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Columnists

Wreck of the Green Arrow and a Lost Dog

John Willis

Fri, Sep 23

Category:

Tails from Beacon Hollow Farm

It was a cold, clear December morning on Block Island, the year 1996. At the morning coffee group at that time at Bethany’s Airport Diner, talk of a night wreck below the bluffs just around the bend from the Southeast Light to the east was in discussion. Apparently a well-equipped fishing dragger...
Horses and tractors

Martha Ball

Fri, Sep 23

Category:

Island Notes

Summer, by its final milepost, the Autumnal Equinox, ends tomorrow night, in the dark, a bit after nine, a time three months ago there was light lingering in the sky. Slowly, at first imperceptibly, then with increasing speed, the days have shortened since then. It was a while ago, now, I looked at...
History in plain view

Martha Ball

Fri, Sep 16

Category:

Island Notes

It is the middle of September, the sun has made that turn it should not until until after the equinox, and is setting after 7. It seems a tad earlier on the eastern side where the earliest sun strikes the cliffs and beaches and east-facing windows. We tumble, now, down the black slide that suddenly...
Celeritas

J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Sep 9

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Back in the days of flip phones, 20-pound laptops, and pagers, Interstate Navigation - The Block Island Ferry ran a boat called the M/V Nelseco out of Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island. I was the guy who was sent to Newport to try and drum up business for the summer ferryboat run. The...
Two years, three summers, a lifetime

Martha Ball

Fri, Sep 9

Category:

Island Notes

Two, two-and-a-half years ago, really, we were on the edge of the pandemic. Despite the forecasts of the global experts we were, in March of 2020, still hopeful we would somehow slip through it if we were really, really careful. And we did because we were, it seemed, until the fall of that year...
Early morning rain

Martha Ball

Fri, Sep 2

Category:

Island Notes

It was almost dark tonight when Autumn started barking her most excited “someone is here, someone is here!” bark. I saw headlights, then the shape of a big black box turning into the barn-less barnyard — not unlike the treeless Orchard or the pig-less Pig Lot — and thought impossibly her dog food...
Bulkheads, docks, and boats

J.V. Houlihan

Sat, Aug 27

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

When I’m not in Galilee working at the Block Island Ferry docks, I’m usually in Newport Harbor messing around in my sailboat; I’ve been doing this drill for 20 years. About 18 years ago I met a dock master in the harbor by the name of Mark Holden. Mark came of age in Portsmouth and Newport as a...
On Monday it rained

Martha Ball

Fri, Aug 26

Category:

Island Notes

Monday rain was forecast, in ever-diminishing percentages, but rain nonetheless which was falling in the morning, not in a deluge but enough to make me think of lowering windows. I was careful to take the little rain jacket that can fold into its own pocket and keeps out as much rain as a heavy...
A Rantum Scooting Flaneur

J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Aug 19

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

The French term Flaneur basically translates to: a loafer, a stroller, an observer. It’s a simple word loaded with context; however it best describes a person who wanders around with no particular purpose, agenda or destination. Similarly, an old Yankee term I’m also fond of is based on...
By the monument

Martha Ball

Fri, Aug 19

Category:

Island Notes

The water by the monument was up to the rip-rap below it this afternoon. There used to be a deeper strip of land there and a little beach below it. In 1993, before technology and electronic communication had taken so much from our day-to-day conversations, a contingent from the Army Corps of...
Home EV Charging

Cindy Davis

Fri, Aug 19

Category:

The Solar Report

One of the greatest concerns potential owners have regarding the purchase of an electric vehicle (EV), is charging the battery. The question of how, where, and for how long to charge an EV are readily answered, and should not deter potential EV owners. A detailed description of the science behind...
Standby, redux

J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Aug 12

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

In 2016, I wrote a column called Standby . It was a fun observational piece about what goes on in the black hole of the parking lot where I work in the summertime. (I’m in the front parking lot in the winter where George Lyons and Ray Gardner work the summer schedule.) The piece I wrote...
A Matter of Attitude

Martha Ball

Fri, Aug 12

Category:

Island Notes

Last night the power went out. I am not sure when it happened. It was nearly dark when I came home from helping serve another dinner cooked by other people to the delightfully grateful, endlessly polite international students who come up the hill once a week for food at Harbor Church. I had stopped...
- THE SOLAR REPORT -

Wade Ortel

Fri, Aug 5

Category:

The Solar Report

Last October I accepted the position as program director of the Solar Initiative (tSI). I have had the pleasure of working with a wide array of individuals, making strides towards the common goal of reducing the consumption of fossil fuels on Block Island. To this end, tSI has offered and continues...
Two Rhody sailors meet at Fort Adams

