Over these past few weeks, Mother Nature has treated us to some interesting and exciting sightings. They began with pogies. Everywhere the waters shimmered with slews of schools of fish jumping and skimming on the surface. In rapid succession they were followed by bigger fish, fishing trawlers, and harbor and gray seals. Relative to the latter, gray seals are sometimes called "horseheads" because of their large, horse-like heads and large, curved noses. Regardless, they gather in large noisy groups and unlike the harbor seals can range from 7.5’ and 550 lbs. (females) to 10’ feet and 880 lbs. (males)! They are often heard calling out with human-like baby cries. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/gray-seal. To our surprise, next a humpback whale was spotted breaching and spouting on the Shepscot from cottages and boats. At night some islanders who did not get a look could hear them breathe and spout. About that time, we witnessed what we call a “pogie die-off;” over several days, hundreds of deceased pogies were found in the old swimming hole and at the west shore. We remember well a major pogie die-off event in 1990 according to a saved “Register” article. No surprise, the die-off was followed by large flocks of herring gulls who showed up bringing along multiple juveniles. All got to work doing what gulls do best, scavenging. Yet, not to be outdone by the flocks, one enterprising island boy, Jamison Woolson, collected and disposed of the detritus at $.25 a head. He ended up making $12! Meanwhile, among all this marine entertainment, the Super Blue Moon rose along with some very high tides.

Per tradition the Saturday Labor Day weekend picnic was held on a stellar day at the farmhouse. The Morrell family treated us all to a beautiful spot, hot grills, and a place to share picnic food and end-of-summer conversations. Many thanks to that generous clan!

Two Sunday Services capped the season. The former was led by photographer, Peter McClennan. Peter spoke of how his father taught him from an early age skills of developing and taking photographs. His discussion was supplemented on the big screen with beautiful and interesting photos taken over 70 years by both his dad, John McClennan (the early ones), and his own years later. The photos, many of the island and this region, spoke for themselves, some containing subtly hidden people and objects. Peter also provided photos of comparisons between landscapes of two distinctly different geographies and locations in the world; ours of muffin spruce-topped Maine ocean islands compared with similarly shaped islands of groves of trees in the fields of the countryside of the Czech Republic where he and his family own a home.

The final service was led by Ian Ridlon. He read two fables with important morals to consider. In one he jumped into the future by prompting Chat-GPT using key words “Island,” “Bridge,” and “Procrastination.” The AI-generated story was pretty much right on and both entertaining and thought-provoking.

As folks leave for fall, a couple of reminders: Please get your cottage photos and narratives into the Cottage Book website or Betsy Morrell’s mailbox. Those photos will be displayed in next year’s NeKrangan II exhibit, “Isle of Springs’ Buildings, Structures, Cottages, and Places.” Also, please send in any additional narrative you have about your cottage to include who the people are that now reside within along with any other interesting information not contained in the cottage book. Examples are: How did you or your family happen to come to the IOS and to own the cottage? What was the cottage or life in the cottage like back then? Are there other extended family members perhaps with different surnames residing in other cottages? What are some of the past or current stories about the people or place of your cottage? This narrative will go into in a supplemental album at the exhibit.

As the days shorten and the island empties out, and not without sadness, I am reminded of the conclusion of R. McCloskey’s “Time of Wonder,” “Take a farewell look at the waves and sky. Take a farewell sniff of the salty sea. A little bit sad about the place you are leaving, a little bit glad about the place you are going. It is a time of quiet wonder.”