Mood:  quizzical

arghhh, I just spent entirely too long writing a very detailed post, just to lose it all. Well, back to the drawing board.

This past week, 3 things happened on island that are indicative of a life on a faraway island, first and foremost, the Sankaty light was moved from the edge of a bluff to a spot 400 feet away. For pictures and info go to http://www.sconsettrust.org/ or to www.yackon.com (search for Sankaty) or either newspaper link below. Sadly, we lost one of our teenagers too soon and over 500 people showed up to grieve and celebrate her life (www.ack.net or www.nantucketindependent.com). And a group of investors banded together to save the Dreamland Theatre. Once again, Nantucket will have 2 movie theatres and perhaps more performance space.

And for the top 17 recent events:

1. My college buddy Joel Seymour and his lovely bride Michelle welcomed infant Gabriel Zen Sept 25th, who was born at home in 5 hours. After speaking with a calm and strong Michelle the following day, I'll bet she made cookies later that afternoon.
2. Dear friend Lisa is off to Galveston to do some environmental education work while hubby Markus heads back to Antarctica for more research.
3. An alumni group of biology students from 1976 returned to the field station to share their experiences and reconnect.
4. We got a postcard from Paris from world traveler Patricia. If there is a special place for friends who always send postcards, Patricia would have a reserved seat. I, on the other hand, bought 3 postcards in Maine from our trip there for Rachael and Sam's wedding in July that some friends can expect to receive around Christmas!
5. My nephew Justin is now a senior in high school and is considering attending Johnson and Wales in nearby Providence (culinary school with a wrestling team, now there's a combo). My other nephew, Jerrod, is apparently, almost 7 feet tall ;-)
6. Someone is turning the big 5-0 on October 28th, and it ain't me
7. Speaking of older men, Len just finished a production of "12th Night" for the arts festival and is busy working on a new show.
8. This weekend we host Eric Darby (http://www.ericdarby.net/) for the Nantucket Poetry Slam
9. My buddy Tammy got another beautiful tattoo and I'm jealous. See her tattoist art work at http://www.myspace.com/riceworks
10. SBPF meetings will continue in November, curtailling some of my travel plans. Friends and family can expect to see me in the beginning of December. If you don't know who SBPF are, you have wisely decided not to listen to my tales of 4 hour meetings 3 times a week
11. Family scalloping started on island and my scalloper buddies kindly showed what they were catching to a Magic Years class who came to visit the field station (2-4 year olds who make great thank you booklets). I not only got the chance to teach the kiddos, but the scallopers shared some of their luscious catch with me. And the Scallopers Ball is this Friday.
12. Len and I attended Tim and Rebecca's fantabulous wedding and reception at the end of Sept (pagan and unitarian ceremony, another nice combo). This year is the year of weddings as I'll be going to my 4th one in December
13. I ran a booth with info on the field station for last weekend's Cranberry festival for the Nantucket Conservation Foundation (www.nantucketconservation.org). Over 2000 attendees.

    

14. The Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative Conference on Sept 22nd was successful with lots of naturalists and scientists in attendance. I am co-chair of the NBI and helped host the event. Go to www.nantucketbiodiversityinitiative.org for more info.

15. We made some headway on our giant knotweed removal project, the Moby Dick for our Invasive Species Plant Committee group
16. Len and I got a new ninja kitten named BBQ, a feral kittty with a docked tail and notched ear. very cute; Canada and Jake are not amused. Pictures soon.
17. Good friends Kin, Amanda, and Annie coming to see us on the 19th.

Links for the week:

New link from our BIO class this summer. Great pictures, thanks to Joe Catricala http://gallery.mac.com/g/newer.html?url=http://gallery.mac.com/joseph.catricala/100021

Two weeks ago we installed a second web camera on the dorm/classroom. Go to www.umb.edu/nantucket to check this link out as well as our harbor buoy data. the second web camera link will be live there by the 17th of October. If you can't wait, email me and I'll send you the link.