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Columnists

Small Miracles

Martha Ball

Fri, Oct 27

Category:

Island Notes

Wh en duties for this year's Roll Call Dinner were handed out many were the “what you did last year” default and so I happened to already have been assigned to the greeting of people and collection of money when I tumbled on Sunday and hurt my hand/wrist landing on the pavement. There were no...
Between Traffic and Wind

Martha Ball

Fri, Oct 20

Category:

Island Notes

It is a time of year between the traffic that becomes ambient noise — a background we do not notice, but think we do in the blaring horns and foolishly loud motors and pounding speakers — and the constant of our winter lives: wind. Now, after the morning cool is displaced by mid-day warmth and car...
Bashing to windward

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Oct 13

Category:

News, Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

There was an article in Forbes magazine in 2012 that got my attention. It was a piece that dealt with the newly-released album titled “Wrecking Ball,” by Bruce Springsteen. It was an angry album, and some folks thought Springsteen was being a hypocrite for making this record. How could a guy write...
Day Is Done

Martha Ball

Fri, Oct 13

Category:

Island Notes

A few minutes before six, the land was near golden with the light of a lowering sun. The shadows were long, reaching down to the back lot, but still it was a shock to realize sundown was less than twenty minutes distant. It is not yet — quite — that heavy hammer of winter that falls swiftly and...
A living barn

John Willis

Fri, Oct 6

Category:

Columnists

It’s only a barn. Four walls, large hay loft, three horse stalls. A barn is usually the simplest of buildings with few windows, a few large doors, no plumbing, maybe a few overhead lights. Could have one staircase to the hay loft but sometimes just a ladder suffices. No heating system, cold during...
On the corner of... John Rose & Co.

Martha Ball and Mary Anderson

Fri, Sep 29

Category:

Columnists

The John Rose & Company, the gloriously asymmetrical building on Dodge Street that currently houses Lazy Fish and Persephone's Kitchen, was a shop and ship's chandlery, and a hardware store with a small lumber yard across the street. It was among a number of buildings constructed in the decades...
Fallen Leaves

Martha Ball

Fri, Sep 29

Category:

Island Notes

The last Monday in September, the first Monday of fall, it did not seem it would be as difficult as it proved to be to find the scant few seconds it required to take a photo of the Water Street curb, with no foot or vehicular traffic in the frame. It looked, strangely, like fall on the mainland,...
On the mainland... Paul Masse dealerships

Fraser Lang

Fri, Sep 29

Category:

Trips Abroad

This is a great time to buy a new car or truck and a visit to either of Paul Masse’s dealerships in southern Rhode Island is worth the trip. The Buick/GMC dealership on Route 1 near the tower is housed in a relatively new and spacious building appropriate for these high-end brands. When you enter...
Can Do Sailors

J. V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Sep 22

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“Yes, we ran like a scared chicken. After seeing Irma make her forecasted turn to the north up the east coast of Florida, we turned to the east, and chased her—like any badass sailor would—until she was safely clear of the Florida straits.” —Captain Lisa Chaplin-Dixon, Master of the M...
Forgotten Reality

Martha Ball

Fri, Sep 22

Category:

News, Island Notes

Mo nday and the sky is pale, almost without color, the mid-day sun diffused by a cover of fog. September, I am hearing, is never like this and I try not to say too quickly or emphatically, “well, actually. . .” September is remembered as crisp and sunny, a month of gentle breezes and warm water and...
On the Corner of... Pots & Kettles

Martha Ball and Mary Anderson

Mon, Sep 18

Category:

Columnists

Ed. note: The Block Island Historical Society was founded in 1942. To help celebrate its 75th year, the Society’s Diamond Anniversary, The Block Island Times will be publishing sketches and photographs of items in its collection. For those interested in joining or donating to The...
Ducks redux

J. V. Houlihan, Jr.

Sun, Sep 17

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Over the past few years, the phrase “dust ducky,” comes flying out of my mouth when asked how I’m doing. It’s a corny way of saying that things are just fine. In the realm of the geezer, the idea of saying corny stuff is okay — it’s okey-doke — and the reason it’s okay to say a corny phrase when we...
September Hay

Martha Ball

Fri, Sep 15

Category:

Island Notes

I live on the Mansion Road, I grew up living on the Mansion Road. The Searles Mansion burned during school vacation in April of 1963 and in the twenty some years between that time and the purchase of the land and road by the town — with a healthy contribution from Block Island Conservancy — the...
‘Very L.D., dad!’