J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Aug 5

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

A few columns ago I wrote about the 2022 Newport Bermuda Race, and focused on three fast-moving foiling boats: Argo , Ultim Emotion 2 , and Malama . These rigs are impressive and are part of the new paradigm shift in ocean racing. I thought that I wrote a decent and...
Finding Gratitude

Martha Ball

Fri, Aug 5

Category:

Island Notes

Years ago now, a doctor friend in the city (doesn’t that sound posh, at least more than my sixth cousin or first cousin six times removed, depending upon which one of us is drawing the chart) started sending me dire predictions of the pandemic just creeping into this part of the country, complete...
Date Night in the time of a pandemic

J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Jul 29

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

It is no mystery that people need some semblance of order and normality in their daily lives, in order to offset the chaos rattling around in their heads as a result of an amorphous, baffling, and truncated world narrative. On any given day over past several years, we all needed to reboot, reset,...
Not Exceeding Three Percent

Martha Ball

Fri, Jul 29

Category:

Island Notes

It is hot outside but lovely and breezy here down the Neck. The house is cooled by a cross-breeze but Autumn wants to go out and lie in the cooler shade of the trees in the yard. She is under house arrest, I hope under the last full day of the dreaded cone. The nice vet in Westerly called last week...
- THE SOLAR REPORT -

Wade Ortel

Fri, Jul 22

Category:

The Solar Report

In previous articles, I presented a technical overview of the refrigeration cycle. However, even with this background, it can be difficult to recognize the vast utility of this technology, especially in the context of domestic heating. For the purpose of effective cooling, either in order to keep...
Writer to writer, with Amanda M. Fairbanks

J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Jul 22

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

The one thing that all writers share, regardless of what topic they are inking up pages for, is that the blank page is whispering a dare to said writers. The page is daring this cruncher of the eight parts of speech to make something readable and commendable. The blank void wants and wants and...
A single photograph

Martha Ball

Fri, Jul 22

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...
A little beach background

Martha Ball

Fri, Jul 15

Category:

Island Notes

Perhaps, for the bathing beach, the true Golden Age – so far – began in the early 1950s. At the start of that decade the wheels were turning for the new pavilion, a modern structure to complement the airport construction that marked a mid-century looking to the future. Air traffic was increasing...
Newport to Bermuda or Bust

J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Jul 15

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

In 2019 I was sailing Reverie north past Hammersmith Farm in 12 to 15 knots of east-south-east wind. As I casually looked over my left shoulder I saw the trimaran Argo zipping by me going an easy 12 knots; the boat nor her crew appeared to be breathing heavy because they were...
- THE SOLAR REPORT -

Wade Ortel

Sat, Jul 9

Category:

The Solar Report

In this week’s article, I would like to take a brief respite from the regularly scheduled educational content and technical treatises offered here. Instead, I will provide an exciting public service announcement regarding one of the Solar Initiative’s most popular subsidies. I also wish to take a...
The last first day of summer

Martha Ball

Fri, Jul 8

Category:

Island Notes

Two nights after the Monday Fourth of July, fireworks are still exploding off the beach. My dog is still snoozing through them after a perfunctory “woof” or two. The same dog that barks at the boat passing off to the east or a great silver bird catching the sun high above us. She cannot go out and...
Geezy Sailor, Redux

J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Jul 1

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

In my last batch of nouns and verbs and prodigious modifiers, I crunched out a column on the quick because I was off duty and wanted to put the spurs to my sailboat because of a good forecast. Moreover, I’d just ordered an Audible book titled “Bleak House,” which is a nine-hundred-page monster by...
Buffalo Springfield

Martha Ball

Fri, Jul 1

Category:

Island Notes

The Fourth of July has always been the first real holiday of summer. Memorial Day opened the door when I was growing up, but our lives went quickly back to school and places around us gradually opened up for the season. More than anything, I remember going to the Old Harbor Dock, Payne’s New Harbor...
Dump Days

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 24

Category:

Island Notes

On a Sunday at mid-day, any Sunday, any time of year, it is odd to find the Neck Road so empty one can stop and take a photo without pulling over, without waiting for at least one vehicle to pass. Even in winter it is dump day. It was back when the dump was a casual operation, when refuse was less...
A brief overview of the refrigeration cycle

Wade Ortel

Fri, Jun 24

Category:

The Solar Report

In my last article, I offered an introduction to the operating principles of refrigeration. Let’s continue where we left off. I believe a closer examination of the thermodynamic cycle and the construction of the applicable components will offer greater utility for consumers who want a deeper...
The Geezy Sailor

