News and Events for Nantucket Island
~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ On his last day, he woke early. He eased out of bed, one foot, turned to a knee, and then slipped out without bouncing the mattress. She slept on; he wanted to be alone for a moment. No noise slipped from the girls room, […]
~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ Labor Day comes late this year. For most of my life, Labor Day was my true birthday. When I was much younger, it marked the moment when I got a year older; suddenly I was in sixth grade or I was in high school […]
~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ “Do you know anyone with a 1967 Bug?” my personal mechanic asked me. He stood in his side yard and was holding a y-shaped piece of metal. “This is a trailer hitch for a Bug and I hate to take it to the dump.” […]
~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ Everything changes. The island changes every summer with every new season of visitors. The shop owners stand at their doors and wait to see who walks in and who walks by. Is this the summer for towers of oysters and cherrystones? Is this the […]
~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ When the nail gun starts next door at seven in the morning, my boon companion starts barking. The workers bang six nails into the dawn, and he barks them out as best he can. Standing in my underwear at the kitchen sink, I scratch […]
~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ I think we forget how little land Nantucket actually has. If you nibble the sandy, pointy ends off, the island stretches barely fifteen miles across and four miles. Further, the island’s streets, sidewalks, and stores aren’t designed for the 60,000 people that move into […]
~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ A friend of mine was pawing through the bike rack at Jetties Beach. Her son’s bike (a black and silver Trek) had been taken from the rack a few evenings previous and she was searching the racks in the hopes that it had been […]
~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ The ocean has bestowed some special gifts on Fisherman’s Beach this summer. Sometime over the spring, the currents off shore shifted and built up a flat, gently sloping beach. So, in July, you can walk out thirty yards into the water and still be […]
by Robert P. Barsanti We celebrated the beginning of summer with picking two quarts of strawberries. Two quarts of strawberries, bought at the market, have a certain capitalistic balance. Someone measured how many strawberries could go into the box so that you could feel like you were getting a good […]
