieve sleep before it slips beyond my grasp and dances around...
The fungus among us

Kim Gaffett

Fri, Dec 6

Category:

News, Columnists, Ocean Views

On Saturday, Dec. 7, author and mycologist Lawrence Millman will be walking and talking fungi right here on Block Island. First, a walk at 11 a.m. through the Boy Scout Camp. (Upper Connecticut Avenue. Park and meet at the Neptune House.) “Mushrooms at this time of year?” you may be thinking...
Corpus delicti

J. V. Houlihan

Thu, Dec 5

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

The first three-and-a-half minutes of the new movie, “The Irishman,” is tightly packed with the story’s expository information of the main character, Frank Sheeran. Right out of the gate, there is a long tracking shot of the interior of a nursing home; clients in wheelchairs accompanied by...
Surprising December

Martha Ball

Thu, Dec 5

Category:

Island Notes

I t is more than two weeks, yet, until the Winter Solstice, but the afternoons do not get much shorter than they are these first days of December. At four-thirty on Monday, the incoming afternoon boat passed, its west facing side drawing from the fading sky whatever sunlight was lingering among the...
Making memories, bumpkin-style

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Wed, Nov 27

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

By definition, a bumpkin is “ an awkward, simple, unsophisticated person from a rural area .” I meet many New Yorkers who pull into Paradise Alley in Point Judith on their way to spend some slack time on Block Island. I always feel these people have a leg up on me; they’re quick on their...
Gone-by Hotels

Martha Ball

Wed, Nov 27

Category:

Island Notes
November Landing 2

Martha Ball

Thu, Nov 21

Category:

Island Notes

Wh at of summer do I love? Watching the boat come and go, watching the vessels pass each other just outside the mouth of the harbor, seeing the wide fanning wake of the traditional carriers spread and diminish, and seeing the very different plume of white foam quickly rising and falling behind the...
In the Afternoon

Martha Ball

Thu, Nov 14

Category:

Island Notes

In the afternoon one or more of the horses are often near the gate, either waiting for dinner, or hoping for a second serving. The other day there was only one vehicle by the wall, and the corresponding animal missing. It was easy enough to put those pieces together, only one was being ridden that...
Turning the Tide: Understanding whale migrations

Rosemary Connelli

Fri, Nov 8

Category:

Columnists

Marine mammal species, including whales and dolphins, have occasionally been found by the island’s coasts. Certain species, such as the humpback whale, have migration routes that pass by Block Island. Humpback whales, one of the most common species along New England’s coasts, are known for holding...
Wind

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Nov 7

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Fall is the best time of year to pump the halyards and go sailing in Narragansett Bay. Late September and October of 2019 provided this sailor with some challenging trips up the bay to the north end of Prudence Island. There were five days in September that I got to burn some vacation time and put...
Come Along

Martha Ball

Thu, Nov 7

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

“W e're going out to the wind farm, come along,” the late Norris Pike cajoled me one day in the Town Hall. I did not go. I was up against a hard deadline for this column, which I would miss if I went on a sea cruise. “Come on, what are they gonna do, fire you?” he chuckled. I always regretted not...
Wind tossed and salt-bitten

Martha Ball

Thu, Oct 31

Category:

Island Notes

Listening to the news I hear of great winds in Southern California, 80 miles an hour, great by even our jaded weather standards, fanning the flames of terrible, all-consuming fires, which easily could consume the whole of Block Island as a snack. It is raw here, the days are shorter, winter, mild...
Winning big at the World Food Championships

Thu, Oct 31

Category:

Columnists

Last week, the largest food sporting event in the world occurred in Dallas, Texas. The World Food Championships (WFC) is a multi-day culinary competition that has more than 1,500 contestants, including professional chefs and home cooks from 42 states and 12 countries, competing against each other...
Knowledge of Pie

Martha Ball

Thu, Oct 24

Category:

Island Notes

It is October and we are not on the edge of another storm, there is no gloom and doom in the forecast, at least for a few days. The clocks don't even kick back until Nov. 3 although these beautiful sunsets are already happening before six as it is. And the Harbor Church has made it though another...
Boat Books