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Sep 8

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“What fresh hell is this?” — Dorothy Parker. I first read this quote while studying American humor in a special topics class while in graduate school at URI. Parker was what we would call a wit . The quote informs a person who is already experiencing a situational hell, and the...
Scattered Showers and Dappled Sunshine

Martha Ball

Fri, Sep 8

Category:

Island Notes

It is going to be one of those days. The sun was out early, brighter and clearer than I expected it to be given last night's forecast. I dawdled but still made it to the dump with bins of recyclables, stacks of paper and three bags of trash. That seeming bounty represents no more than a long time...
Windy but Hopeful

Martha Ball

Fri, Sep 1

Category:

Island Notes

T u esday was gray and windy but hopeful. We are near the close of a summer of ever-escalating terrible traffic stories, mine capped, perhaps, by meeting a truck on Water Street, in its busiest section, between the turn onto Chapel and the statue of Rebecca. It came at me, not with great speed but...
The Journeyman

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Aug 18

Category:

News, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Journeyman: A worker who learns a skill and then works for another person. — Merriam-Webster A young Christopher Walken came of age in the swirling and roiling cultural stew of Queens, New York — ensconced amidst the hustle, flow, drama, and color of that borough. This is where Walken...
Rain

Martha Ball

Fri, Aug 18

Category:

Island Notes

L ast week, I came home with every expectation of going back out in the evening, but I started reading an old document about a summer of disease on Block Island, written at the start of the 19th century, then fell down the vortex of old documents in archaic language. The forecast was not good and I...
Fishing report: Fishing comes to life

Capt Chris Willi and Capt. Hank Hewitt

Fri, Aug 4

Category:

Fishing Report

Kicking off the August fishing report, we’re pleased to say the catching is good. Starting with the surf zone, the stripers are cooperating at multiple spots around the Island, at sunset and through the night. Shortly prior to sunset, up to full dark, large, noisy, surface lures are turning their...
August Day

Martha Ball

Fri, Aug 4

Category:

Island Notes

It is August, long awaited by some, too quickly arrived for others. The already frenetic pace of summer on Block Island goes into overdrive as The End looms earlier and earlier, driven by school openings long before the once traditional Wednesday after Labor Day. When I was a child, the tourists...
Columbus

J. V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Jul 28

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

While returning to Newport from sailing recently, I passed the Nina and the Pinta. They were docked at Fort Adams and open to the public for a little show and tell. As a I passed the stern of Pinta, I yelled out to a crew member if I could pick his brain about the...
Feathered Sunshine

Martha Ball

Fri, Jul 28

Category:

Island Notes

Chiicory was leaning into the road, still the vivid blue in mid-morning that is generally reserved for early day. It opens bright and hopeful before the sun climbs high and blanches it to a pale ghost of its early self. It is a weed, with a deep tap root, the enduring green of an old yard like mine...
On the corner of... Be our guest, be our guest

Martha Ball and Mary Anderson

Sat, Jul 22

Category:

Columnists

There has long been a restaurant in the spot today occupied by Ballard's Inn, a place that has withstood — and/or been rebuilt after — several hurricanes and one all-consuming fire. Before Ballard's existed, in any of its forms, there was Barber's, a “Shore Dinner House” located “First Building at...
Ocean Views... Two new walks of discovery

Kim Gaffett

Fri, Jul 21

Category:

Ocean Views

The Age of Discovery was a fantastic time in the history of human adventure. It was a time when wanderers of all ilk struck out towards the various compass points of the world to learn what was there. They returned to their port cities and filled the museums with giant tortoises, magnificently...
Ode to the Eagle

Martha Ball

Fri, Jul 21

Category:

Island Notes

A p lane roars by, seemingly outside my window, and I think of open windows and the sounds of summer they gift us, airborne engines as well as chirping birds. It’s a nice moment, before I remember that, of course, there is more air traffic in the summer. As there are more people, strangers, among...
Lobster cars and Ancient Mariners

