Views near Golden Grove

This was a sad weekend, because it was our last weekend on the island this year. We are in exile until spring. But the island rewarded us with a beautiful sunset just after 4pm as we were packing up the car. I am especially fond of the ones when there is a sunglade across Sachem Pond.

2009-1206 406pm

Communications in the ferry terminal on the island seemed to have come down to the bare essentials. Maybe it’s the deadening effect of the cold weather that rolled in this weekend along with biting winds. There are, as anyone on the island surely knows, two doors to the waiting room in the terminal, one marked with an official sign that says: “Entrance Only”. The other bears the corresponding official sign: “Exit Only”. Beneath the “Entrance Only” sign, someone had taped a hand-lettered piece of paper reading: “IN”. And sure enough, they had also taped a hand-lettered sign beneath the “Exit Only” sign: “OUT”. Just to be perfectly clear about this.

Meanwhile, the following conversation took place in the waiting room.

Person 1: It sure did get cold today, didn’t it.

Person 2: Yup. But maybe it’ll get warm again sooner or later.

Person 1: Yup, maybe it will, sooner or later.

Well, duh! If spring doesn’t do the trick, maybe global warming will.

Goodbye, island! Until spring! Or global warming, whichever comes first!  🙂

Views near Golden Grove

Starting this week, I’m beginning a new feature on this blog. Every Tuesday or Wednesday, when possible, I’ll post a picture from my archive of Block Island photos. Most of these pictures are taken from the deck of my house on Block Island, or from a nearby location. And the great majority of these photos are sunset photos, because that’s the specialty on the deck of my house: A view over the water, the freshest air anywhere, a glass of fine wine or a made-from-scratch margarita, and the World’s Best Sunsets.

Why is this feature called “Views near Golden Grove“? Because the part of the island where my house is located is known by that name. And why would a treeless sweep of glacial till be called “Golden Grove”? Because the brig Golden Grove, on its way from Halifax to Ireland, was shipwrecked just off the coast here in the winter one year late in the 18th century. And why, the astute reader, might persist, would a ship bound from Halifax to Ireland be sailing (much less grounded) anywhere near Block Island?

Good question.

In any case, the crew were all saved, and some of them made the island their home. The cargo of pork and lard occasioned many a trip out to what was left of the Golden Grove that winter to augment the island diet. And the place name stuck.

To start things off, here is the sunset near Golden Grove on October 3, 2009, three days ago.

Block Island sunset October 3, 2009

Block Island sunset October 3, 2009