Articles
Doing Lunch
Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but if you ride the mail boat in the Cranberry Isles, chances are that lunch is your most talked about meal. As you board the ferry with empty canvas bags, going ashore for appointments, shopping and such, you rarely hear us ask each other what
Cyber-Not
When it comes to cell phones, I admit to being behind the times. We don’t get a good cell signal on our street on Islesford, so we still need, and use, a landline at our house. I can sit on the wide windowsill in our dining room, with my head against the glass, and get
Give Us This Day…
One of the things that still stands out from my senior year in college is learning to make English muffins from my roommate, Meg. Before the muffins could be made, she stirred flour, water and yeast together, letting it stand for two days at room temperature, creating a “starter” for the muffin dough. It was
Migrations
When I look forward to the slowdown after August, I picture feeling peaceful, yet purposeful, during crisp autumn days. There are fewer distractions and more daily chores to help me prioritize the time I need for my own work. If I don’t have to go off the island, I try to manage an uninterrupted block
August by Rote
I was listening to some TV news, in the background of my morning routine, when I heard that someone, somewhere, had narrowly survived an encounter with a shark. Didn’t I hear the same news last week, and also the week before? Life seems repetitive to me on this mid-August Monday, and I consider the recurring
Deadlines and a Dream Destination
This happens to me every July and August. My calendar is full. I try to catch up with friends who are here for a limited time, and who I might not get a chance to see again until next year. Bruce and I either go out more or entertain more, which requires more off island
Island Vehicles
In the summer, when people go whizzing by in their golf carts, I watch them with envy. The carts are quiet, they take up less room when parked at the dock, they don’t use much gas (none at all if they’re electric), and they look like so much fun to drive. When our island car
Baggage Shame
It starts at the grocery store on the mainland. I hand my cooler and canvas bags to the cashier, who passes them to the bagger, and I start to unload a full grocery cart. I have an itching need to get the cart unloaded quickly so I can get to the other end to help
Friend me!
You don’t have to use a computer to know that a social network is a structure of connections among people with the same interests, beliefs, or some type of interdependency. The idea of networking was around long before computers became personal. When most of us hear the term “social networking,” our connotation is connected to
Familiar Traffic
Vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians share a vocabulary for traffic direction, based on proximity to the shoreline. It doesn’t matter where you are going on the island. If you are moving away from the water you are coming “up the road.” If you are going toward the water you are going “down the road.” On an