Martha Ball

Fri, Jul 14

Category:

Ocean Views

It is raining, again. It did so in the morning, yesterday, a series of moving precipitation ranging from downpour to shower. By ten it had stopped and the sky to the east was oddly light, a reversal of what I expect of a storm sliding up the coast. The sky cleared, and by noon we felt the weight of...
On the Corner... of the past and present

Martha Ball and Mary Anderson

Sat, Jul 8

Category:

Columnists

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Block Island Historical Society. Throughout the year we will be highlighting some of the interesting items in its collection. The United States Coast Guard’s first presence on Block Island was in the Lifesaving Service, one of...
Near Mansion Beach

Martha Ball

Fri, Jul 7

Category:

Island Notes

In summer, we are not surrounded by the great whoosh of the winter wind. The first day after a very long Fourth of July weekend celebration is not peppered with fireworks and boat horns, instead, softer, gentler, sounds fill the air. I realize it first when I go outside, to hang clothes on the line...
Just like riding a bike

J. V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Jun 30

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

The best guitar-playing job I ever had was in the mid-80s, on Block Island. Vin McAloon hired me to play from 8 to 11 at a little bar in back of the Atlantic Inn. I’d work at the dock until 3, and then hop on the ferry. I’d hike up High Street and bring my guitar to the room. Then I’d go run a few...
Relocations

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 30

Category:

Island Notes

“How do you do that every week?” someone just asked me, a question I find validating every time I sit down to a blank screen and the reality of not only a deadline, but of having to find a topic. Today I have loose ends swirling around me. Last week I wrote about the building that became Ernie's...
Tails from Beacon Hollow Farm: Radar and Dee

John Willis

Sun, Jun 25

Category:

Columnists

We have two donkeys on a small farm on the island. They came to us out of necessity and as a primitive security system, so to speak. Having chickens, ducks and goats roaming free range (there are no real predators on this island other than dogs), therefore loose dogs are a real problem. Word came...
On the corner of... The Statue of Rebecca

Martha Ball and Mary Anderson

Sat, Jun 24

Category:

Columnists

The day after the Patriots win a Super Bowl, Rebecca wears a football jersey. A great fan of local sports, she also proudly wears the red and white of the Block Island Hurricanes after a significant game. “Who is Rebecca?” or “Is there some significance to the statue?” is an oft-asked question in...
On the mainland... Pasquale’s

Fraser Lang

Fri, Jun 23

Category:

News, Trips Abroad

When I say “authentic,” I really mean it. Pasquale’s, A Pizza Napulitana, is the real deal. Pasquale’s is located in South County Commons in Wakefield, but its roots are in Italy. Owner Pasquale Illiano was born and raised in Naples. That’s where he leaned to cook and perfected his techniques. A...
The Dutch Inn: A retrospective

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Jun 23

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

When the Dutch Inn was built in Galilee many years ago, it looked more ornate than it does today. It had a faux windmill and windows on its tower. It was designed as a full-blown resort hotel. The Inn had an indoor pool (with real parrots in the trees), outdoor tennis courts, a sauna and gym,...
Happenstance

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 23

Category:

Island Notes

In a small town things have a way of intersecting. I read a restaurant review of Breakfast at Ernie's and thought how happy my father would be to know another generation was carrying on the tradition in which he had such faith so many years ago. It happened to be the weekend of Father's Day and in...
June

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 16

Category:

Island Notes

The heat came back and with it the June bugs, the air-borne, armored, harmless but annoying creatures that fly through open windows, buzzing about aimlessly until I feel a touch, the slightest weight of one landed on my head, in my hair. Then, all bets are off and the little tank of a beast is...
An old butter churn

Martha Ball and Mary Anderson

Sat, Jun 10

Category:

Columnists

Ed. note: The Block Island Historical Society was founded in 1942. To help celebrate its 75th year, the Society’s Diamond Anniversary, The Block Island Times will be publishing sketches and photographs of items in its collection. For those interested in joining or donating to The...
Sunshine Afternoon

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 9

Category:

Island Notes

It is June and, when I am home, I leave the front doors, living room, hall, and entry all wide open. My springtime expectation of birds flying into the house, confused by plentiful natural light within, has not been much realized this year, although the season is new. A nest was begun in a corner...
Waiting for Summer