By J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Jun 17

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

As we stack decades we all realize that on a good day life is a humbling thing. As we age stuff happens on a daily basis, and we are constantly reminded of how limited we are in moving our bodies into contorted positions as we once did - when we were ahem, young. For example, in my 40s, and 50s, I...
Patterns

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 17

Category:

Island Notes

My peonies were late to open this year. It has been a cool spring but other people on the island had them in glorious bloom while I had the single plant by the door graced by multiple buds that seemed so tightly clenched I could only think “white knuckle.” There were three plants from sometime in...
- Promotional feature -

- THE SOLAR REPORT -

Wade Ortel

Fri, Jun 10

Category:

The Solar Report

Before embarking on a closer examination of refrigeration, it is prudent to begin with a somewhat mundane and innately familiar scenario: boiling water on a stove. To begin this process, one typically fills a pot with roughly room-temperature water drawn from a tap. This pot is then placed on a...
On the Way to Summer

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 10

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

Yesterday I went out to check on the dog’s whereabouts, thinking it is coming to that time of year when I have to pay her better mind. She’d been under the big maple at the corner of the yard but seemed to have vanished from that nice, shaded spot. As my eyes adjusted to the bright sun I realized...
Nods to the past and present

J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Jun 10

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“Okay, Joe Joe, we’re taking car reservations starting today for the summer,” said Janette Centracchio. “Here are the new ledgers, and could you please write as legibly as you can, okay?” In 1980 this is the way car reservations were done at the Block Island Ferry. Here was the drill when Janette...
Back to the Hill

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 3

Category:

Island Notes

It is always the same this time of year. The “summer” beach roses are in their fullest glory, some days in bright sun, others in fog, the grasses that have not yet been cut have gone to seed, but are still young and pliant and run before the breeze. The lilacs have truly faded while the blue flag...
Teddy Boy of Galilee

J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Jun 3

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Over the past three years or so if you’ve driven or walked off the Block Island Ferry, there is a good chance you might’ve seen a local guy walking a rather large brindle-colored dog. The guy’s name is Keith Smith and his dog’s name is Teddy Boy, who is a purebred known as a Leonberger. He is a...
Saucy Swallows

Martha Ball

Fri, May 27

Category:

Island Notes

Today, I have no words. A little over 23 years ago I was at a friend’s house. We told each other we would not watch the memorial service about to be broadcast, live, from Columbine, Colorado, site of a horrific school shooting. There was nothing to be gained, nothing to be changed by our wallowing...
A Story about Diane

John Willis

Fri, May 27

Category:

Tails from Beacon Hollow Farm

This is a story of the life of a plain and simple person who lived on an island out on the sea. Her name was Diane (Jones) and that explains who she was, nothing more. If you lived on this island, you would have known Diane. She was seemingly around the inner town on any given day that she wasn’t...
- THE SOLAR REPORT -

Wade Ortel

Fri, May 27

Category:

The Solar Report

Electric current, the flow of electron that powers our lives, can be classified into two broad categories. Direct current (DC) is a unidirectional flow of charged particles. The current and voltage can be time variant or invariant, but the polarity remains fixed. Plotted versus time, DC often...
Stages of Spring

Martha Ball

Fri, May 20

Category:

Island Notes

Every year I try to take a photograph of the lilac at the corner of the dooryard, and every year I have varying degrees of failure. The wind is always blowing, the sun is never quite right, the blooms are never as lush as they appear to the naked eye. They are, on the other hand, great examples of...
Bad actors, acting!

J. V. Houlihan

Fri, May 20

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“Okay, Joey we’re doing a panning shot of you and Jo Anne walking into the barn while she struggles,” said Pete. “Then you’re going to tie her up and sing ‘Tip Toe Through the Tulips,’ to her. She’ll look frightened as you’re trying to calm her down with the song. Ya got that?” “Yup,” I said. “Will...
Everyone knows it's Windy

Martha Ball

Fri, May 13

Category:

Island Notes

Yes, it is a line from a song, a very old song, from the 1960s. It was cute and catchy and did not make a whole lot of sense. Unlike some of those tunes there is no “oh, that’s what they were saying” revelation when I read the lyrics. No, it’s just Windy. It’s been windy, the hard, lasting wind...
Hope

Martha Ball

Fri, May 6

Category:

