BLOCK ISLAND RAMBLES (page 4)
June 2011
A ramble around Old Harbor
A streak of lightning races across the sky. The thunder cracks and I shudder. Its not a good moment to be out in the rain. An ambulance races towards the harbor with its lights flashing. Was someone hit? My Hawaiian shirt remains packed away, clean and unused; my getaway indistinct.
June 2011
A 6 mile loop between Old Harbor and Mansion Beach
The wind picked up by evening. Long slivers of wispy sand blew down the beach until the rising tide left only pebbles under my feet. I pick up my pace and race toward my goal. The days are long now, and the extra light has made me overconfident that I can achieve anything before the sun goes down. Distant buildings glowing orange suddenly fade to grey with little notice. Even the longest day will have its end.
June 2011
A 7 mile loop between Old Harbor and Barlows Point
This is the first time I’ve been atop Barlows Point since the huge chunk broke off ten years ago and fell into the ocean. The waves are barely lapping at the beach this morning, the sky tranquil and blue. The excessive Spring rain has transformed the landscape into a lush sea of green. A stranger to these shores would never suspect that so much drama takes place here, that the bluffs are an endless display of scars and open wounds. It is a good thing that we are not always attuned to it all; how could we bare it?
June 2011
A loop between Old Harbor and Island Cemetery
Even though summer homes now dominate the Island, it is the old farms that typify this place to me. This of course was not even true when I first set foot here many years ago. I’ve been defining this land by what I want it to be, not by what it really is, and my convenient truths are now struggling with the pace of change before my eyes. Change is always in the air but it is hardest when it becomes personal. I raise my camera to peer through its segregating lens. For at least a moment I can remain a Romantic.
June 2011
A 9 mile loop between Old Harbor and Sachem Pond
The center of this Island is so laced with ponds that it fractures the landscape into very distinct divisions while walking, with little sense of the whole. Whenever a long view opens I am always amazed that I can recognize distant buildings that I have such a physical disconnect to. It’s more than experiencing a memory, it is like suddenly comprehending a past life.
June 2011
A loop between Old and New Harbors
It had been grey with on and off rain for most of the day, so I was surprised by the sudden and intense sunset. No sooner had the sky turned cold when a large, bright, and yellow full moon burst forth from behind the clouds. The few people left on the streets seemed as oblivious to it as those sipping wine over dinner. This wasn’t just a new compositional element, in this brief moment before the moon slipped back under the clouds the world had changed.
June 2011
A 9 mile loop between Old Harbor and Black Rock Point
As soon as my foot first fell onto the beach a raindrop hit my face. This was no pack it up let’s head back to safety rain but a shower just light enough to bring out the colors in the sand and rocks. All the elements seemed in perfect harmony, none overshadowing the other. I cleared my mind to blend in, to become part of everything around me. Today I will live as a poem.
June 2011
A loop between Old Harbor and the Mohegan Bluffs
High tide had obliterated much of the beach under the high bluffs but a short walk was possible as long as I remained on guard. There was no mercy in these currents. The clouds were thick now, the landscape dark. It seemed prudent to composed an epitaph as I walked the narrow path.
June 2011
A walk around Old Harbor
Low tide never seems like a natural part of the ocean’s ebb and flow but a miscalculation not meant to be seen. Looking down the beach I feel as if I have inadvertently walked in on someone in a state of undress, only to see all their blemishes kept so well hidden up to this moment. I stand intrigued and unmoving unsure of my indiscretion.
June 2011
A predawn ramble between Town Beach and Pebbly Beach
The morning blush had faded in the brief time it took me to reach the beach. It would soon begin to rain. A large piece of polished quartz revealed a bit more of its secrets with every drop that hit. Galaxies began to spin within amidst nebula of endless hues. Constellations of pebbles floated across the iron laced sand, thrown down like coins meant to foretell the future if one could only read their patterns. Everything in the Universe has conspired to create what lay before me in this single moment. What is it trying to say?