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 2

Category:

Island Notes

This past weekend I somewhere read that among the reasons May 30 was chosen for Memorial Day, before the Uniform Holiday Act relegated it to a Monday, was the fact that flowers were in fullest bloom. It is a harsh reality of the start of every June, that grasses, where allowed, have grown tall and...
Garden Report: Japanese Barberry and ticks

Renée Meyer

Sun, May 28

Category:

Gardening Report

What’s not to love about a drought- and deer-tolerant ornamental shrub with colorful foliage, plentiful red berries and cute, although inconspicuous little flowers? Quite a bit, it seems. Japanese barberry ( Berberis thunbergii ) was brought to the United States in the late 1800s. Fast...
The fish are here

Capt. Chris Willi and Capt. Hank Hewitt

Sat, May 27

Category:

Fishing Report

At last, after a seemingly interminable winter, the fish are here and the season is underway. To lead off with a shore-based report, the striped bass are here in numbers, yet no keeper sizes as of yet. They are feeding around sunset and sunrise in the Coast Guard Channel, and throughout the Great...
On the corner of... A Piccilo-Zither music box

Martha Ball and Mary Anderson

Fri, May 26

Category:

Columnists

The Block Island Historical Society was formed in immediate reaction to an item in Lucretia Mott Ball’s will, whereby personal items of especial interest and value were to be given “to museums or historical collections” preferably in New England. She died in 1941; the local organization was...
Morning Sounds

Martha Ball

Fri, May 26

Category:

Columnists

This morning I went outside, my feet still in the old sneakers I wear as slippers, in deference to a dog who, at any given time, may leave a chewed bit of a stick in my path. It was not especially early but the air was dense, on the verge of a light sprinkle, and the grass that is always wet at...
On the Mainland: A&B Family Appliances

Fraser Lang

Thu, May 25

Category:

Loose ends

Jim Buchanan is a hands-on owner. Jim and his wife Anne own A & B Family Appliances in Wakefield. He’s always told me that he “does what it takes” to keep his business going. I wasn’t surprised, therefore, to call one morning and learn that he was out delivering a refrigerator. I called later...
At the Harbor

Martha Ball

Fri, May 19

Category:

Island Notes

The rain has stopped, and with hanging sheets on the line I think of my mother saying this was the time to spread white linens on new grass to brighten them. Then I realize I feel the strength of the spring sun on my face from an hour spent beside the water yesterday afternoon. The work on the Old...
On the corner of...

Martha Ball and Mary Anderson

Fri, May 12

Category:

Columnists

Ed. note: The Block Island Historical Society was founded in 1942. To help celebrate its 75th year, the Society’s Diamond Anniversary, The Block Island Times will be publishing sketches and photographs of items in its collection. For those interested in joining or donating to The...
It’s An Island

Martha Ball

Fri, May 12

Category:

Island Notes

The last few years the prevalent theme of my columns written in early May has been centered on green and gray, underscored with a protest that it should not be this way. My easily recalled memories of the start of this month are all golden sunshine, long afternoons and verdant hills. While I do not...
Sirens in the Sea

Martha Ball

Fri, May 5

Category:

Island Notes

Monday was reminiscent of one of those Easters when we have to take on faith that there is a sun rising from the ocean out behind the clouds, easy enough when our imagining is buoyed by ambient light growing as we let slip our hope for a ray of gold to gild the sky and show us that morning truly...
On the Mainland: Inside Style

Fraser Lang

Sun, Apr 30

Category:

Trips Abroad

Lee Chartier, owner of Inside Style in Wakefield, wins your confidence right from the start. She is warm, knowledgeable and open. Her trademark approach is to work collaboratively with clients, getting to know what they are comfortable with to transform a space that reflects their tastes with her...
Jeremiah Littlefield’s fishing tackle

On the corner of...

Mary Anderson and Martha Ball

Sat, Apr 29

Category:

Columnists

Ed. note: The Block Island Historical Society was founded in 1942. To help celebrate its 75th year, the Society’s Diamond Anniversary, The Block Island Times will be publishing sketches and photographs of items in its collection. For those interested in joining or donating to The...

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