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Oct 17

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“About books. They let you travel without moving your feet.” — Jhumpa Lahiri Reading is my favorite pastime and it’s ironic because as a young guy I never read anything except Surfer Magazine, and feeble runs at “The Hardy Boys.” Books got in the way of my Type A personality and my...
March, 1949

Martha Ball

Thu, Oct 17

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

Th ere is another storm brewing, another October storm, the wind picking up in mid-afternoon as reports of rain are floating in from the west. It is going to be a dark and stormy night, there is a great green monster on the radar moving toward the little speck of white that is Block Island, sitting...
Dish off the Block: Double the Beef, Three Bean, Short Rib Chili

Pamela Gelsomini

Thu, Oct 17

Category:

Columnists

It’s football season and that means tailgate grub. Whether you are pre-game partying at the stadium lot or having Sunday Funday in your house by a crackling fire, chili is the quintessential dish. It tastes even better made a day in advance so you enjoy game day without being tied to the kitchen...
The Muted Colors of Fall

Martha Ball

Thu, Oct 10

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

It i s October and there is a storm gnawing around the edges of the day because it is October and in October the wind blows and the rain falls. We had an extraordinary summer with very little “weather,” a strange fact given that the grass remained green through August when it is usually brown and...
Order this... the most wonderful food at Kimberly’s

Amy Lockwood MacDougall

Thu, Oct 10

Category:

Columnists, Order This

Kimberly’s menu is one of the few on the island where there really is something for every taste. Kids will be happy with the chicken and pasta dishes. The White Fish Plain and Simple is a nice clean fish dish for those who want their food delicious but unadorned. Seafood and meat dishes are...
Turning the Tide: The Killer Whale Rubbing Beach

Rosemary Connelli

Fri, Oct 4

Category:

Columnists

Arriving for a visit to Malcolm Island in British Columbia, I felt a sense of tranquility and nervousness wash over me. I prepared for days of studying killer whales with Troy Bright through an art-based residency. My first introduction to Troy Bright, the lead researcher on the northern resident...
Summer 2019

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Oct 3

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

It was a busy and fast paced summer season and here are some nods from the day-to-day in Point Judith: *The weather folks had a field day on 22 June. A cold front went north of Point Judith; the wall was black and ominous as it headed east dumping hail on Newport, and points east to...
Remember me!

Martha Ball

Thu, Oct 3

Category:

Columnists

It ’s fall, time to start clearing out the paper accumulated over the summer, scraps with phone numbers (whose? no idea) and e-mail addresses (some containing clues), and snippets of summer’s little exchanges I wanted to remember, notes that went nowhere, among them: A little girl with dark hair...
Dish off the Block: Grilled corn and chicken chowder

Pamela Gelsomini

Thu, Oct 3

Category:

Columnists

The fall weather is here. Sweater weather, cool nights, long walks on a quiet beach, early sunsets, and comfort food! There is nothing quite like the smell of soup on the stove with a fire crackling in the fire place. Try my twist on chicken chowder with pops of sweetness from grilled corn, a touch...
Once and future salt marshes: A tutorial

Kim Gaffett

Fri, Sep 27

Category:

Ocean Views

Depending on where you start counting, our earth satellite has just finished its year’s travel around the sun; and now, we start a new year with autumn. Some or our favorite summer activities are enhanced and made sublime by fall weather. A walk in October light and cooler air is delightful...
Suncatcher Clouds

Martha Ball

Thu, Sep 26

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

T he glorious weather of summer has extended into the fall. The other night I heard raindrops on the south-facing windows about the width of a sleeping golden retriever away from the foot of my bed. It was the mild splatter of showers, not the battering of a deluge, but it still came as a surprise...
The Discovery Deck

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Sep 19

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“This is one of those little museums that you walk into, and you can actually learn lots of great information in a very small space,” says contractor Mark Holden. I do lots of reading and writing at Seamen’s Institute on Bowen’s Wharf in Newport. It’s a hideout. I was recently setting up my laptop...
The Last Week of Summer