Island Notes

It is Rhode Island Independence Day, a fact I feel obligated to share every May 4. I am greatly chagrined these words will not be printed until well after this date, as I am writing of it only after the fact. It did not fall off my calendar in the usual way of dates forgotten, rather this late-...
2022 Block Island electric vehicle subsidies available

Wade Ortel

Fri, Apr 29

Category:

The Solar Report

Transportation accounts for more than a quarter of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. By switching from vehicles powered by gasoline to those powered by electricity, each of us can make a significant change in our personal environmental impact. The adoption of EVs today, along with the...
Mist over New England

Martha Ball

Fri, Apr 29

Category:

Island Notes

I was, as usual, half-listening to the news, and not watching at all. It was almost 7:30 and had been on for quite a while, recycling some bits of local events and human disasters that have become the staple of newscasts, no matter how distant, and a blurb or two about the machinations of Hollywood...
The Zen of E-Biking, maybe

J.V. Houlihan

Fri, Apr 22

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Let’s get something straight right from the rip, here. I’m not a Zen kind of guy so don’t get all alpha- stated and mediative on me. Moreover, I’m not a Yoga-Gumby guy, either. I’m just not that guy; I guess I just like to see the word Zen in front of a noun. For example, if you plug the word Zen...
After the Storm

Martha Ball

Fri, Apr 22

Category:

Island Notes

Easter Sunday on Block Island was beautiful, sunny, not too warm, with a dip of short-lived clouds in the afternoon before a golden end. Monday, I looked out and saw the egret closer to the house than I’d ever seen it, walking down the lane just beneath my dining room window. It is usually right...
Celebrate Earth Day – help plant beachgrass

Kim Gaffett

Fri, Apr 15

Category:

Ocean Views

It’s time to plant beach grass! The last time the island marshaled a beachgrass planting brigade it was 2019. Because of Covid restrictions, gathering for grass planting was curtailed in 2020 and 2021. Weather-wise we are at the end of the beachgrass planting season, and we are all systems go. On...
THOUGHTS FOR THE SEASON

Fri, Apr 15

Category:

Columnists, Features, Community, Religious Services

Easter 2022 Dear island friends and visitors: “He is not here.” It does not sound like a theological declaration. It sounds more like a receptionist stating the CEO is not in. Yet, when one is working through the impossible and unbelievable, theological profundities are inadequate. Describing an...
Thanks and celebration

Martha Ball

Fri, Apr 15

Category:

Island Notes

A few times I have opened the door from the hall to the open entry and heard a flurry of wings, birds in a nest location scouting or building mode I presumed. It is not an issue, as long as they stay out of my way. And my bookcase when all the doors are open. It is a bit of a haven for them down...

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Island Buzz

This weeks Nature Conservancy Schedule

Posted By

The Block Island Times

9/23

Check out this weeks Nature Conservancy Schedule at https:// www.natureblockisland.org
FALL SALE! 20% OFF

Posted By

Highland Farm Inc.

9/23

Highland Farm’s Fall sale has begun! 20% off all trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, statuary, and lawn ornaments! ***Sale...
Discounted Plants for Fall & Winter Interest

Posted By

Highland Farm Inc.

9/23

As the planting season winds down to an end, we have a robust selection of hardy plants here at Highland Farm that can bring...
Mums, Pumpkins, and More!

Posted By

Highland Farm Inc.

9/23

Fall is here and Highland Farm has everything you need to get into the fall spirit. Our homegrown mums are popping and...
TimberTech by AZEK

Posted By

Riverhead Building Supply

9/22

Riverhead Building Supply offers TimberTech by AZEK Building Products. Click here for the latest collections and styles...
Thinking of Listing Your Home For Sale?

Posted By

Ballard Hall Sales Group

9/19

We would love the opportunity to meet with you! When listing your home for sale, our goal is to market your property in an...

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Island Religion

PART 4 GOD’S ABUNDANT LIFE

Posted By

Block Island Christian Fellowship

9/20

PART 4 GOD’S ABUNDANT LIFE CHAPTER 3 WHAT INHIBITS THE BELIEVER FROM EXPERIENCING GOD’S ABUNDANT LIFE? While there might be...
PART 3 GOD’S ABUNDANT LIFE

Posted By

Block Island Christian Fellowship

9/13

PART 3 GOD’S ABUNDANT LIFE WHERE DOES GOD’S ABUNDANT LIFE COME FROM? How does someone get this abundant life? This is, for...
PART 2 GOD’S ABUNDANT LIFE

Posted By

Block Island Christian Fellowship

9/6

PART 2 GOD’S ABUNDANT LIFE 1 What Is God’s Abundant Life? The best way that I know how to answer this question is by taking...

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