HOLLY NADLER
508-274-2329
Christmas Eve, Carol Derry’s house, late. Had the chance to meet the hilarious and charming Laurie Reilly, live-in manager at the Nashua House. I told her I’d spent February of 2003 at the Nashua House with my dog, Chopper, a cocker spaniel.
Laurie’s face grew stern. “I never would have let you bring your dog!”
Well, the manager at the time seemed similarly unhappy about Chopper, but owner Caleb Caldwell, whom I’ve known since the treaty of Appomattox was signed, okayed it from his home in Seattle.
It was a perplexing time. My son had gone off to college, driving a stake through my heart which, had I been a vampire, would have finished me off. Then Marty and I sold our house on Trade Winds avenue, and parted at the crossroads (hey, another vampire allusion!) I was promised a rental by my friend Jib Ellis, who in those days owned that adorable yellow house with the mansard roof next door to the State Police barracks. But in the meantime, Jib had a tenant with a six year-old son, who in turn needed to find new housing, so no one wanted to rush this family-of-two out the door.
Thus began my typically Vineyard hegira of many moves, starting with a Siberian February at the Nashua House. It snowed the entire month the way it does in Vermont, leaving a thick-foot troweling of white everywhere. My second-story room overlooked the pristine tundra of Ocean Park, bejeweled by the white bandstand in the center. In my memory, the Sound was constantly blue as the blue in our flag, with silver smears of ice crystals reminding those of us on Island that we might as well stay put.
And stay put I did. There’s something about a complete, crackling relocation of the kaleidoscopic pieces of one’s life that has the power to make of one a recluse for a spell. Chopper and I had the old Victorian inn pretty much to ourselves. Occasionally a weekend brought guests who stayed on other floors. The manager and his young Brazilian wife were rarely seen although, on a blisteringly cold night, he brought me, unsmiling but far from unkindly, an electric blanket.
Once it even snowed in our room! A blizzard pushed the white stuff sideways, as it tends to do, and while Chopper and I were off braving the storm, a three-foot high snowbank was building itself up between the inside porch door and the bed.
I took Chopper for a number of brief daily walks; after 10 or 12 minutes in the ice and snow, his paws literally froze up and I had to carry his 30-plus pounds of wet, strawberry blond fur and flesh and blood back home.
At night I read books and watched DVDs on the small TV set I’d carried forward from home. It took a week to consume the whole of the I Claudius series, but during that time Augustus with his sad mien, and Livia with her poisoned figs, and Caligula, given to gross misconduct, especially to his sister, became all the company I needed.
All evening long my north-facing window overlooked the soft amber glow of Offshore Ale. I gazed pensively at all the lively diners, chattering and lifting their tumblers of beer or glasses of wine or water. It seemed to me that I was looking into a Renoir tableau of revelers, happy and safe and warm as they sipped absinthe and exchanged knowing smiles. It wasn’t exactly that I wanted to be down there at one of the café tables; it was that I knew I should want to be there. So one day I called a friend and we met for dinner. Nothing against the friend or thecafé or the ale, but all evening long, all I could think about was my room across the lane, my dog, and another episode ready to transport me to ancient Rom e.
It was a grand time. Happy New Year all!
Lynn Ditchfield of Adult and Community Education reminds us that winters classes will be offered in Oak Bluffs at the high school and at Featherstone; in West Tisbury at the charter school and the West Tisbury School; and in Airport Business Park (Kitchen Porch). The catalogue of over 60 winter and spring classes is available at all the libraries and schools on Island and at acemv.org. And just to whet your appetites, some of the instructors are Susan Klein, Rich Bausman, Kate Feiffer, Jan Buhrman and Washington Ledesdma.
At the Oak Bluffs library on Thursday, Jan. 6 at 6 p.m., movie night will bring us Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, the classic American musical starring Jane Powell and Howard Keel. Free popcorn, as ever, is part of the deal. A movie musical trivia contest will follow. For kids at the library, Wednesday, is story time; 10:30 a.m. for kids up to age three and 11:30 for the three to five set.
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