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Columnists

Ocean Views: Citizen Science: Seals, birds, and flowers, … Oh, my!

Kim Gaffett

Thu, Jan 31

Category:

Ocean Views

You might ask in wonderment, what do seals, and birds and flowers have in common? The answer is — for this article — citizen science. Citizen science is the process of many volunteers collecting observations and reporting them to one scientist/entity that is building a database of information. It’s...
A coastal dweller

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Jan 31

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

In 1957 our dad took us all to Galilee — The Point — in his two-tone green ’55 Plymouth sedan to walk along the bulkheads and docks. I clearly remember walking by a gallows frame where some giant tuna hung, where they were being weighed — before they were gutted and headed. The frame was right...
The storm will come again

Martha Ball

Thu, Jan 31

Category:

Island Notes

Is the level of the sea rising? It seems to be, I am not a denier. The rim of the dredged Old Harbor basin once was regularly visible on a low tide; now it is a rarity. Still, it is hard to tell, here. The beach is a fluid place where a six-inch pyramid poking out of sand in early September is a...
Mystic carves a niche in island signs — and beyond

Michael Schroeder

Thu, Jan 24

Category:

Trips Abroad

The Mohegan Café. Water Street Inn. Harborside. New Shoreham House. Seacrest Inn. For anyone who’s been to Block Island, these signs are hard to miss. And one of the reasons is the unique signage created by Cameron Bortz and his team at Mystic Hand Carved Signs. Bortz has been creating signs for...
Ocean Views: Food waste is serious

Thu, Jan 24

Category:

Ocean Views

Calling all chefs… and composters, back yard recyclers, and transfer station managers, and anyone interested in knowing more about how food waste is being handled (or not handled) worldwide, to a viewing of an incredibly interesting film, “Wasted! The story of food waste,” on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at...
Spy hopping, banana posing and other seal questions

Kim Gaffett and Clair Stover

Thu, Jan 17

Category:

Ocean Views

With our yards and meadows mostly buttoned-up or battened-down, we are paying more attention to our island-wide back yard. Have you ever been walking on the beach, and realized that somebody was watching you? Or, lost in thought admiring the rivulets of sand — created how? by wind or wave? — and...
Gold and Blue

Martha Ball

Thu, Jan 17

Category:

Island Notes

Th e afternoon is 26 minutes longer than it was in mid-December, when sunset came the earliest it does the whole year. I keep reminding myself it is only mid-January, there is much cold weather to come before we again hear peepers. Then I come home just before four, after a dull morning and an...
Bruce Springsteen’s Odyssean quest

J. V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Jan 10

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Bruce Springsteen, like Odysseus, is a man of twists and turns trying to get home — both finally did get home; Odysseus got home to the island of Ithaca, and Bruce got home to Freehold, New Jersey, and to Penelope and Patti. In the bardic tradition of Homer, Springsteen is a hell of a story teller...
Water light

Martha Ball

Thu, Jan 10

Category:

Island Notes

It is January, the traffic is sparse and the town highway crew is out with its long-armed mower, gnawing back the ever-encroaching brush that grows up over walls wanting the roads. That effort, coupled with the seasonal loss of leaves, opens the wider view we experience in winter. The sun is in a...
57 species collected, one by one

Ocean Views: 2018 Bird Census

KIm Gaffett

Fri, Jan 4

Category:

Ocean Views

On Wednesday, Dec. 26, a hearty band of bird watchers — Jon Peterson, Heather Hatfield, Anne Connelli, Judy Gray, Jules Craynock, Sarah Grey, Laura Rosenzwieg, Cathy Payne, her granddaughter Bailey Payne, and cousin Aidan — met at Sachem Pond to kick off a day of looking for birds to be tallied for...
The Sea Is So Great...

