Star Island in Early June

It's Sunday evening and I just got back from a weekend on Star Island. I volunteered to help get things ready for the conference season which starts in eleven days. It was raining when we left Rye Harbor at 6:30 last Friday night. The seas were pretty calm, though, and the dozen or so people on the boat were fairly reserved. A few folks clearly knew each-other from previous years and they knotted together in groups while the rest of us kept to ourselves during the trip.

Once the boat docked (I've forgotten her name - sorry, Grey.), we all headed to Newton Centre hall - an oldish stone building with two fairly large rooms with wooden floors, vaulted ceilings and a large kitchen. A hot meal was waiting and Skip, the facilities manager, introduced himself and the members of the staff, most of whom were young enough to be my offspring. Despite the worsening weather, everyone was friendly and we all started getting to know each-other over a great meal of ribs, turkey, rice and homemade bread.

After dinner, each of us went to the lobby for our room assignments and for blankets and pillows. I found my way to my cottage, dropped off my duffel bag and headed out to explore.

Moving around the nooks and crannies of the island was easy to do since the place was relatively empty. I explored the old hotel Atlantic unaccompanied and I found it to be showing its age in startling ways. Gaping holes in the plaster where rain water flowed freely into interior rooms; puddles forming on wooden floors that were nowhere near external walls; water dripping from electric ceiling lights - nothing about the place was impervious to the elements. It seemed unlikely that it would last the night, let alone the whole season. But it's been there for 100 years, so maybe I was underestimating the old girl.

My room was drafty and damp and I was glad my sleeping bag was well-insulated when I called it a night at 9:30. Wind rattled the windows all night but I slept soundly and got up around 6:30 Saturday morning. The Nor'easter had picked up steam, and walking the 100 yards or so between my cottage and Newton hall was a chore. By the time I got there, I was soaked, and that is exactly how I remained for the rest of the weekend.

After breakfast I went over to the carpenters' shop to get a work assignment. Again, the walk was tough in 25 knot winds and pouring rain, and I was soaked to the bone by the time I found the place. When I got to the shop, some of the regular workers had apportioned the good woodworking jobs (building beds) and there wasn't much left for me to do. Someone mentioned that the planer wasn't working right so I opened it up and started troubleshooting the problem. I readjusted a roller that was out of parallel, greased some moving parts and it was good as new.

Working in the shop was great fun. People (myself included) would let an f-bomb fly without a second thought. Guys could be guys there and it seemed like a natural state of affairs. I couldn't help but contrast it to working in my office where I have to be careful about everything that comes out of my mouth. I'm sure there are politics in a community as small as Star Island, but I felt free of it in my short stint in the carp-shop.

For the rest of the day, I worked on sanding the beds that the other guys were building, I replaced some ceiling tiles, and did a few other jobs around the island. Every time I left the shop, the wind and rain seemed to get worse and when I retired after dinner at 8:30, I was exhausted and soaking wet. One of the Pelicans (A college-aged employee who lives on the island all summer) said something interesting and right on the money. She said that the weather itself drains your energy when it's like it was this weekend - she was right.

So I fell asleep huddled in my sleeping bag with the light on in my mildewy, drafty room with rain and wind coming in through the closed windows. And the storm just howled all night. The noise from 40 sustained knots through the night, and the cold and outright dampness were insufferable. But I slept soundly for 11 hours because I was beaten up!

Today, I worked on a couple of projects before lunch and then packed my bag in preparation for the 2:00 boat out. The rain had stopped and the wind was down to around 15 knots. We had some good-sized swells coming back and a couple of people were sick, but we arrived intact. Unlike the ride out on Friday, everyone knew everyone else and we all said heartfelt goodbyes when we went to our separate cars at Rye harbor. It was a hell of a hard, and gratifying weekend, but oh - it feels good to be DRY!