Working Waterfront

Travel is a vital complement to island life

By Courtney Naliboff On Christmas Day, Bill, Penrose, and I found ourselves swimming in a warm pool in a cold city. Rather than visit family in San Diego, which we did last winter, or stay on island, which we’ve often done in the past, I thought it would be fun… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Whale skeleton work brings school, community together

By Courtney Naliboff It could have been a ghoulish scene: hole saws cut into vertebrae, hammers whacking chisels, loosening chunks of marrow. Small children swept bone and sawdust from the floor. Rather than a scene from a horror movie, this was a community work day on North Haven’s minke whale… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Year-round housing makes it or breaks it

By Courtney Naliboff More than a decade ago, my husband Bill and I were at a crossroads. We were renting a gorgeous home on North Haven, but there was a catch—it was a ten-month rental only. Summer residents kindly allowed us to live in it from September to June, but… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Summer friends change island’s rhythm

The swift, ephemeral nature of summer on an island is felt in many ways. The sudden frenzy of activity as caretakers open houses and mow fields, lobster boats leaving their moorings for 12 hours a day, six days a week, and lines forming outside Calderwood Hall just before they open… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Music is community… again

The dilemma of the music teacher is that sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day for the music teacher to also play music. Of course, it’s what we love to do. Music teachers began as music students, playing in recitals and sighing our way through Hanon exercises and scales… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Gardening as a way of putting down community roots

Eight years ago, as a symbol of our intention to stay on North Haven indefinitely, I bought apple trees and asparagus crowns for Bill as a Chanukah present. I gave him a drawing of the plants then, and in April, a package arrived from Fedco. Two tiny whips with root-balls… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Dancing away the early spring cold

Sometimes, all it takes to warm back up is a little do-si-do. After a long, snowed-in winter and a chilly, damp spring, with the nearest restaurant opening still weeks away, North Haven kids and grownups were trudging along. Sunny days were few and far between, and it seemed that even… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

An island is a cruise ship

As I write this on April 2, spring is teasing its way to North Haven. A few brave bulbs have bloomed, pussy willows are in full force, and the sun has encouraged a few afternoon walks. Today the sun through a haze of clouds looks suspiciously snow-like, although temperatures are… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

How we support the island’s gay, lesbian,and trans teens

A few years ago, in the service of our podcast “12 Knots,” my husband and I had a chance to sit down with lesbian, gay, and transgender islanders and have a conversation. The five people we interviewed grew up on the island, came out as lesbian, gay, or transgender in… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The North Haven effect

Winter is the time when North Haven’s diaspora spreads far and wide. Sure, the core 350 of us stay put, keeping the lights on at Waterman’s, the school, the store, and the church; plowing the roads and fixing burst pipes; and carrying on living in our home town. But there… SEE MORE