Hello, folks. It’s good to be back doing the report again. Thanks to the Working Waterfront editor for having me back. And also, thanks to the two fine ladies in Cutler for saying they had missed my articles. Since I’m starting up the column again so late in the year, I’ll just jot down random notes of the past months on Little Cranberry Island …
Saturday, April 21. Temp. 50 at noon and wind SW at 10 knots. A frosty morn. Lobster catches not too good as yet, but the men are getting ready. The boat price for lobsters, however, is way up to $7.50 per lb., which gives some incentive to venture out …
April 27. Wind east at 6 knots. Venus bright in the east, rising about 4 a.m. A photo show at the Neighborhood House at 1 p.m. today, the successful result of many weeks of hard work by the school children. The black and white photos were all taken and developed by them and mounted properly for display. The pictures had a professional looking quality and showed that the students must have enjoyed their special courses in photography …
May 28, Memorial Day. Foggy, temp. 50 and wind SW 12 knots at noon. Lots of people spilled off the boats and onto the island today. Friends, relatives and a light scattering of “tour-isters.” Some gathered and cooked mussels from our beaches. Others picked sea spinach and smelled the sea. The island cemeteries look nice, freshly mowed and the new flags fly on our war veterans’ graves …
June 21. Its the first day of summer, beginning at 3:38 a.m. Also the planet Mars is the closest to Earth right now than it has been for many years: glowing reddish bright, at night in our southern sky. I was in high school in Waterville when Orson Welles scared a lot of people with his radio program about visitors from Mars! …
July 16. There are some Buddhist nuns and a monk visiting the island. They were with Ashley Bryan for a while, today, and are staying at Sue Hills’ town house tonight.
July 17. A rainy morn and foggy. A memorial dedication at the lower sand beach area about 11 a.m. This coastal site and strip of Hadlock land was dedicated by Dale Hadlock and set aside for the enjoyment of island residents and visitors. The dedication carried out the wishes of his late father, William E. Hadlock. Dale and his sister, Joyce Walker, unveiled a plaque commemorating their late father and the working vessels of the Hadlock fleet …
July 28. Temp. 74 at noon today and wind WNW 15 knots. Bob Mocarsky and his Russian bride, Katya, are here now and living at his parents’ home on upper Main St. Rob has finished his time in the Peace Corps, where he served for two years in Kasakhstan. He and his wife were married there in the city of Petrotavlovsk in February, 2001. Rob was a former school teacher here and is now back doing substitute teaching …
Aug. 14. Temp. 70 with a light east wind. Our daughter, Serena Lee, husband Neal and out little granddaughter, Hanni, are visiting us for a while. The barge brought on some sections of a new house that is being put up on town land for the Cranberry Island Realty Trust (CIRT). A large folding crane came along to put it up. It was done quickly and efficiently. There is still more to be done and then to find and select the occupants …
Aug. 24. 70 degrees at noon, wind 8 knots. Our summer has been very active. Lots of boats and bikes about. The party boats have done well. Marion Baker will have an exhibition of the children’s creations from her pottery shop tomorrow. Our local contractors are working at various places …
Aug. 28. Enter-tainer Lee Southard performed two shows here tonight, “How to Talk Mainer,” with his own music, to benefit the Islesford Scholarship Fund …
Sept. 2. A sun-ny morning with a “fallish” feel. Lob-stermen are mostly out and at it! they can fish on Sun-days now. Non-fishing Sundays are only for June, July and August. Price now is $3 per lb. for shedders, 55 cents per lb. for crabs. A nice brunch at the Dock Restaurant this morning, their last day of regular servings until 2002. I visited “Twinkie” Smith at her home on the north shore recently. She told me about the little cat rigged sailboats called “Optimists” that the Little Cranberry Yacht Club had bought for their Jr. members to use … a full “Barley Moon” shines down tonight.
