Illumination

Popular themes in painting include a dirt road in Sconset and lighthouses like this one. This is actually on Brant Point a couple of blocks away from where the Kitty and I live. We live in one of the nicest quietest neighborhoods yet only a few minute walk into downtown. Other than the happy patois of the Jamaicans who walk down our street in the early morning on their way to work at the nearby White Elephant, we seldom hear anything except the Boat whistle at 6:30 a.m. long after I awake and that the Kitty can't hear because she sleeps with earplugs (Sorry about the snoring. Nobody's perfect.) At 8:00 a.m. the cannon goes off at the Nantucket Yacht Club. That doesn't wake her either.

On special boat race days, throngs of people walk down to this lighthouse and watch the boats as they round Brant Point. The intimate restaurant in the White Elephant is named The Brant Point Grille. The folks that own the White Elephant also own the Wauwinnet where the Kitty and I had lunch yesterday. Sure, the hamburger was $20, but it was huge and yummy and served in a beautiful setting. By the way, yesterday the weather, which is so important for humans feeling good, was "perfect." 70 degrees, no humidity, 5 mph wind, and not a cloud in the sky. Locals don't eat at either place because they are offended by the hubris of one man coming in and buying up so much real estate and operating these two high-end establishments. I wrote about this in "town-gown" a few posts back. Locals must have gotten their price for the real estate when they sold to this interloper because as far as I know, he bought it all with his own money.

Personally, I believe that it is nice to have the juxtaposition of the old unmaintained historical places and the new and spiffy White Elephant and Toppers at Wauwinnet. Nothing is homogeneous about Nantucket except that every building has to be, by law, covered in cedar shakes which age to a gray color. Hence, Nantucket is called "The Gray Lady" or it could have been named that for the fog. Cisco Brewery also makes a beer called Gray Lady but I doubt the island was named after the beer.