1,000+ Hits and a Fantastic Summer

This week my blog exceeded 1,000 hits! Of course I know many blogs exceed that number in a day, but for a blog by little old me rambling about my life, I’m pretty excited about that milestone.

I’m leaving Martha’s Vineyard on Friday and going home to face the real world. It’s a strange concept for me, this whole not having a plan thing. I can’t think of a single moment in my life when I didn’t know what I would be doing next. Since I fled to my island bubble a week after graduation, the “real world” shock the rest of the 2010 graduates have overcome is just starting to sink in for me. This has been the best summer of my life, with the exception of being in elementary school and frolicking around all day covering myself in dirt and whatever else I did back then. I can’t thank my grandparents enough for use of the Little Pink House, or properly describe how badly I’d like to stay here stuck in summer eternally. But Connecticut’s a pretty nice place too. I haven’t experienced the fall there for more than a couple days for the past four years. I’m excited about the foliage, but nervous I’ll lose my mind in the sleepiest town in the world.

Time to set the mood and channel my high school emo days with a little Dashboard Confessional “So Long, So Long.” The lyrics are emoliciously depressing and are fitting to leaving my island home.

I was certain that the season could be held between my arms
Well just as summer’s hold is fleeting
I was here but now I’m gone.

Thanks for listening! I swear I’ll never spring Dashboard on any of you again…

Hurricane Who?

So, I’ve kind of left you all in the dust with this whole “hurricane” thing, but that’s because there isn’t much to write about. The storm was downgraded to a tropical storm before it ever got to Martha’s Vineyard, and despite Weather Channel claims that “Martha’s Vineyard is being pounded right now,” there was heavy rain and maybe 30 mph winds. We got very lucky and there was no damage.

Pre-“Hurricane” Ghost Town:

Empty Circuit Ave.

50 foot waves...

Coop de Ville: "F*** Earl we just taking the day off we'll be back tomorrow at 9AM"

While Earl may not have been all he was hyped up to be, he’s still one of the more famous Earls. For lack of further hurricane material, here are some other famous Earls:

Earl Anthony, a left-handed American bowler

Earl Chaney, International Clown Hall of Fame member

Earl Warren, 14th Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court

And I bet you didn’t know who else is an Earl…

Earl Simmons aka DMX

The Calm Before the Storm

Hurricane Earl is on his way to the Vineyard and should be here between 10 p.m. Friday and 2 a.m. Saturday – but you’d never be able to tell by looking around. Today the beaches were filled with people blissfully playing ignorant to the impending storm, and no one seems that worried. You could definitely call it the calm before the storm.

If it weren’t for watching the Weather Channel and being called in to work to help move all the tables and chairs and et ceteras upstairs for fear of water damage (the restaurant is built right on a dock) and realizing I would be out of at least three shift’s pay, I wouldn’t have even realized Earl was coming this way.

Right now, winds are predicted around 75 mph, give or take. Kevin and I have stocked up on food and water for the power outage that is sure to happen. Tomorrow morning we will take in all the chairs and tables from outside and make sure all the windows and doors are secured and then hope for the best. It seems to be a little more than I can say about the rest of the island…

Nectar’s MV

An article about Nectar’s, a cool Vineyard venue…

Fresh Music Served Daily

Nectar’s Celebrates End of Second Vineyard Summer

By Kristen Domonell

Labor Day weekend marks the end of the vacation season here on Martha’s Vineyard. Nectar’s MV, the island’s largest live music venue, is going out with a bang.

The weekend kicks off on Friday, September 3 with Ben Taylor and special guests, including John Forte of the Fugees. Saturday and Sunday Royal Family Records and Nectar’s MV present the Beach Bowl with Soulive, The Shady Horns and Nigel Hall. Soulive, a funk and jazz trio from New York City, will be performing separate nights of Beatles Rubber Soulive and James Brown themed sets.

“Some people might not know who Soulive is, but everyone knows who the Beatles are and who James Brown is,” said Aaron Busick, general manager and talent buyer for Nectar’s MV.

This is the second year Nectar’s has been serving fresh music daily on the Vineyard, but it got its start in Burlington, V.T. in 1975 as a restaurant owned by a man named Nector Rorris, selling typical American comfort foods.

“[Rorris] put together a little rinkydink stage inside the club,” Busick said. It wasn’t long before the stage expanded.

“In the mid- to late-80s this red-haired, lanky, awkward dude came in and started playing music,” Busick said.

