Hurricane!

Hurricane Sandy - which advance reports were touting as a "Frankenstorm," due to an unusual confluence of weather systems - arrived in the wee hours on Monday. So far, Edgartown has not been hit as hard even as near-by Oak Bluffs (I may have been the last car passing into that town via Beach Road this morning before it was closed for the day; I have since heard that the road near the sea wall has completely washed out), and certainly the Vineyard is not being hit as hard as New Jersey is currently being slammed (as I write on Monday evening); these photos being a somewhat relaxed photo journalistic report of a meteorological event that is, farther down the US Atlantic coast, in the process of creating a disaster zone.



High tide Monday morning, Anthier's.


State Beach looked more like South Beach this morning.


My sweet little Bend in the Road, now churning, frothing, and foreboding.


Fishermen's Pier.


High tide, minus three hours.


The bottom of Main Street.


Derby HQ


The Reading Room


Collins' Beach


"No Parking Between Signs," right fork parking lot, South Beach.


South Beach

Family Messes

When is the only time that a family mess is a good thing? Why, October in Edgartown, of course.

Today, a crisp and succulent October Sunday, with the air filled with bits of confetti-like fluff, dried and set loose from the roadside reeds and puff-ball bushes by the brisk northwest wind (in celebration of what, I wonder? Oh yes! My birthday tomorrow, no doubt) was a perfect day for picking up a family mess of scallops.






This father was apparently teaching his daughter the finer points of dip-netting for scallops. I learned from my cousin Cyrus Norton.


The proper outfit is half the fun.





Headed home with this week's family limit.

Beach Road Fall Flora

I love October.

Kite-boarding on Anthier's

Felix Baumgartner's scheduled twenty-mile-high leap to Earth from the edge of our stratosphere today was cancelled due to high winds at the Roswell, New Mexico launch site, but our own Anthier's Pond was filled with leaping, soaring, and flying kite-boarders this afternoon, all enjoying the high winds of a passing No'theaster, and what a grand sight it was.

This old surfer - tired of waiting for waves, not being able to get into Squibby until after 5pm, along with increasingly more frequent shark reports - has fantasies about giving kite surfing a go. I did see a girl out there today, so maybe it's not that crazy an idea. Okay, so she was probably not a grandmother. I can dream, though, right?

(full set, here)

Birds on a Rail

Big Bridge, October 4, 2012. The summer's teenaged jumpers and divers have been replaced by resident pigeons who are probably glad to have the railing back to themselves.

Gay Head Long Exposures

The time and tide were just right this evening for trying out some long exposures up in Gay Head. It was foggy and mystical and desolate - exactly what I had hoped for.

Wet Wednesday