Christmas in Edgartown

(More here.)

Prepare Ye

I've had my eye down on Main Street the past few nights - looking for, missing, and wondering about - the town's annual Christmas display. When I was a little girl, Bob Bassett and his father-in-law, Bill Silva, would be downtown stringing the wires for the trees the weekend after Thanksgiving. In later years, Bob's son Tom and crew - including Tom's son Jake and brother-in-law Danny Kaeka and Dan's son, Finn, took over the task, and as was the tradition, always on the weekend after Thanksgiving. You could practically set your clock to this annual event (and if you're keeping track, that's four generations of Christmas light stringers).

At last, Monday morning - a perfect day for working outside, as it happens - found the Christmas crew out in full force.









Ed Willoughby and Stephen Woodbury of the town's highway crew carefully prepare the stands and fit each tree to its stand. These unique lattice-work stands have been holding the town's Christmas trees since at least 1950, making them (and me) practically antiques.


After just the right amount of whittling, the tree fits perfectly into the stand.


Ethan keeps a watchful eye on the activities, and more importantly, he keeps his eye out for any interesting trucks or police cars that may be in the area.

Street Troubador

I left the house yesterday afternoon - camera on shoulder, just in case. Not much happening downtown, except for running into Mike - guitar on back - who was headed down to Memorial Wharf to do a little strumming and singing. The irony of course, is that Mike lives at my house, so I didn't really need to go anywhere to photograph him playing his guitar. Oh well, it was great seeing Mike in his element. The only things missing were an audience and a little warm sun. Oh, I get it - methinks the two are directly related. Mike is now Edgartown's un-official street troubador, taking up the slack where Dave Corcoran left off.

It was a fine concert, though hampered somewhat by the cold. Mike definitely has his own inimitable style - his gravely voice being reminiscent of Tom Waits - and I loved the song he wrote about giving the rooster the day off. Word has it, Mike has quite a following in Costa Rica, his home for the past ten years, and for whose climate he is beginning to yearn.

A New Perspective

Some of the same boats and views but with a slightly different perspective due to a new lens with a different focal length than I've been accustomed to lo these forty years or so. It's subtle, but it is like seeing the world in a new way, "Through a new lens," heh heh.

Thanks, Tom

So I called Tom Basset, the keeper of the town clock, to tell him that the light on the western face was out and by the end of the day - voila! - it was fixed. Thanks, Tom - you're the best.

Tom's father, Gordon "Bob" Bassett was also the keeper of the town clock, and I'll never forget the day when we were kids, one day while out and about palling around with Tommy, we were invited to climb the ladder up through a trap door into the tower. Wow - what a view - all the way to South Beach - and what an experience for an eight-or-so year-old. Those were the days when kids actually played outside, had free reign of the whole town, and had many adventures.

Anyway, here's what I now see from my window; so much better than a black hole.





And, a little later...(no time stamp necessary on these photos, ha ha):



There she is, in all her glory. I just love living only a block away from the town clock, seeing it from every window of my house and hearing its bell faithfully ringing the hours; a recurring melody - a primal song, really, since I grew up in this house with this bell's tone being an important part of the soundtrack of my childhood - tones that remind me that I'm home, from a-top of the building that was my grandmother's church, home of my earliest religious memories. My almost-two-year-old grandson has developed an awareness and love for this clock as well, pausing to listen when it rings and wiggling his fingers in an attempt to count the hours. Is there a better number-teaching tool for a toddler than this magnificent bell, I wonder?



Yours truly, April 29, 2011, the day the newly-restored bell was re-installed in the tower. Photo by Greg Blaine.

Red Boat

Red boat, Collins' Beach