Island neighbours

In the afternoon we watched Lyndon Crowell's bright blue lobster boat, Maybe Tomorrow, crossing into the cove. Maybe Tomorrow has a lovely painting of a laid-back Homer Simpson on her bow. But unlike Homer, Lyndon is a very industrious person, always busy with something or other when he isn't lobstering. He's a talented artist, among other things a crafter of intricate and detailed models of boats from historic tall ships to modern lobster boats.

Lyndon grew up on McNutt's Island, the son of one of the last lightkeepers. His parents now live across the harbour, and so does he and his family. But he's often at his camp on the island after lobster season, usually with one or both of his sons. Today he and his older son Zack came over to bring the ATVs for the summer.

Getting an ATV to the island is a complicated and mysterious process. You have to somehow drive it onto your lobster boat, cross the harbour with it sitting on planks across the boat's gunnels and then somehow drive it off without ever dropping it in the harbour. I don't understand how that works. When we traded in our first ATV for one that was a little sturdier, we asked Skipper to take the old one off the island and bring the new-to-us one back. We could never have managed it by ourselves. But most of our neighbours have brought numerous ATVs off and on the island over the years and think nothing of it. You do need to do it at high tide, that much I understand. At two thousand acres, the island is so big that it's helpful to have some sort of vehicle for getting around. And they're really fun to ride!

Zack will be in the 11th grade at Shelburne High School next fall. He has a job at a gas station in town, so he probably won't come over to the island as often as he used to. Zack's younger brother Jordan was away at Cadet training this weekend. Zack and Jordan are very interesting young men and we always enjoy a visit with them.