Martha Ball

Thu, Jan 3

Category:

Island Notes

Th e New Year came in on a dour note, wind-driven rain slamming the south-facing windows near the foot of my bed. I would not sleep, I knew, so I stayed up late, reading a book loaned to me several years ago. The bookmark was about four pages in, then I must have put it down before eventually...
Sometime in New York City

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Jan 3

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Last November I decided to go to New York City to learn about a place called Gramercy Park and meet some New Yorkers. Reading New York City history is one of my favorite past times; authors Russell Shorto, Pete Hamill, E.B. White and Luc Sante have told me The Big Apple story. Beginning with the...
Let us entertain you

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Dec 27

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Online retailers have fairly recently jumped into the creative arena, producing original content that is disrupting the old distribution models for television shows and movies. My wife and I finally hopped aboard to see what all the fuss was about and I’m glad we did. The first show we dialed up on...
Another Year

Martha Ball

Thu, Dec 27

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

Th ere was a dusting of snow on the ground one morning earlier this week. It appeared, at first, at least through lacy curtains, to be that super-frost that can glaze the world on a cold morning, and turn whole fields white. Later, though, there were actual clumps out in the field, real snow...
Thoughts for the advent season: Timeless

Pastor Peter Preiser

Fri, Dec 21

Category:

Columnists

The holidays are a natural time for reflecting upon our traditions. I recently rediscovered an article that speaks of a balanced approach to the time-honored, deeply-cherished traditions of our Judeo-Christian heritage. It was written by author Betsy Childs Howard: “My mother recently gave me a...
Ocean Views: Evening grosbeaks and other winter finches

Kim Gaffett

Fri, Dec 21

Category:

Ocean Views

Winter finches: purple finch, common redpoll, white-winged crossbills, pine siskins, and evening grosbeaks — all members of the finch family Fringillidae — are expected to be seen in unusually high numbers this winter as far south as New York and New England, and maybe even beyond. On Block...
To Your health: Winter’s silent killer

Yaa Frimpong, Warren Alpert School of Medicine class of 2019

Thu, Dec 20

Category:

Columnists

Your home: It’s your place of refuge… a zone of safety for you and your family. However, there are dangers even within the boundaries of your sanctuary. From gasses to metals, and even over-the-counter medicines, there are important precautions you should take to ensure your home is free from...
The giving and receiving season

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Dec 20

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

I was alone in the elevator of the Prudential Tower in Boston as it was going up to the observation deck like a bat out of hell; after absconding with the pen and stationery from the lobby for my mission at the top of the building. It had a been wild night in ‘68. I had gotten lost near Roxbury and...
Tails of Beacon Hollow Farm: Christmas at Thanksgiving

John Willis

Thu, Dec 20

Category:

Columnists

It started out dark, cold and overcast the Wednesday before Thanksgiving 1989. The wind began to blow as it does on Block Island, a bit easterly when a nor’easter is brewing. As morning headed towards noon, snow began to fall and yes, for sure, the afternoon boats were cancelled. My wife and I had...
Before the yule

Martha Ball

Thu, Dec 20

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

The d ays are at their shortest, the Solstice is nearly upon us, with the great, silver Cold — or the Before the Yule — Moon immediately following it. Last night, after a windy, chilly day, the night was settling and bright, the moon shadows of one leafless tree stretched across the yard when I...
To Your Health: An open letter about vaccinations

Gabriel Lupu, Warren Alpert School of Medicine class of 2019

Fri, Dec 14

Category:

Columnists

Dear Ms. Z, You have embarked on what may be the toughest and yet most rewarding job the world has ever known: being a mom. It was a pleasure to sit and talk with you today in the clinic about the pros and cons regarding vaccination. I could see a familiar concern in your eyes. I’ve sat and talked...
December Dark

Martha Ball

Thu, Dec 13

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

Ea rlier in the week we had a sunset so magnificent the thought of taking out a paltry phone to try to capture the sheer majesty of it was not even formed. I happened to be out, in the stillness that sometimes comes at day's end, talking with people come to tend the horses that live in my reclaimed...
Joy to the World

Pastor Peter Preiser

Fri, Dec 7

Category:

Columnists

We don’t often use the word joy in our everyday conversation, but it is part of the traditional landscape at this time of year. When you think of the word joy, what is the first thing that comes to mind? The experience of gladness? Happiness of heart? These are a part of what joy is, but not the...
Relics

Martha Ball

Fri, Dec 7

Category:

Island Notes

Autumn is lying on the grass in the front yard, watchful for any activity on the road, ever hopeful a vehicle will turn this way. It is warmer than it was, the temperature creeping above freezing as noontime approaches, and the sun is shining. My dog, as an exploring adolescent, first discovered a...
Creaking Tree

