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Columnists
Van Life
J.V. Houlihan
Thu, Oct 21
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
“L.A. is like an open air loony bin, and there are a lot of vans out there. Everybody seems to have a van.”
—Anonymous surfer in the line-up at Narragansett Pier, 1967 We all know that cool and hip trends begin out in California: surfboards, skateboards, movies, clothes, food, hot tubs,...
October Red and Blue
Martha Ball
Thu, Oct 21
Category:
Island Notes
Until we hit that day in early December when the setting of the sun stops its race back toward noon and sets a spell, realigning its center of gravity before creeping back toward five, every day I think of how unbalanced the natural world is. In my perfect world, length of the orbit of the earth...
Changes at the Solar Initiative
Tony Pappas
Thu, Oct 14
Category:
The Solar Report
As any organization matures and goes forward, it undergoes various changes. No less so with the Solar Initiative. En route to a separate 501-c-3 status, a Solar Initiative board has been formed. Its members are Tom Durden, John Spier, Samantha Hester, Seth Draper, and Tony Pappas, who will serve as...
Van Zandt
J.V. Houlihan
Thu, Oct 14
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
I don’t believe in luck; there’s no such thing. Period. What I do believe in is that we make our own luck by throwing down for ourselves and what our deal is. We show up for what drives us, hustle, connect some dots, and take a shot for what we want and need. In other words, we need to be ready to...
Roll Call Pivot
Martha Ball
Thu, Oct 14
Category:
Island Notes
October brings our last holiday weekend of the season. It has been a tough summer for seasonal resorts, help has been lacking, especially in restaurants, closures seemed to come earlier this year while visitors continued to arrive and the question “what’s a good place for lunch?” became a less...
October Dreaming
Martha Ball
Fri, Oct 8
Category:
Island Notes
The phone rang late last night, someone who knows I do not sleep early calling to talk about the baseball game I had missed, or had decided I did not want to Go Back There, to the land I had no idea I would so completely vacate a few years after 2004 — except for the year of the Marathon bombing,...
Summer of 2021
J.V. Houlihan
Fri, Oct 8
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
On 21 September, 2021 summer was packed and stowed into the archives along with some memorable files that stand out, and require a journalistic observation from this sailing scribbler of nouns and verbs. Sailing a boat slows things down so we can actually see things that we’d normally miss while...
Here we are-2021
J.V. Houlihan
Thu, Sep 30
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
The Covid -19 pandemic continues to do a Mr. Bill Bojangles Robinson-type tap dance on the psyches of people all over the globe. This virus has caused division, confusion, illness, death and a new kind of media-driven crackpot mentality. Ahem, I will leave the horse dewormer, Ivermectin, to the...
Use your sixth sense in October
Kim Gaffett
Thu, Sep 30
Category:
Ocean Views
I have a feeling that October is going to be spectacular. Of course, this feeling is based on a little more than my sixth sense. It has been a wet summer and there is still dampness in the ground, which is a clue that the color change of the foliage will be strong and brilliant. October is a...
Landmarks
Martha Ball
Thu, Sep 30
Category:
Island Notes
My topic this week was Landmarks of our Lives, not milestones or turning points but literal landmarks, one caught at the edge of a photo of the sky the other night. It was Cozy Cottage, the first house on the Neck Road north of Beach Avenue. It has been there my whole life, long ago, white then,...
Fog
J.V. Houlihan
Thu, Sep 23
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
Because of some windy and nasty weather I got stuck in Potter Cove on Prudence Island in mid-May of this year. The winds were blowing steadily and well over thirty knots for a couple of days from the southeast and southwest; it was an easy sail getting to the island but I knew it would not be at...
Seasons Changing
Martha Ball
Thu, Sep 23
Category:
Island Notes
Most of us, I think, grew up with the convenience — and myth — of the seasons shifting on the 21st of a given month. I do not remember when I learned this was not always the case but I know I was still in school. This year I needed hear only once that the autumnal equinox fell on the 22nd of...
Spinning my wheels
J.V. Houlihan
Thu, Sep 16
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
I’ll bet my nickels that all of you bike riders out there can remember getting your first bicycle. It’s a coming-of-age thing which is firmly imprinted in our memory bank. The reason for this is simply because a bicycle provides us with four profound things: balance, autonomy, freedom and most...