Sept. 4. Cloudy with a SSW wind at 15 knots, temp. 64 at noon. Today is the first day of school. Tim DeSchiffart will be teaching the younger children this year, and a new young schoolmarm, Rebecca Cross, from Scarborough, will teach the older pupils. There are twelve in all, eleven from Islesford, and one little girl, Brittony McKelvin, from Great Cranberry, commutes daily on the mailboat.
Sept. 7. A cross country jr. high race on Mt. Desert Island today; 47 children took part. From our island: Christy Spurling came in third, Christina Blank fourth, Heather Spurling 23rd, Frances Blank 25th, Gretchen Blank was 27th and Emily Thomas 45th. The Islesford team took third place out of four teams …
Sept. 11. Wind west at 10 knots and temp. 72 at noon. Early this morning, as it was happening, Serena Lee phoned us from Connecticut to tell us of the terrible terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. We turned on our TV and watched in disbelief. This is a day of sadness, and a day that can change our nation and the world forever.
Sept. 16. Wind SW 15 knots, temp. 62. Sunny and pleasant all day. An open house to view the new CIRT house at 3 p.m. No prospective tenants have been lined up yet …
Sept. 18. Temp. 58 at noon, wind N 10 knots. A fund raiser potluck supper at the Neighborhood House brought a large crowd together, one week after the fall of the World Trade towers. The donations for disaster relief were generous and kept coming in for days after the supper was over. Earlier last week, on Friday the 14th, Islesford residents attended a memorial service at noon in the Congr. church. The Rev. Alden Hathaway led us in prayer, as we joined together in spirit with other services across the country in a national day of mourning.
Saturday, Sept. 22. Wind SE at 10 knots, temp. 60, bar. 30:06 at noon. Autumn arrives at 7:04 p.m.
Oct. 6. Temp. 57, wind S by W at 30 knots. A harvest supper at Neighborhood House beginning at 6 p.m. Well over 100 people were there. Many of our summer residents had returned too, for this ample feed and event. Rev. Bruce Langford gave a brief benediction and asked for a few moments of silence in memory of those hurt and killed in the terrorist attacks, and more money was donated to the Red Cross. It was also Susie Krasnow’s birthday and we all sang “Happy Birthday” to her.
Oct. 15, SSW wind and temp at noon 51. We heard the sad news today that Dr. John Brooks, a summer resident here for many years, died today in Fox Hill Village, Massachusetts. His early surgical training was interrupted by World War II, during which he served on Guam in the Pacific. He was chief of surgery at Harvard Univ. Health Services for three decades, and was on the staff at Peter Bent Brigham Hosp. in Boston for 40 years. He was a kind man, always willing to help his island neighbors. He loved his summers at Islesford and sailing his series of sloops, cruising the Maine coast. We will all miss Dr. John. We have also more sad news, that his older brother, Arthur, had died in September.
Oct. 21. 40 degrees at 6 a.m. but up to 57 at noon with a light SW wind. Sally Corson told me that her brother, Peter Lord, had come in third out of 19 entries in the Senior Veterans’ Singles Class of racing shells that took part in the regatta on the Charles River, Boston, today. Peter and his wife, Suzanne, will be leaving in November for their cottage on North Island, New Zealand, about as far south of the Equator as we are north. They will enjoy another summer.
Saturday, Oct. 27. Wind west today at 20 knots, temp. 50. Our town float was taken up on the 24th and we will use the Dock stairway until spring. Lobster price has dropped to $2.85 per lb. Clocks go back one hour tonight, returning us to Eastern Standard Time.
Oct. 31. Temp. 44 at noon, wind WSW, 25 knots and gusty. Planets Venus and Mercury are close together, side by side and low in the east at 6 a.m. Twelve children came to our home this pleasant Halloween night for “trick or treat” and to be with the little kids were three adults, Steve Philbrook, Tim, the teacher, and Joy, the postmaster. The latter three did not ask for treats, but Joy did accept a granola bar. Special good wishes to all, as we face the days ahead.
— Ted Spurling, Sr.
Islesford