Margaret Knight>

508 627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

Thanks to Brad Woodger for taking over the column last week while I was away. I considered appearing on Oprah’s show, as Brad suggested I might, but instead I opted for camping in frigid weather in the mountains of far northern Vermont with my family. We worked on the cabin we’ve been building in sections over a few years, most days in rain or snow and below freezing temperatures. Sidney put a nail through his finger with the nail gun, and I had to leave early to get an emergency root canal, but otherwise it was nearly a perfect “vacation.” Actually, as an Outward Bound-type experience, it was perfect.

It’s always amazing to see how a New England season can change almost overnight, and how varied the weather can be in this part of the country. I was swimming here a little more than two weeks ago, then a week later, in Vermont, I woke up to snow covering my tent. Then a week ago, I arrived home to enjoy summer flowers like cosmos and zinnias, and pick the last of the beans and a couple of tomatoes from my garden, in the midst of a roaring northeaster.

The three-day storm over the weekend made it feel like winter, even though the temperatures were only down to the 40s. The whipped-up ocean worked away at changing the landscape and ate another strip of beach along the east side of the Point. Before the town trucks carted it away on Monday, the seaweed and beach grass from the shore were in big piles on either side of the ferry after being hauled out of the slip.

Norton Point changed dramatically again. A new opening closer to the Chappy side looks well established, making a long island that ends at the original breach. On the Edgartown side, the island that was made a few weeks ago by a new opening was washed away to almost nothing. It looked like a few seals were lying on it when I looked after the storm.

Family scalloping has opened for the season. Last Friday I passed someone in a wetsuit standing out in Caleb’s Pond scalloping. Then when I got to the ferry, Capt. Bob pointed out the gleaners at the beach near the lighthouse gathering scallops that had washed in with the eelgrass from the storm. Gathering scallops that way looked like a lot less work. I asked Bob how the season was, and he said from his experience, it was overrated.

The On Time III should be in Vineyard Haven as you read this. It’s off on an extended stay in dry dock at Packers. Peter and his crew will be working on it over the next weeks, maybe months, depending on what is needed. The On Time II, on which we will rely during that time, was built before the age of super-sized pickup trucks. If there are two of them in line in front of you, or any bigger trucks, a third vehicle won’t fit on. Expect ferry lines.

Lily Morris will be giving a class at ACE MV called Art with Rope: How to tie decorative and functional knots. This class will focus on decorative and slightly more complicated rope work than the basic knot class. It’s held on Wednesdays, Oct. 28 and Nov. 4, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. You can sign up by calling 508-693-1033, extension 240 or visiting the ACE MV Web site.

On returning to the island from Vermont, I was glad to see that all four of my new retired chickens had figured out they were supposed to roost for the night in the little chicken house in my back yard, not out in the woods where the skunks and raccoons could get them. They spend the day in a grape vine-covered area near my house, and when I peer in there to find them, it’s like a Where’s Waldo puzzle trying to differentiate their black and white striped forms from the crisscross of branches.

When you have animals, it’s harder to go away because of all the arrangements, but more fun to come home, to see how everybody is doing. Before we left, we had ordered a new electric fence charger, so the goats would be sure to stay in their pen. The charger was sent Priority Mail and had a tracking number, which was handy because when it didn’t arrive on schedule we could trace its travels from here to there, and seemingly everywhere except Edgartown. After seeing it arrive on Nantucket, we started making alternative plans for its installation because we were leaving the next day. Sonya Ropke, Chappy’s mail carrier who also lives here, planned to look out for its arrival. My brother Robin, who was here for two weeks working on his screened porch, planned to install it if it arrived before he went back to New Hampshire. Otherwise, Sonya would get the box to her husband Eric who agreed to hook it up. It’s nice to have people willing to help.

Debbie Sankey came over from her Shepherd’s Hill Farm to take care of our animals. She and Tom Kent have been busy putting in fences so that she can move her little flock of five sheep to different grazing areas. She suggested that one of her pastures could be a temporary home for animals whose caregivers are off on vacation, a sort of animal B & B.