Late Summer
Martha Ball
Thu, Sep 16
Category:
Island Notes
Last week I pulled over by the monument along the beach road to watch the long rollers, the unspent energy of a named storm passing far from our shores. Earlier in the day a visitor had asked me about the water breaking out in the ocean, off Clay Head I finally realized, that line of white I see...
Why Wait!
J.V. Houlihan
Thu, Sep 9
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
A kitchen table, in an austere and no-frills setting a few feet above sea level on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, is command central for a musician named Kate Taylor whose life is rooted prodigiously in this raw and natural island place. This kitchen table is where we can see how this woman rolls...
Marine Critters
Kim Gaffett
Thu, Sep 9
Category:
Ocean Views
Here are a number of photos of marine critters seen along the island’s ocean shores and in the Great Salt Pond. Refer to the captions for: species name, normal range, where observed and by whom. Although not all the species are exclusively tropical, they all include regular existence in waters...
One Call
Martha Ball
Thu, Sep 9
Category:
Island Notes
The weather has been hot amid humid, and cool and dry, it has been everything and now the forecast is for more rain. There are great swells off the east beach, growing to long waves which surfers were attempting to ride this afternoon. The grass, at least, is as green as it can be this time of year...
September
Kim Gaffett
Thu, Sep 2
Category:
Ocean Views
As we near the end of summer, we find that the best of the season is yet to come. September is the umami of summer. The tastes, the feel, the scent, the sight, of summer wildness all gain a richness, and a depth of expression in September. September embodies the essence and concentrate of summer...
Are you considering a solar system for your island home?
Tony Pappas
Thu, Sep 2
Category:
The Solar Report
Dear island neighbor, If you are considering installing a solar system on your island home, we invite you to submit an application to the Block Island Power Company and send a copy to the Solar Initiative (tSi), cc myself at pappas.anthony@gmail.com in order to get the tSi subsidy. The application...
Return Autumn Tuesday
Martha Ball
Thu, Sep 2
Category:
Island Notes
Autumn was eight in July; her arrival on Block Island was September 22, the first day of fall the year she arrived. So, this summer she was not an adolescent, or a young thing finding her way, she was, or should have been, a settled middle-aged lady, going out to the pasture to visit the horses,...
A tale of two ships
J.V. Houlihan
Thu, Aug 26
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
My P-47 is a pretty good ship and she took a round comin’ cross the Channel last trip, I was thinkin’ bout my baby and lettin’ her rip, always got me through so far”
“Johnny Come Lately,” by Steve Earle
I have scant knowledge of World War II; however, I have learned a few pieces...
Wandering gliders
Kim Gaffett
Thu, Aug 26
Category:
Ocean Views
Dragonflies abound! Dashers, darners, skimmers and gliders, to name just a few, have been darting around the island all summer. But it is the preponderance of wandering gliders that has captured the wonderings of many of us, since the blurry eye of Tropical Storm Henri passed over us this past...
Long before Henri
Martha Ball
Thu, Aug 26
Category:
Island Notes
Twenty some years ago, when the Carolinas were suffering horrific hurricanes, terrible flooding, devastation of pig farm lagoons, which rolled into widespread death of whole flocks of domesticated turkeys, it happened that I was officiating at a wedding with guests from that part of the country. I...
Grassroots
J.V. Houlihan
Thu, Aug 19
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
Bob Kelly is a local surfer, a sexton at St. Francis Church in Wakefield, and a guy who has always spoken his mind; in and out of the water. He is a guy who has no filter, and his thoughts and words roll with a seamless stream-of-consciousness feel, with keen observations of the past and present...
At the Roundabout
Martha Ball
Thu, Aug 19
Category:
Island Notes
There was always that night in August, that Friday night, when the growing darkness surrounding the arrival of the Friday Night Boat, could no longer be denied. Summer, which arrived when school closed and seemed to follow at a steady pace for almost two months, was slipping away. I lived here, as...
EVs for Ever?
Tony Pappas
Thu, Aug 19
Category:
The Solar Report
At the Car Show held on July 28 on the front lawn of the Harbor Church and featuring cutting edge EVs (electric vehicles) – a Tesla and a Mach-E – the most frequently asked question was: How far do they go before the electricity runs out? In a recent edition of the AAA online magazine, that and...
Columbia
J. V. Houlihan
Thu, Aug 12
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
It is one thing to see a beautiful and sleek looking sailing vessel sitting in stillness at anchor; however, it’s an entirely different thing to see the same vessel loaded up with wind and moving the way she was intended to move. There is lots of applied math and science involved to make a sailing...
