The sad news to report is the passing of Sue Bradley. She was a vibrant member of the Bayville community. When The Ledge got a bit crowded, she and husband Perry founded West Bayville. Most recently, they made St. Andrews Village home. Her smile and positive energy will be missed, but her spirit - like so many before her - lives on. As all of you know, her memorial service is Thursday.

Hardscrabble is a much quieter place now that the Denver Allisons have headed back to the mountains. It was great to have all the siblings together as well as spouses, significant others and some of the kids.

Though the weather still says summer, a number of people have headed home as it’s back to school time for some. Drew and Jennifer Strojny were seen getting their last steps in for the season - and they get in a lot!

If you are up for a fun show, Elena Tarpley, grand niece of Jill Albaum and granddaughter of Tica Vallely is preforming at the Carousel Dinner Theatre this summer. This month’s show, “Lights, Ladies, Legends” was written and performed by her and three other cast members. I hear it’s a fantastic show!

Also, Lucy Nielsen was here visiting family and friends last week. She is living in Ashville, N.C. managing a horse farm.

The Bayville waterfront was busy this past weekend with paddlers and swimmers as the first Paddlepalooza (which helped raise money for scholarships to the Boothbay Sea and Science Center) was held Saturday. Then Sunday, swimmers made their way from the town dock (along with their kayakers) to Cabbage Island.

Here is the unedited first person account of organizer Pam Gardiner…

“I was tempting fate this year by scheduling The Swim for the day after my daughter was due to birth my first grandchild. As of the time of this writing, the fate-tempting strategy (think getting up to use the restroom at a restaurant so that your food will finally come) has not been successful. We are still waiting for the baby’s arrival and we may be for quite some time as is often the case for primigravidae. We could not have asked for a more beautiful morning as we left the main Bayville dock- sunny skies, warm air and water, calm and glassy seas. The rising South wind helped propel us back nicely from the island to counter the outgoing tide.

“Seven intrepid swimmers began, and indeed all returned safely. George Messner (of Murray Hill and West Hartford, Connecticut) lead the way, skillfully guided by his kayaker, 13-year-old son Freddie. He sure didn’t look like he had just swum the Nubble Light Swim the day before! Hot on his heels was Brandon Villalta-Lopez accompanied by his new bride (and my daughter) Emma Collins (both of Portland). NB: Emma is not the 40-week pregnant one. At the island, Brandon hopped in the kayak and Emma swam back. A similar scheme was performed by Amanda Carmella (of Topsham) and Liz Flory (of Portland). This year, when Amanda arrived at Cabbage, she was not crying, accusing me of trying to kill her, and swearing never to do anything like this ever again. Instead, after two years of triathlon training, she arrived cool as a cucumber, having rocked the @#$%* out of this challenge! Liz similarly owned the waves, cruising into the dock like she was ready to do it all again. Both ways next year, ladies??

“Our newcomer to the Cabbage Island swim was Ben Bryant of Brunswick along with support paddler, wife Melissa. Ben may be a newbie to our little event, but he is no stranger to open water swimming. In fact, just three weeks ago, Ben survived a mind-boggling 25-mile swim in Lake Mephremagog in Vermont! I tried to keep up with him on the return leg, but just couldn’t quite…. I (as always guided by my husband Craig) did manage to come in ahead of Emma, but that was only because she did a lot of bird, seal, and fish-watching on the way.

“In the end, Ben was the proud recipient of this year’s trophy, the “Just a Walk in the Park” award. What’s two miles after 25, after all? Congratulations to all and thanks for another successful swim! And to Charlotte: Hang in there. The baby’s gonna come when the baby’s gonna come!”

Yes indeed, thank you for all that Pam!

There are only a couple of weeks left in our “Drive for 25,” so if you haven’t donated yet, please do. Send your news - and/or your pledge - to thejeffallison@gmail.com

Have a great week and enjoy the Perseid meteor shower!