HOLLY NADLER

508-687-9239

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

The recent snap of cold weather, which exquisitely preserved the snow from New Year’s Eve, coincided with my reading an historical tidbit that we never learned in third grade social studies: It seems that an original group of New World settlers who tried to make a go of it on the coast of Maine, flipped out during the first frigid winter, built a ship, and SAILED BACK TO ENGLAND! This was in 1607! Who knew anyone ever returned?! All the movement is in the direction of spanking new America on the part of these huddled masses yearning to breathe free. But this one enclave of New Englanders hooked a U-turn! They carried home the message that this part of the world was uninhabitably cold, at least for Englishmen. It took another 13 years for the next wave of masochists to give it a try, some of them landing on Plymouth, others crossing the Sound to our own Great Harbour. And the uninhabitably cold winters continue.

I read that piece of historical data in Mark Kurlansky’s new book about Gloucester, The Last Fish Tale, and, truth be told, if those original Down Easters had imported a stock of good books like Kurlansky’s, and could have dialed up the thermostat, they’d probably still be here, their surnames gilding future genealogies to the extent that later Pilgrims would have been deemed distinctly second-tier.

Another rip-roaring good read that I devoured this past week, like a starved seal with a codfish gripped in its teeth, blood spurting down its chest, was Titanic: Last Secrets, by Brad Matsen. This follows in the footsteps — or maybe we should say diving fins — of scuba freaks John Chatterton and Richie Kohler of Shadow Divers fame who identified a sunken Nazi submarine off the North Atlantic coast. This time they descend in submersibles to analyze the flaws in Titanic that caused it to sink in two and a half hours; iceberg or no iceberg, it should have stayed afloat longer. We’re treated to a fabulously readable saga of the most infamous cruise ship of the White Star fleet, and we come to intimately know passengers in addition to Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio.

On New Year’s Day, Olive Tomlinson hosted her annual party at her home in the Highlands of East Chop. Bright sunlight over the snowy grounds sent a light into Olive’s living room that made it lucent as a white-washed chapel. Around two in the afternoon, with champagne in our hands, we listened to Olive’s madcap debriefing on the past year in our neighborhood and beyond. When the climactic event was heralded — Obama’s win — the exultation burst from all of us under the single roof as if together we’d just been given clean bills of health on MRIs, collectively won the lottery, that our kids or grandkids were accepted to Harvard, and we’d also received word from the Academy of Motion Pictures that the movie we jointly bankrolled was nominated in 12 categories.

Whew! It made me wonder, had the tables been reversed and McCain had won, if groups of Republicans would now be sitting around on New Year’s Day feeling a similar wave of euphoria? Somehow I think their response would have been more low-key. And the rest of us would be building ships like those original New Englanders, eager to be anywhere but here.

Speaking of which, my old and cherished friend from college days, Kathy Quinn, is also charting a path in a reverse direction: She’s considering moving from her ex-pat existence in Paris to a re-pat life on Martha’s Vineyard. And the triggering factor in her decision was Obama’s victory! Just think of it — in the previous two elections of the 21st century, lots of embittered liberals threatened to leave the country. Quite honestly, if I’d possessed a residence in Nova Scotia in 2004, I’d now be writing ice floe reports for the Halifax Daily News. But this is the first time in maybe forever that Americans have thought of coming home. Uninhabitably cold winters or not.

Here’s a plan for whiling away a winter afternoon: On Saturday, Jan. 17, starting at 1 p.m., the Oak Bluffs library will be hosting a double-feature movie matinée. The first flick stars Meryl Streep in a musical set on a Greek isle. The second, starting a 3 p.m., features Keira Knightly as the Duchess of Devonshire, in a costume drama. As ever, corn will be popping! For more info, call 508-693-9433. And for more programs, log on to oakbluffslibrary.org.

Just a reminder: On Friday, Jan. 16, from 5:30 to 7:30, the Friends of the Oak Bluffs Council on Aging will be holding a ham and bean supper at the senior center on Wamsutta. The price will be $10 for adults, $5 for kids under 10.