Martha Ball

Thu, Nov 29

Category:

Island Notes

Th e Thanksgiving weekend was cold, just plain silly cold. I remember a freak snow one year, when I was in Massachusetts, “trough snow” they called it, falling unexpectedly between two weather systems, neither of which had given any indication the previous night that there would be inches of white...
Dog Star

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Nov 29

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Some folks don’t like the cold winters of the Northeast, that’s why these reasonable people of means go to warmer climates and dodge the snow, ice, heating bills, dead batteries, slick roads, black ice, broken snow shovels, snow blowers, power outages, sore backs, bread and milk shortages, cabin...
Back to basics

J. V. Houlihan Jr.

Tue, Nov 20

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

We currently live in a land of great wealth. There is an abundance of things to buy, collect, discard, and buy again — and again. For example, high end clothing trends get tuned up in the couture houses of Paris, then get marketed by having perfectly cheek-boned models strut down a runway while...
Keepers of the Light

Martha Ball

Tue, Nov 20

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

The solitary white beacon at the North End of the island has drawn people to it since its construction. The Rev. Livermore wrote of the fourth, and final, lighthouse to occupy that spot “In 1861 Hr. Hiram D. Ball was appointed keeper of the Sandy Point lighthouse, under President Lincoln. “This...
Lighthouse Keepers

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Nov 15

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

On Nov. 15 at 9 p.m. WGBH premiered — see more showing dates and times below — a documentary titled “Keepers of the Light.” It deals with the moving of the Gay Head Lighthouse on the western tip of Martha’s Vineyard. Moreover, the film shows a couple of similarities that were involved with the...
Too Early

Martha Ball

Thu, Nov 15

Category:

Island Notes

The fall brings us darkening days punctuated by east wind driven rain. We think of extreme weather, the Perfect Storm in 1991 and Sandy in 2012 but the truth is it happens every year to some degree, the wet before the winter, the fabled filling of the ponds purportedly prerequisite to the settling...
For a Mint

Martha Ball

Thu, Nov 8

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

My big golden dog is a sort of pointless sentry. She lies on my bed in the morning sun, looking out over the meadows, imagining herself on some high alert, making a little noise, somewhere between a purr and a baby growl, in the back of her throat, barking on occasion, usually at something I cannot...
Four in fourteen

Martha Ball

Thu, Nov 1

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

To day the duck boats rolled through Boston, celebrating yet another World Series Championship. A few fans were a bit too taken by the moment and threw full cans of beer, I gather to be caught by the riders who could open them and spray anyone nearby. I thought, as I have many times over these past...
Robert G. Goode, Jr., poet

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Oct 25

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

While in a Jamestown sandwich shop a few weeks ago, I had the good fortune to see a former student named Robert Goode, who is a Jamestown resident. He came into the shop with his backpack filled with books and writing journals and sat across from me as I waited for my sandwich. We did the standard...
Pie!

Martha Ball

Thu, Oct 25

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

T w o years ago, I walked past a window and for the first time realized I could see from it one of the wind turbines that had been installed the previous summer. It was a surprise, I knew there was some visibility from the Mansion Beach, but I had never before noticed one from my house. It had to...
Tom McGuane, writer

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Oct 18

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

I started reading Tom McGuane’s books just a few years ago after a friend suggested a couple of titles. I liked his stuff right from the jump. McGuane works his readers hard; attention must constantly be paid to where his characters are going and what they are doing—or not doing. His characters are...
October Rose

Martha Ball

Thu, Oct 18

Category:

Island Notes

On ce or twice a month I go to the airport to pick up some prescription, by a slightly out-of-the-way route, across the bridge and along the length of Beach Avenue. There is dramatically less traffic than there has been, the funny little jog when Beach and Ocean cross not a spot of merging traffic...
Sailing a boat

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Oct 11

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

The first time I attempted rigging out a sailboat was in 1959. It was at my uncle’s summer house on Greenwich Bay. My sister Janie, myself and a random beach kid — in July heat and slack wind — got the sail up the mast on a sailing dinghy called What, Me Worry? My sister was the brains of...
Bookends

Martha Ball

Thu, Oct 11

Category:

