I live on a rock.

 

I live on a rock. 

A very fun loving, DIY, multi-personality, quirky type of rock. The glaciers formed the island of Martha's Vineyard over 10,000 years ago. 
I was not born here but on another island 4,000 miles away, in Ireland, raised on a little peninsula called Howth, (Howth is magic!) another ancient rock of dynamic constitution. Once an island cushioned, cozily by the Irish Sea.
 
It seems, I like rocky islands, isolation, places hard to get to and harder to leave. I'm a happy wash-ashore, rock hopper.

There is much in common between these towns. Notably, we have similar zip codes, made up of coveted land, lots of sheep and horses living with stunning views of blue-green horizons of sea meeting sky, the pulse of surf on boulders and crashing nor'easters. There is cliff face and dunes and meadows of fine timothy. There is to-die-for, or, to-die-there wishes made everyday. 
I look back at my first memory of 'The galley' in Menemsha tucked into the rustic harbor. A little shack nestled into a dock that feels like it will cave in at any moment. The creaky timbers of the pilings and the worn out ropes tethering rust bucket trawlers and splintered lobster boats. The Galley serves great lobster rolls. I thought I had found, a gem, a hidden little treasure, an oasis that no one else knew about. Mine, ours, we would raise our children here. Can you hear the music? Little did I know that that was exactly what I was supposed to think.  Thousands of people from all around the world come and visit this place.  All of them thinking the same thing. It has been carefully preserved to look like it was never discovered. A reverse Disney appeal. An Anti-Disney. It is an island mentality, engineered to keep you coming back to the old way of life, the one that screams, 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it,'. Vintage, darling.

For the people born here the sense of pride is deep. If you have come here to stay you are dubbed a wash ashore. If you are not born in Howth you are called a runner, because they used to run you out! 
The fishing community of MV goes back to it's very first inhabitants, the Wampanowag tribe. Howth was once the largest herring port in Ireland.  They have both been battered and torn asunder by political bartering, laws and regulations that have seen the fishing clans decline to a minimum. In fact, Howth has no commercial boats to it's name, it's fishing rights given away to European priority.  All the people we grew up with that worked on trawlers and those big awful beamers are no longer fishermen, instead working on the pier, in the ice house, fish shops or working jobs outside the fishing industry.  

But there are artists, writers and grass roots activists both sides of the water.

There is also another kind of community here, you see it in the letters to the editor every week of the MV Times. The 'we are a good island, a helpful, moral island. Love us.' The letters of gratitude range from - thanks to the EMTs for saving lives, a volunteer for aiding in an unexpected pickle, and always a signature letter of thanks for the honesty that lies deep within the Vineyard. 

In Howth, the community humor is reflective of the village life, where everyone knows much about each other. You can hear it in the chatter on the streets. The Howth summer camps, the Sunday market on the pier. Some might say it is too clannish, too many people minding your business, but many times it is friends helping friends. Maybe it's the wild weather, the feeling of being cut off from the rest of the world that brings small island communities closer. That brings out the pioneer, the community spirit that comes together to help each other out, island children and elders to the fore. Or maybe an understanding that if you want something done, do it yourself. In the Vineyard, volunteering and fundraising are a part of everyday life.

The food pantry had a busy winter here, housing has hit a crisis point with many families doing the Vineyard shuffle, not a dance, but renting a house for the winter and giving it up for summer $$$ rentals, only to return again when the 'summer people' have gone. Not an easy task with small kids.

 Howth lost a few pubs, and as I listen to my family and friends, 'nobody had penny'. These islands have seen better and worse than this turn of the times. Fortunately, the arts still thrive, ever evolving and culturally entwined with many events like, movie festivals, jazz, writing workshops, galleries are a plenty and continue to promote and encourage us to think. For the kids there is an exciting sports life, great schools and much to do. What would a place be without a hot topic and we at MV have our very own roundabout issues, and criminal lawyers and scam artists and haunted houses becoming Museums. It's rich!

While I have been living here, I've kept my eyes on, her sweetness, Howth, returning often, noting how she has handled the Celtic tiger, the collapse of the economy, her fishing industry, her hotel. It will be interesting to see the health of these two townships after this latest battery.  Either way, economically fit or not, their essence will remain, exactly what they are to me, a haven and sanctuary. Sister Rocks. Home!

Bouncing around in Ireland. 
Ireland's Eye.
Croak Patrick, another rock we climbed for Dana's 40th in May 2009.
Annoaroi Blaney with the Tri-colour and stars and strips.
Annoraoi Senior's pictures of the dock in Vineyard Haven.
Summertime the boat in the Lagoon, Vineyard Haven.