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Columnists

Rolling spring

Martha Ball

Thu, Apr 2

Category:

Island Notes

W hen I came inside yesterday afternoon the sparse forsythia scraping my window, the same that seems unable to recover from having been cut to the ground a few years ago, that refuses to do more than send ever taller shoots upward, glowed. Its yellow blossoms were like so many little suns on the...
Horizon Bound

J. V. Houlihan

Fri, Mar 27

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

John Walmsley grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and spent his summers at Point Judith’s Breakwater Village. Walmsley started angling at the age of four and would fish the east wall or go out on his dad’s boat. (I remember his grandfather, Samuel Walmsley, when I was growing up in the Village — he...
Everlasting

Martha Ball

Thu, Mar 26

Category:

Island Notes

I t is March and it is 43, the sky is cloudy and gray, the wind is blowing from the east, the sound of it rising and falling, blocking out birdsong and the dull thunder of the white-capped ocean. I do hear the dog, moving between the yard and the front lot, barking at whatever she has decided it is...
Our little island

Martha Ball

Thu, Mar 19

Category:

Island Notes

W e live on an island. It is not the Block Island of 1918, already sliding from the Glory Days of early tourism. A war was winding down while another trend was emerging: transportation was starting to shift away from the rail and steamers that had fed the great hotels all along the New England...
Celebrating seals and the Vernal Equinox

Kim Gaffett

Thu, Mar 12

Category:

Ocean Views

As we teeter on the cusp of spring we may find ourselves suddenly in a day where the wind has abated, and the afternoon sun feels so warm that it is like a Siren’s call to sit, and loll, on the lee side of a favorite stone wall while taking a little rest. If we are lucky, and let ourselves succumb...
Information and voting

Martha Ball

Thu, Mar 12

Category:

Island Notes

In the fall of 1986, it was becoming more difficult for my mother to ascribe to “arthritis” the visible impact of the terminal bone cancer that had been diagnosed in January 1981. She told us, my brother and me, at the outset that she would not be making it public, she didn't want people asking her...
A noontime phenomenon

Martha Ball

Thu, Mar 5

Category:

Island Notes

M y father was a roofer. It seems odd, now, that back in the 1950's and 60's, when work was so scarce, there would be any specialization of labor and, in retrospect, I suppose when push came to shove there was none of the “I don't paint” sort of talk one hears today. Still it is roofs I remember...
Breaking nice

J. V. Houlihan

Thu, Feb 27

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“I don’t like Walter, and the writing is weak since Gus died. I don’t like this program, anymore.” This is how the hit series “Breaking Bad,” ended in our household. It was not a negotiation for the bride to continue for a few more episodes to see how the writers would wrap up the hellacious...
Februarymarch

Martha Ball

Thu, Feb 27

Category:

Island Notes

I t's one of those years again, one of those divisible by four years wherein February has an extra day, and still remains the shortest month. Except, of course, for those years which are also evenly divisible by 100 unless — wait for it — they they are evenly divisible by 400. And while George...
Behind the Barn

Martha Ball

Thu, Feb 20

Category:

Island Notes

W hen the area around the old barn foundation was opened up in preparation for the arrival of the Icelandic horses two years ago I had cautions, hidden stones and steps in one field, an old cistern behind the barn. Strangely, only recently has it struck me that it was never known as more than The...
A New Purpose

Martha Ball

Thu, Feb 13

Category:

Island Notes

H ow long has it been since the Champlin's case began? Sometime near the start, the end of 2003 or the start of 2004, I answered my landline, my phone of choice as I tried to keep the minutes on my town-issued cell down. It was a friend in North Kingstown, who told me to go to the Town Hall and “...
To windward, charge! (Or, how did we make it this far?)

J.V. Houlihan

Thu, Jan 30

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

This coming year of 2020 my wife and I are both charging on the quick step toward our 70th trip around the sun, and sometimes we have little discussions about how we got this far — in one piece. We both came up in Scotch/Irish/Yankee working-class families in Pawtucket, R.I. in the 50s. We came of...
Threads of Gold

Martha Ball

Thu, Jan 30

Category:

Island Notes

Ed. Note: Martha is out sick this week. We found this column that was published 20 years ago on Jan. 29, 2000: T he sun was a reluctant player on the first day in eight the temperature crept above freezing. Statistically, they tell us, the week just beginning, the last in January, is the...
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...

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Island Buzz

Still Looking for a Summer Rental?

Posted By

Sullivan Sotheby's International Realty

4/5

Sullivan Sotheby’s International Realty has some great options, if your still searching for that perfect Summer Rental. We...
Highland Farm is still open for BI deliveries

Posted By

Highland Farm Inc.

4/5

COVID-19 update: We hope all of you are staying safe and healthy out there on the island. Highland Farm is still open for...
History Happening Here

Posted By

Block Island Historical Society

4/4

***August 13,2020 House & Garden Tour: Southwest Point 10am to 3pm.On Hold until further notice*** All are welcome to...
2014 Subaru Forester

Posted By

- Private group -

4/4

Price: $11,995 Exterior: Green Year: 2014 Interior: Make: Subaru Trim/Package: AWD 2.5i Premium 4dr Wagon CVT Model:...
This weeks Nature Conservancy Schedule

Posted By

The Block Island Times

4/4

Check out this weeks Nature Conservancy Schedule at https://www.nature.org
Antique Maps and Vintage Photographs

Posted By

Block Island Historical Society

4/4

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

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Island Religion

Sunday Worship - April 5

Posted By

Harbor Church

4/5

Event Date:

Sun, Apr 5 - 5:00 pm

Sunday Worship April 5 YouTube here
SHAME ON YOU LEADERS OF THE FLOCK!!!!!!!! WHO FAIL TO PROTECT GOD’S PEOPLE DURING THIS CORONA CRISIS.

Posted By

Block Island Christian Fellowship

4/2

SHAME ON YOU LEADERS OF THE FLOCK!!!!!!!! WHO FAIL TO PROTECT GOD’S PEOPLE DURING THIS CORONA CRISIS. As some know, I write...
PART 3 RICHES BEYOND MEASURE

Posted By

Block Island Christian Fellowship

4/2

PART 3 RICHES BEYOND MEASURE CHAPTER 3 What Inhibits the Believer from Experiencing God’s Abundant Life? While there might...

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