Tuesday Walkabout, October 26, 2010

Davis Lane

It amazes me that I can walk the same basic route through town on any given day and come up with different views and different faces every time. I'm not interested in writing tomes these days - being in school for the past eight years pretty much knocked the long essay out of me - for a while, anyway - but I am realizing, having recently lamented my not beginning this project years ago, that the images I capture today - Edgartown's scenery, architecture, and people - are the makings of tomorrow's history.

The goal of Edgartown News, ultimately, is to turn the mundane into the extraordinary; to celebrate the everyday moments - the people and the views that I take for granted.

...and let's not complete this thought, especially in these trying times.

Fishermen's Pier





The beginning of what is to come.



Timeless




Joe Robichau - a most interesting individual with whom it is always a pleasure to pass the time of day.




The fleet is in.










The harbor is all his now, but I'll bet he would gladly exchange solitude and sovereignty for being fed sandwich and ice cream cone crumbs all day long by the summer crowds.




Does this classic blue Wagoneer say anything other than "Sherm Burnham?"



The tools of Steve Ewing's trade, at rest.
















I suspect that this little catboat is named after Oscar Pease who for many years fished out of a similar, but wooden, catboat - most likely built by Manuel Swartz - named Vanity.




Eddie Gentle, about to head out to set moorings with Eddie, Jr.



"Young" Sandy Fisher. Well, that's what we used to call him, to differentiate from his father, but he also has a son named Sandy (technically, Francis Fisher IV), so I guess that makes this Sandy "Middle" Sandy. Here, he is preparing bait for his conch traps. (Sandy the elder, here.)




Sandy's and his mate's doings have attracted a crowd (Mike Jackson and Marty Kelly), with its attendant fish talk, jokes, and news of the day.




North Water Street Lanterns.










Bailey and Joan Norton's home. This may be the only house on North Water Street that is occupied year-round.




I have heard that in North Water Street's hay-day, back in the whaling days - 100 years ago or so - these houses were filled with captains' families, that it was a thriving year-round neighborhood with laundry hanging on clotheslines and children playing (stick-ball or kick-the-can, or whatever they did back then) in the streets.




The days of balmy air and roses are surely numbered.
















Edgartown's war and veterans' monuments. The trees in the background give a hint of the spectacular fall display you'll find all around town - more vibrant than usual this year, I think; a subject worthy of its own post, I do believe, but alas, this probably all will have changed by the time I return.