It turns out that dude was Trey Anastasio of what was soon to be Phish, the rock band that developed in Burlington in the late 1980s and has a prophetic following to this day. Busick said the band continued to play at Nectar’s multiple times a week for years.

“Phish in many ways put Nectar’s on the map and Nectar’s in many ways put Phish on the map,” Busick said.

In 2003 Christopher Walsh purchased Nectar’s from Rorris, and he opened the Vineyard location in 2009.

“[Walsh] is a big believer in supporting the local music scene and giving young and budding artists a safe haven to grow,” Busick said.

Nectar’s new location is on Airport Road in Edgartown and was formerly Carly Simon‘s Hot Tin Roof. Today, the building is shared between Nectar’s and Flatbread Company, forging a unique pizza and music bond and a laid back setting. Busick said patrons can expect “a good vibe, real quality musicians in whatever genre they may be, an atmosphere in which they can enjoy themselves and music that strikes home.”

This summer, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Citizen Cope, Badfish, and Barrington Levy all had sold out performances. On Tuesdays the Grateful Dread was a fan favorite. The group is a Grateful Dead tribute band with a reggae twist featuring local artist Mike Benjamin. On locals night every Thursday, Vineyard artists were given the chance to perform on a large stage, because who knows, there just may be another Phish out there swimming around the island.

from nectarsmv.com

Clay Peeps

The other day Alex, Kevin and I took a rainy day adventure to Aquinnah. The town, featuring the beautiful rust-colored Gay Head cliffs, is as far up-island as you can go and was originally settled by the Wampanoag tribe. It is believed by ancestors of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head that 10,000 years ago during the giant Moshup, the last of the North American glaciers began to melt, leaving behind an accumulation of boulders, sand and clay the natives named “Noepe.”

Over 400 years ago, Europeans settled Noepe, bringing foreign disease and forcing the natives off their land just as in all other parts of the U.S. They renamed the island Martha’s Vineyard and developed it into what it is today. The island may have changed drastically since the giant Moshup, but Aquinnah has been left fairly untouched. The Wampanoags still control the land, and the breathtaking beach surrounding the base of the cliffs is named Moshup after the event that created the island I love.

While the three of us were exploring Moshup, I stumbled across some natural clay at the base of the cliffs that was soft enough to mold. I was like a kid in a candy store. The end result was three clay people that a five year old probably could have done a better job with, dirty hands and soaking wet clothes from the rain. Success!

Another Argument for Local

In the past few days, the FDA has recalled over 550 MILLION eggs due to a salmonella outbreak. The infection has been traced back to two huge factory egg farms in Iowa where chickens are packed into cages – Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. Confinement and close quarters= filth.

Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the FDA, said “there is no question that these farms that are involved in the recall were not operating with the standards of practice that we consider responsible,” according to the New York Times. Oh really? I thought factory farms were the image of bucolic.

My friend Tim volunteers at The FARM Institute here on the Vineyard and is always telling me how great they treat their animals. Maybe while the big O is here vacationing he can drop by and get some inspiration for getting the Food Safety Modernization Act passed so a half a billion eggs won’t need to be wasted again.

Obama Mania

The first family arrived on Martha’s Vineyard for their 10-day vacation yesterday, and businesses are really sucking up. Here’s a countdown of the shenanigans I’ve seen thus far in Oak Bluffs:

5. C’est la Vie- Decent, a little effort, but I doubt many people will purchase it.

4. Mad Martha’s Ice Cream- Minus five for not realizing you could just spell his name normally and it would still say “rock” and for copying your neighbor across the street (see #3).3. Carousel Ice Cream- Sounds delicious!2. C’est La Vie (again)- This t-shirt shop features quite a few Obama shirts. I personally love this one fashioned after the famous Black Dog brand shirts.

1. Sharky’s Cantina- This pairing sounds fantastic and you have to love the effort of such a finely crafted sign.

Happy Birthday Mom!

On this day [25] years ago my lovely mother was brought into this world.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Illumination Night

It’s been a while!

Last night was Illumination here in the campground. All the adorable houses, the Little Pink House included, got decked out with paper lanterns and at dark, they all got lit up. Colorful, magical and cute, the neighborhood reminded me of something out of the ‘It’s a Small World‘ ride at Disney World – my personal favorite growing up.