June 2011
A 10 mile loop between Old Harbor and Dories Cove
While there are newly built homes here that stand out, many have done their best to make them blend in with what is already standing. Despite these well intentioned efforts the results are often hard pressed not to look contrived. This is no revival style. There is a simplicity at play here on the Island, one that does not coincide with our current desires, and any deviation from it stands out. We discard the values and a way of life past only to pretend.
June 2008
A short ramble about Old Harbor
Sometimes it takes little more than light to make a composition.
June 2008
A 5 mile loop between Old Harbor and the Coast Guard Station.
For a number of days long lines of white clouds have drifted across the northern horizon, and every evening they have slowly risen into thunderheads bringing rain with the night. But now that I have walked to the west side of the Island specifically to shoot them the sky has suddenly turned clear. Both of my feet are aching from accumulated injuries but instead of turning back I continue on to Rodman Hill. I have always seen myself as a hunter of views but today I am more of a pilgrim, or at least one as well. I find nothing pleasant or noble about enduring pain but I am possessed by a deeper need to pay my respects.
June 2008
A loop between Old Harbor and Indian Head Neck
The town was not half awake when I headed down to the harbor. The storm of the night had broken, its remnants careening through the sky. The light off the water shifted seemlessly from gold to silver and back again. No subject was too mundane to capture as everything was alive and glowing. Even though these moments are so special to me because they are rare I cannot believe I could ever have too many of them.
June 2008
A loop between Old Harbor and the Bluestone Maze
With all the new housing that has sprung up at the north end of Crescent Beach it look like there is another town on the island. The roofs of beach houses now rise menacingly over the low bluffs on this once lonely stretch of shore. I realize that I have been complaining a lot about over development here even though it is no worse than what I see at home. But I suppose that’s it, I don’t want this place to be like home, that’s why I’ve come here. Yet when the light is just right the power of white sand and brilliant clouds against deep blue water and sky can dwarf all that man brings to such places.
June 2008
A loop between Old Harbor and Southeast Point.
I headed down the rocky beach toward Southeast Point to catch the round island sail for Race Week. The winter must have been severe for the bluffs were badly battered. Giant boulders stuck out from their sides ready to fall while piles of fresh rocks littered the beach. I had never seen so many gullies and crevices etched into their sides. The ocean by contrast looked still with only an occasional incoming wave breaking the silence as it swept over a rock. The light was intense but attractive; still there were no boats in sight anywhere on the clear horizon. I thought my timing was off and was about to move on. Just as I began to step away from the point the first spinnakers rounded the bend.
June 2008
A short loop between Old Harbor and Indian Head Neck.
The ducks did not appreciate my presence in the marsh but it gave me a chance to capture a glimpse of them as they fled. Sometimes a shot just can’t be passed up.
June 2008
An 8 mile loop between Old Harbor and Black Rock Point
My boots were soon soaked from the grass left wet by last night’s rain. The fresh leafy canopy overhanging the greenway held in the humidity until walking along it became burdensome. By the time I reached the open moors all troubles were forgotten.
June 2008
A short ramble about Old Harbor
Night had nearly fallen when I left for a late walk. It was too dark to photograph without a tripod, which of course I did not have but I was too restless to remain indoors. In the darkness I hadn’t noticed the storm clouds moving in. A single drop of rain struck my forehead with such force I wasn’t sure what hit me. Within seconds I was hit with another, and another, and then it began to pour. As lightning flashed across the sky the streets emptied. This night was not meant for rest.
June 2008
A 5 mile loop between Old Harbor and Great Point.
A new house under construction provides me with an opportunity to walk in an old garden that will soon be inaccessible.
June 2008
A 5 mile loop between Old Harbor and Grace Cove
The weather seems confused today standing somewhere between overcast, rain, and fog but never quite moving completely into one or the other. The island seems confused too. New houses have risen everywhere despoiling views once pristine. But here and there a lonely stretch of unpaved road runs across a grassy field, little different from days long gone.