Martha Ball

Thu, Sep 19

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

Th ere stands a stone tower on Mansion Road. It was built with the Searles Mansion, for reasons that have varied with the teller, a sort of folly according to my aunt who was really some sort of cousin, or an entrance to the Poplar Cottage, as a favor or a payment for some right-of-way, or some...
Dish off the Block: Striped bass

By Pamela Gelsomini

Thu, Sep 19

Category:

Columnists

The stripers are running. I grew up in a fishing family where fresh bluefish and stripers were often on the menu. My father treated striper fishing as a science, determining what time of day they would feed, how the weather affected their habits, and what beaches they would be lingering at, waiting...
Order this... Delicious dishes at The Spring House

Amy Lockwood MacDougall

Thu, Sep 12

Category:

Columnists, Order This

September is one of the best months to come to Block Island. The days are warm and the nights are cool, the beaches are empty and the water is as close to perfect as it can be. The island is yours to hike and bike, and the restaurant at The Spring House is open to sate your appetite at the end of...
On Golden Pond

Martha Ball

Thu, Sep 12

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

La st week feels to have been very long ago, indeed. Thursday evening was windless, a beautifully golden end of day which found me on the edges of the New Harbor. The forecast was not good but there was none of that eerie calm before the storm feeling in the air; it was a perfect end-of-summer...
Dish off the Block: Wasabi tuna steaks

Pamela Gelsomini

Thu, Sep 5

Category:

Columnists

I n my former career (before becoming a full-time foodie), I travelled extensively in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia. I was, and continue to be, greatly inspired by the flavors and cultures of Southeast Asia. Tuna steak pairs beautifully with Asian flavors and this dish provides the perfect balance...
Foretaste of Winter

Martha Ball

Thu, Sep 5

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

We have had so many Labor Day weekends of hurricanes that never materialized in the wings, so many years of late August storm threats, some with floating docks pulled from the New Harbor in precaution, so many times of cars filling the Interstate parking lot in an attempt to get out before their...
Beach Flags

Martha Ball

Thu, Aug 29

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

It felt like an exceedingly long afternoon, stretching out forever, like the prospect of summer in late June. It is almost September and I know the sun is setting earlier each day but it felt as though time was almost standing still. It was, almost. The batteries in the clock on the living room...
Reservations

J. V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Aug 22

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

In 2016 I wrote a column simply titled, “Standby.” I wrote the piece while I was out sailing, and was laughing like a loon as I punched the keys — I’m easily amused. I told my wife that I thought the column was funny in a Mark Twain sort of way. “Well, we’ll see when it runs,” she said. My wife is...
Celebration of Summer

Matha Ball

Thu, Aug 22

Category:

Island Notes

La st night the sky was dark before sunset, a dramatic band of gray blue that promised yet another storm that never quite materialized here. There were splatters on my windshield on the Neck Road, a flash of lightning as I swung round in my barnyard, some wet on a few west-facing windowsills, then...

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Island Buzz

Escape to Narragansett!

Posted By

The Break: A Narragansett Hotel

1/24

Spa services, heated pool, heated bathroom floors, onsite restaurant, luxurious linens, ocean views. . .all at a great price...
BI Resident Rate at The Break Hotel - 10% OFF

Posted By

The Break: A Narragansett Hotel

1/24

Coming to or from the island, staying for pleasure or business, visiting the local lighthouses or learning to surf, you’ll...
Still Looking for a Summer Rental?

Posted By

Sullivan Sotheby's International Realty

1/24

Sullivan Sotheby’s International Realty has some great options, if your still searching for that perfect Summer Rental. We...
History Happening Here

Posted By

Block Island Historical Society

1/23

All are welcome at the Museum of the Block Island Historical Society. Founded in 1942, we have shared our collections with...
Antique Maps and Vintage Photographs

Posted By

Block Island Historical Society

1/23

The Block Island Historical Society has a great selection of antique maps; vintage photographs; unique posters & prints...
This weeks Nature Conservancy Schedule

Posted By

The Block Island Times

1/23

Check out this weeks Nature Conservancy Schedule at https://www.nature.org

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