A 2007 article in the Martha’s Vineyard Times recalls the first ever Illumination:

It was on Saturday evening, August 14, 1869, in the midst of this bustle that the Oak Bluffs Land and Wharf Company sponsored the first Illumination Night. The Vineyard Gazette reported the events, “The illumination and fireworks at ‘Oak Bluffs,’ on Saturday evening last, was a very fine affair. Chinese and Japanese lanterns were displayed in abundance, suspended from cottages and trees. There was a good variety in the pieces at the fireworks. The Foxboro Brass Band, brought here by the liberality of E.P. Carpenter, Esq., of Foxboro, discoursed fine music for the occasion. Several thousands of people of both sexes were out to see and hear.” The initial festivity was called Governor’s Day in honor of Governor William Claflin who was on hand for the fete. Over the ensuing years, the Gazette referred to the annual event as the “Illumination,” and the identification remains to this day.

Today, the night is a celebration of the end of the summer, that in my opinion is sneaking up on me WAY too quickly. Kevin, my cousin Eric, his girlfriend Christianna and I decorated the house with lanterns (like one I painted when I was five bearing my tiny hand print and what I think are pictures of a sailboat and a dragon), string lights and pink luminary bags with cutout hearts.

Kevin Brown, decoration nazi

The four of us, plus my co-intern Tim, sat on the porch eating, drinking and being merry, rocking some pretty fabulous t-shirts with a photo of the house on it and flashing finger bling, compliments of Nana.

"I wish I had a disco kitty"

The Cape Cod Times article published today put it just right. “Either way, as a soft rain fell on the neighborhood, the lanterns glowed in pastel glory,” the article stated. “For a couple of hours, they turned these tiny gingerbread cottages into a wonderland of light. Then, they were extinguished and put away for next year.”

America: Land of the Free, Home of the Stressed

America is stressed out.
According to survey results published in February by the American Psychological Association, more than half of working adults and 47 percent of all Americans say they are concerned with the amount of stress in their lives. That’s a lot of stress.
Recently, Dr Robert Sapolsky, a neuroscience professor at Stanford, has been making headlines publishing research he said could lead to a vaccine somewhere down the line that would cure stress, according to a CBS News report.
If work and your busy life have got you pulling out your hair, and you’re not interested in this sci-fi sounding cure, try a more down-to-Earth approach. Yoga has been around since before 3000 B.C. and is a tried and true natural form of stress relief – and there’s certainly no lack of classes to choose from on Martha’s Vineyard.
“Doing yoga we stretch everything out, open everything up and let everything return to it’s natural alignment,” said Fae Kontje-Gibbs, who has been teaching yoga since 1999.
Kontje-Gibbs lives on the island year-round and teaches are very unique and refreshing class at the Mansion House in Vineyard Haven four times a week.
I found myself at the Mansion House one morning at 6:15 for Sunrise Yoga, stretching and bending my body doing Sun Salutations (a typical yoga sequence), at the closest venue to the sun on the island- the rooftop at the Mansion House overlooking the Vineyard Haven harbor.

I’m not typically used to waking up in the dark, but Sunrise Yoga may have just converted me to a morning person. The morning was picturesque with a light pink sunrise peeking through thin strips of cirrus clouds, beckoning me to let go of any of the stress from the past few days.
Yoga has a number of benefits in general, but yoga in the morning is particularly beneficial to the mind and body.
“The great thing about doing morning yoga is it’s like booting up a computer in a way,” Kontje-Gibbs said. “It’s just that setup for stretching everything out after you’ve been sleeping and getting your energy going and helping people be aware so that as they move into the day they move in with a centered awareness.”

I can attest to that. Not only was I able to get more done that day because I had been awake longer than usual, but I was able to focus on my tasks much more efficiently.
The yoga Kontje-Gibbs teaches at this particular class is very therapeutic and is suitable for people with any level of yoga experience, including no experience at all. She focuses on deep breathing and breathing awareness, as well as moves that align the body and correct imbalances from daily stressors, like sitting at a desk.
“Our breath is the fuel for all of the energy in the body,” Kontj-Gibbs said. “The more we breathe and the more we use our lungs, not just to take in oxygen but also to get rid of old stale air, the more energy we have.”
With that much energy, the island’s best activities will be yours for the conquering. For a full schedule of yoga classes on Martha’s Vineyard, visit http://www.marthasvineyardyoga.com/.

Sunrise Yoga at the Mansion House
9 Main Street, Vineyard Haven
(508) 693-2200
http://www.mvmansionhouse.com
Wednesday and Friday at 6:15 a.m.

For anyone not on Martha’s Vineyard or not interested in going to a yoga studio or gym, ABC-of-Yoga is a really great site to get started with the practice of yoga from home. A fun little animated man shows you exactly how to do some of the more popular yoga poses. You’ll be feeling stress-free in no time!

[Photos by Tim Leinhart.]