Green-necked swans
Martha Ball
Thu, Aug 12
Category:
Island Notes
Once upon a time green-necked swans lived on Block Island, not a breed, just swans with green dyed necks. Then they were gone, and it was a long time before I noticed their absence. There was a day a few years ago when I was down in the pond lot, the little knoll that is a sort of peninsula behind...
Gates before the flood gates!
Ian Murphy
Thu, Aug 5
Category:
The Solar Report
In his recent book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need,” Bill Gates discusses the daunting challenge of mitigating climate change with clarity and optimism. He describes the current situation – how we are adding billions of tons of greenhouse gases...
Fallen grass
Martha Ball
Thu, Aug 5
Category:
Island Notes
One of the more striking lines I read in a novel was not one of poetry, not a lyrical description of a life or a place or time, the language, itself, unlike most quotable quotes, was not seared on my mind. A farmer came in sputtering about the baler breaking, about the baler always breaking in the...
The taste of summer
Kim Gaffett
Fri, Jul 30
Category:
Ocean Views
August morning song is starting just a little bit later and is just a little shorter than it was in July. Even so, the power of the Carolina wren’s “tea kettle, tea kettle, teeeeee” at 5 a.m. is impressive, rousing, and more effective than a bugle call – at least to me. I’ve always been a morning-...
Weekly Lament
Martha Ball
Thu, Jul 29
Category:
Island Notes
The weekly lament of “what can I write about?” was met with one of those topics I dismissed out of hand, then started talking. It began with an open question of what I would have been doing on a day in July in 1967. Nothing of any interest, I lived here, there were no delightful memories beginning...
Driving the future and the past
Tony Pappas
Thu, Jul 22
Category:
The Solar Report
On Wednesday, July 28, from 4 to 5 p.m. on the front lawn of the Harbor Church, there will be the first ever Block Island Electric Vehicles and Antique Auto Show. All are welcome to come and browse fun vehicles from the past as well as learn more about electric vehicles, the wave of the future. No...
Evening Illusion
Martha Ball
Thu, Jul 22
Category:
Island Notes
We do not do change well on Block Island, or so we are told. I might agree with that assertion, based on based on no more than the fact we have no choice. It is thrust upon us, whether we like it or not, and do not even realize at the time what that change will be, may not realize until decades...
First Sail, 2021
J.V. Houlihan
Thu, Jul 15
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
In early May I took a first sail up to Potter Cove on Prudence Island, which for the past fifteen years has been a great sailing destination and a hideout; it’s a nice contrast from the Port of Galilee where I live and work. Most important, it’s a great place for peace and quiet before the summer...
Shifting Fog
Martha Ball
Thu, Jul 15
Category:
Island Notes
Last night I went to bed late. The temperature was 64, the breeze damp but cooling from the east, causing me to lower the ocean-facing window to only a few inches. It was blanket-and-light-comforter required sleeping weather. It was late and I took a screen snap of my phone, lest I forget the...
Shades of Summer
J.V. Houlihan
Thu, Jul 8
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
It all started out so simple when I said to my little brother, “Hey, cool glasses, I like that style, where’d you get ‘em?” Then, said little brother did a monologue of the whole process—the good, bad, and ugly—about how he ended up with these cool sunshades. All I wanted was some new glasses for...
16 cents
Martha Ball
Thu, Jul 8
Category:
Island Notes
Some summer days I think I am like a stationary cab driver, offering history of Block Island to visitors who ask leading questions and seemed interested, a reaction that only encourages me. It somehow wraps to the original town center being the literal center of the island for the first two hundred...
New net metering legislation passes both chambers of RI Legislature
Tony Pappas
Thu, Jul 8
Category:
The Solar Report
A huge thank you to our Senator Susan Sosnowski and to our Representative Blake Filippi for shepherding this bill over many months through to passage by the Rhode Island General Assembly. The services of the Mayforth Group were also most helpful. What does this new law change? Previously by law,...
The Midnight Rambler
J.V. Houlihan
Fri, Jul 2
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
Maddox, our cairn terrier, is the wildest terrier we’ve had, and we’ve had three Scottish terriers who have all tested us in many ways. Terriers by their singular nature are a tough breed, and you need to be tough to roll with this type of prey-driven canine— we must be vigilant at all times. Our...
Songs we sang
Martha Ball
Fri, Jul 2
Category:
Island Notes
When I started school, the building was in our limited perception, new. While my father was in the Class of 1933, the date above the then front steps, the student body moved into the new facility in the fall of that year. Some parents, like my own mother, were not from here but the majority had...
