As far as I know the last time a baby was born on Chappaquiddick was back in the mid-seventies. The birth of Gabrielle Knight aboard the Chappy Ferry doesn’t count because technically she wasn’t on Chappy. But as of this past Friday, Nov. 11, we now have a new date to look back on. Lucía Ixchel Leon-French was born in the Slip Away farmhouse that day. She was supposed to be born in New Hampshire at the end of the month but apparently she was impatient to get her life started. She was born just days before the spectacularly big and bright full moon. This is fitting as Lucía is Latin for light. Ixchel is the Mayan goddess of the moon and water. Her mother Leia French is a longtime friend of Slip Away Farm’s Lily Walter. Her father is Sheny Leon, who worked at Slip Away this past growing season. She is off to a fine start at 5 pounds, 9 ounces. That is probably the first time the farm stand scale was used to weigh a baby. It was a planned home birth and luckily the midwives made it down from New Hampshire in plenty of time!

The annual CCC open house and crafts sale will take place, on Saturday, Nov. 26 from 1 to 3 p.m. Chappy artisans will be displaying and selling their handiwork. If you wish to show and sell your crafts call Lynn at 508-627-8222. The 10th annual, 2017 CCC calendars will be available for sale. Every month displays a winning photo taken on Chappy. If you can’t make it to the open house print the order form from the CCC website to get one mailed to you.

This Saturday, Nov. 19, the Edgartown transfer station will be collecting household hazardous waste from 9 a.m. to noon. Motor oil, oil-based paints, stains, thinners and other household hazardous wastes are accepted. They don’t take latex paint. Dump it out or leave the lid off the can to let it dry, and then toss it in the regular trash. Products containing mercury are collected free of charge at the Edgartown facility during regular business hours. This includes watch batteries, hearing aid batteries, thermometers, barometers, fluorescent bulbs and neon bulbs.

The Edgartown Highway Department has carefully graded the dirt portion of the ferry point parking lot in preparation for installing a grid and gravel system. The grid is made of recycled plastic formed into a honeycomb pattern in interlocking three-foot by four-foot sections. Gravel is then spread across it, filling up the pockets in the grid, which holds the gravel in place. It will be interesting to see how it fares.

Drydock work on the ferryboat On Time 2 is nearly completed. The Coast Guard made their inspection on Monday and after a few details are finished up she will go back into the water and make the return voyage to Edgartown. I’ve gotten used to being nervous about depending on just one ferryboat to carry all of the traffic and function properly the whole time that the other ferry is away. It’s always a great relief when the second ferry comes home.

Every year the December CCC potluck supper is dedicated to showing our appreciation for the dedication of the ferry captains and deckhands. There is always a huge turn out. Mark your calendars for Wednesday the 7th.

Reading the obituary in last week’s Gazette for John Bettencourt brought back memories of the days when he used to launch boats at Collins Beach with his very rusty old pickup truck Happy Hooker. He would back the trailers into that deep spot partway along the beach and if it was a sailboat with a deep keel he would back up until the water was well over the back axle of the truck. I remember the exhaust bubbling out of the immersed end of the also very rusty tailpipe. He would then heft his bear-like form into the even rustier bed of the truck, step down onto the trailer tongue in his sandals, and with his shoulder against the bow shove the boat out of its cradle. I didn’t realize until years later when I started doing the job myself just how much of the weight of the boat still rested on the trailer. He seemed to successfully ignore several of the laws of physics, especially the ones regarding gravity and oxidation.