Saturday Morning Treasures

A quick stretch of the legs - and the mind - after spending most of the past five days with three babies all under the age of three - have loved every minute! not complaining! heaven! - but even grandmas need a break once in a while.

We have enjoyed at least as many days of perfect Vineyard September weather - an annual gift to islanders, I think, for having endured the (at times) oppressing heat, humidity, and crowds of summer, and this morning I found my usual route - down Main Street to the harbor - to be a study of serenity, with a healthy spattering of locals on hand, including fishermen (Mohawk Bolin, Mike Jackson), workers (Dennis Arnold), and wanderers in search of breakfast pastries (Barry Nevin, Marty Nadler).

It's always great to see old friends - and downtown is a little like old home week this time of year with lots of folks resurfacing now that it's safe to leave our houses - and especially great that we all have time to stop and talk to each other.






Edwina B.


Dennis, whose usual gig is South Beach, was helping out at Memorial Wharf this morning.


A fishy ice sculpture.


Mohawk, getting ready to head out "beyond cell-phone range" to do a little pleasure fishing, a welcome change from his usual break-neck commercial fishing routine.


Marty is back, after being off-island for the summer. I've missed Marty, but can you believe this guy has the nerve to flaunt his Circuit Avenue t-shirt on Edgartown's Main Street?

The Edwina B.

I've had my eye on this sweet little catboat docked off the rear of Floyd Norton's boathouse for the past couple of weeks. I ran into Floyd at Depot Market yesterday and was glad to have a chance to inquire about it. According to Floyd, this boat was built by our own Manuel Swartz Roberts in his shop - now Old Sculpin Gallery - that happens to be diagonally across the street from where she is now berthed. Floyd says, "She's right where she belongs, back home." Floyd also told me that the boat was donated to the MV Preservation Trust (full Vineyard Gazette story: link). He also shared boyhood memories of climbing down into the boats as Manuel was building them and gathering up the wood shavings. "He'd give me a pot of copper paint and a brush - I thought I was really something."







Old Sculpin Gallery, the former home of Manuel Swartz Roberts' boat-building shop. The wide wood floor of the gallery still has the worn spots - in the shape of a boat - that reveal where Manuel's main work area was.