June 2008
A loop between Old Harbor and Island Cemetery
The view from the hill is grand. It is a shame people shun images of cemeteries more than they avoid the path to death itself. Perhaps it’s not just that they are a reminder of our mortality, but of our bad habits that we rather not admit to. I will take these shots and believe I will live forever.
May 2004
A short ramble near Rodman Pond
There was some color to the morning before the skies turned a dark grey. It is still, the day poised for change.
May 2004
A ramble between Old Harbor and Old Town
I had come to the island early this year to see the shadblow bloom but for the most part the land had remained too cold and dormant. On this day I woke to a sudden change as the Island’s center turned into a sea of white.
May 2004
A loop between Old Harbor and Indian Head Neck
As people settle in for the day seeking dinner I head out leaving the clanking of plates and silverware behind me in town. The sun will be down soon and with it will come a show. Today I have positioned myself well.
May 2004
A 14 mile loop between Old Harbor and Lighthouse Cove
I spent a good portion of the morning photographing an old rusty wreck broken apart on the beach. Wrecks are not strangers to these shores but I was quite surprised to find an elaborate multi level structure rising from the base of a tall bluff. Considering the violent weather that this ocean front property is subject to it is amazing that anything built from beach refuse is sanding at all. If stranded on this island I could be comfortable here.
Postscript: When I returned to this spot in 2008 the bluffs here were suffering badly from erosion. Many large boulders had fallen down to the beach with one gigantic rock crushing this hideaway and mud burying most of what remained.
May 2004
A walk down the center
The south side of the Island is taking the full brunt of the cold Atlantic and is decidedly still in winter. The budding trees create complex patterns of color whose specific hues can not be determined. This is a landscape in waiting.
May 2004
A 14 mile loop between Old Harbor and Black Rock Point
The bluffs overlooking the ocean had been mowed, the bayberry shaved down to stubble. Track marks left behind gave it the appearance of a cornfield after harvest. I walked down the rows in the new fields playing with the swirls on the ground. On the distant point new houses had sprung up between the occasional cottage. We can preserve the land but not the view from it.
May 2004
A 13 mile walk from Cow Cove to Old Harbor via Clayhead
Beach erosion and new property lines had eliminated my old route along the shore to the Maze. The replacement road was ugly but obvious and in no time I was off it exploring byways and bushwhacking as well. With the tangle of dry undergrowth still waiting to come alive I found it less impenetrable than in warmer seasons. Some new homes had pressed in from the west creating undiscovered open fields with vistas open all the way out to the North Light. The subtle ochre and umber that spread over the hillside seemed a perfect counterfoil to the bright blue ocean. There was a great temptation to plant my feet here and just watch the changing light and shifting shadows throughout the day. As always I moved on.
May 2004
A 13 mile loop between Old Harbor and the Bluestone Maze
My return to the Maze was met with an unrecognizable landscape. A blight sweeping the island had killed nearly every one of the pines that took root here. As they crumbled to the ground their branches interlocked leaving some paths completely impassable. In a hollow a lone giant shadblow stood in full bloom humming loudly with hundreds of bees. And amidst this graveyard were daffodils, springing up in large clumps.
Postscript: Many of the Island’s open spaces had been reforested with the salt spray tolerant Japanese Black Pine. Stressed out from the drought of 1999 these trees have since succumbed to fungal infections and infestation by the Turpentine Beetle. Nearly every one of these trees is now dead completely transforming the landscape. It is truly a sad sight to see. Many of these trees have since blown down in storms or simply removed from the landscape.
May 2004
An 11 mile loop between Old Harbor and Harbor Neck
I was shocked upon arriving on the Island as to how bare everything looked, the tree buds barely swollen. I expected to find season lag in this colder climate but this is what New York looked like seven weeks ago. Even so every so often I would come across a secluded spot isolated from the restless cold winds off the ocean, and there I would find the lacework of fresh green flowerets and the swollen buds of shadblow.
Copyright 2011 Alan Petrulis All Rights Reserved