Island Notes

Th ere were, last night, traces of light in the western sky as seven o'clock approached and I reminded myself how differently I will feel on the other side of the the year when such is an indication of lengthening sunlight, a climbing out of the abyss of winter. Except there is no true counterpart...
The Osprey

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Oct 4

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“How come that windmill next to George’s fell down and those Osprey nests, don’t,” asked local fishing Captain Ralph Pearson one winter morning in a local coffee shop. Ospreys, also known as fish hawks, are clever hunters and great engineers — they’re persistent and forthright, too. Captain Ralph’s...
Autumn Water

Capts. Chris Willi and Hank Hewitt

Thu, Oct 4

Category:

Columnists, Fishing Report

For many New England anglers, Autumn marks the beginning of the end of the season. So unless you’re a hunter or like to ice fish, there is a desperate scramble to get as many fishing days in before December comes. Autumn also marks the “fall run” of striped bass, which as of late hasn’t been much...
From August into October

Martha Ball

Thu, Oct 4

Category:

Columnists, Island Notes

Th e birds in the collection at the school bear little hand-written tags, identification and history crammed onto small rectangles of aging paper, or they were, perhaps the originals have been archived. Nonetheless, I know some include a notation of being found at the Southeast Lighthouse,...
Rowing a boat

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Sep 27

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

As a young kid around age 10, the most transformative experience — besides riding a bicycle — I ever had was when I rented a rowboat on a small pond on Cape Cod. While on a camping trip, I noticed a beat-up rowboat to hire for short money — 50 cents an hour. I flipped a guy four quarters and hopped...
Sun Shower

Martha Ball

Thu, Sep 27

Category:

Island Notes

This morning it poured, thunder rolled, the radar showed green with localized, just over us, splotches of electric yellow. The rain slowed and stopped and the sky turned a dour gray. It is a time of seasonal uncertainty, and the first hours of the days were spent opening and closing windows,...
There are natural ways to kill your weeds

Renée Meyer

Thu, Sep 27

Category:

Gardening Report

In these times, when America’s most popular chemical weed-killer, Roundup, is undergoing more scrutiny and Block Island looks for a means of eliminating its use, it’s a good time to look into more natural solutions. One of the hallmarks of late autumn is the unmistakable smell of vinegar emanating...
Green and Gold and Gray

Martha Ball

Fri, Sep 21

Category:

Island Notes

In the morning my dog lies on my bed, her nose to the open, west-facing window, watching, waiting for a sign of activity on the road that bisects my front lot. Sometimes it is only an early deer, or five, that catches her attention and after a brief “are you sure you don't want to come?” wag of her...
North End

Martha Ball

Fri, Sep 14

Category:

Island Notes

La st week someone came into the photography gallery where I work, intending to show companions photos of the North Light. He was, he claimed, a descendant of the first keeper, something I thought unlikely, based on knowledge even more narrow than I realized. The first keeper was Hiram Ball; that...
Butterflies and Bouquets

Martha Ball

Thu, Sep 6

Category:

Island Notes

B usted, my dog is busted! Several days this summer I have come home to find her lying on the thick grass in the shade of the knotweed, the singular stand that has always been in place, a buffer, perhaps, from when the barn yard was truly that and twice a day cows trekked across it to the... barn...
On the Hill

Martha Ball

Fri, Aug 31

Category:

Island Notes

“S um mer is over!” was the proclamation several days ago, when the temperature dropped and the breezes swept away the lingering humidity. I delighted in the weight of a blanket on a cool night, knowing it would be a long time before there was anything approaching deep cold. Then the heat came back...
Print media in the digital age

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Aug 24

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

While taking a Mass Media course in graduate school, we had a professor who had a mesmerizing voice and an easy manner — a Mister Rogers for adults. He had a soothing tonality that could send us into a relaxing alpha state or a deep sleep; however, his class was so interesting that we were all...
Butterfly Morning

Martha Ball

Fri, Aug 24

Category:

Island Notes

It has been a hot, humid summer, but for those two weeks of heaven after the tropical stretch surrounding the Fourth of July. Rain has come at last, albeit sporadically, and every night I check the forecast before leaving my car windows open, one of those luxuries of the season. Mornings are...

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