Summer Sensations
Kim Gaffett
Fri, Jun 25
Category:
Ocean Views
It is beginning to feel a lot like summer. It has been a nice cool spring, but the warm, moisture-laden, humid air is upon us – summer air. Summer air is a mixed blessing. At its best, the radiant heat is warming and pleasant; our muscles are relaxed, ready to stretch, and energized for all manner...
Getting into hot water
Tony Pappas
Fri, Jun 25
Category:
The Solar Report
The Solar Initiative is expanding its subsidy program to include heat-pump powered hot water heaters. The total subsidy of two-thirds of the cost, up to a maximum of $6,000, remains in force for year-round occupied homes, but now hot water heaters can be included in the installation costs. Hot...
A sailor’s life
J.V. Houlihan
Fri, Jun 25
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
When I came bashing back into Newport Harbor from a couple of days of sailing a few weeks ago, I noticed a bunch of racing sailboats that weren’t in town the day I left. Because of the past year of Covid protocols and constant uncertainty, I couldn’t figure out if these boats were coming from a...
Summer’s start
Martha Ball
Fri, Jun 25
Category:
Island Notes
It’s been a funny, grumbly day, thunder rumbling in the distance, sporadic rain, and a breeze that seems to come and go, setting me to opening and closing windows, or more accurately in June, adjusting their degree of openness. It comes and goes, the sky turning a soft pink through a gentle rain as...
Incentive
J.V. Houlihan
Fri, Jun 18
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
According to Merriam-Webster, the word
Incentive
means: “something that incites or has a tendency to incite to determination or action.” There is nothing like a job we’re not particularly fond of to motivate or incite us to find another job that we may actually like. At age 13 the word...
Patchwork pastures
Martha Ball
Fri, Jun 18
Category:
Island Notes
Many years ago, it one day hit me that there were two paved roads I rarely traveled, the bit of Center Road from Beach to West Side and Corn Neck north of the dump/landfill/transfer station. By chance, I once found myself in sunset traffic at the North End – who knew such a thing existed!? It...
Announcing our new intern
Tony Pappas
Thu, Jun 10
Category:
The Solar Report
The Solar Initiative is pleased to announce that our intern for the summer of 2021 is Ian Murphy. Ian has a long history of connection with Block Island, coming out quite frequently in his teen years when his grandparents, the Devlins, owned a home on the island. Since entering college, Ian has...
Smudged with humidity
Martha Ball
Thu, Jun 10
Category:
Island Notes
The farrier came today, to see to the feet of the horses out in the lot. I like the fanciful notion that they were getting their “summer shoes” for their summer frolicking. It is summer as we — or I — imagine it to be, regardless of the reality of July and August to the contrary. The fields are...
White stars and pink roses
Martha Ball
Thu, Jun 3
Category:
Island Notes
It was, by any definition, a wash-out of a long weekend. Yes, we needed the rain, and more that is forecast for tomorrow, and it is far too early in the season to be thinking such a thing. Some of the knotweed at the edge of my yard went over in the wind driven rain, more likely an occurrence of a...
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Island Buzz
Fall Mulch Season at Highland Farm
Posted By
Highland Farm Inc.
10/25
It is time to start planning for fall mulching. Highland Farm sells the highest quality mulch, bagged here at the farm. Call...
History Happening Here-New Exhibits Open Thurs. - Sundays
Posted By
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10/24
Thank you for your interest in the Block Island Historical Society. We value everyone who shares our love of the island and...
This weeks Nature Conservancy Schedule
Posted By
The Block Island Times
10/24
Check out this weeks Nature Conservancy Schedule at https:// www.natureblockisland.org
Don’’t miss the new Museum Shop at Bridgegate Square
Posted By
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10/24
The Block Island Historical Society has a great selection of antique & contemporary maps; unique posters & prints;...
TimberTech by AZEK
Posted By
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10/21
Riverhead Building Supply offers TimberTech by AZEK Building Products. Click here for the latest collections and styles...
New Listing off High Street!
Posted By
Ballard Hall Sales Group
10/18
Tucked away at the top of High Street in Ebbett's Hollow, this sweet artist retreat is filled with charm. The well kept 3...
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Island Religion
PART 8 THE FACETS OF DEATH
Posted By
Block Island Christian Fellowship
10/20
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PART 7 THE FACETS OF DEATH
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PART 6 THE FACETS OF DEATH
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