Moving Past March

Signs of Optimism, Deliciousness

The sun rose at 6:27 this morning and will set at 7:02 this evening.

Drifts of yellow daffodils are now in bloom along the island’s roadsides. They are a welcome sight in what is an otherwise dreary early spring landscape, still devoid of any green.

Bartlett’s Farm recently opened its garden center, and if you’re in the market for pots of daffodil bulbs that should bloom within a few weeks, they’ve got plenty. I picked up two 8-inch pots of yellow daffy because the ones I planted last November under the soil that held Christmas greenery and red berries have only just begun to send up green shoots. Maybe by Daffodil Weekend they’ll be in bloom too.

Bartlett’s Farm’s Garden Center is open Wednesday through Sunday from 8 a.m. - 4p.m. until more staff arrives. Visas for foreign workers have been problematic for some employers this year, hence the shortened days of operation. They are hoping to be open seven days a week by May or when more staff arrives.

My impatience for flowers on my front porch has only been tempered by the big planter of Johnny Jump-ups (mini-pansies) that wintered over nicely on our back deck and have just burst into bloom this past week, their little purple and yellow faces bringing me joy every time I venture outside and see them.

Road and Restaurant Improvements

In other areas of the island the season is slowly taking hold with more and more landscaping trucks on the road and the smell of earthy mulch in the air. In town, the streets and sidewalks that have been torn up over the winter for the installation of new sewer lines look like they are in the final stages of construction. New granite curbing and brick sidewalks are being installed while the roadways are getting base coats of material before paving begins within the next month. I’ve seen significant progress in these areas on Atlantic Avenue and Winter Street. Hopefully that short stretch of Liberty Street that has been closed from Winter to Gardner Streets will be finished soon as well.

While the Corner Table has finally reopened, it’ll be a few more weeks until Born and Bread is done with its renovation project. I ran into B&B owners Kevin and Kim Anderson last week and they said they are looking at mid-April for an opening date. Maybe sooner. The physical changes that have been made to the bakery should expedite takeout orders, they said, with a separate station for coffee and drinks, where the big community table used to be – that’s gone now – and a separate station for sandwich orders. Less seating but more efficiency and quicker fulfillment of orders. Born and Bread is a real success story. Good food, good people running it and happy customers.

Good Guys

Over on Main Street, the people working with Allen Bell to buy his business at Nantucket Pharmacy are looking to brighten up the space with new flooring and new merchandise. The day I stopped by they were choosing new floor tiles and asked my opinion on a couple of color choices they were considering. Allen told me the new people are close to signing a deal with a couple to take over the soda fountain as well. That is excellent news, considering that a year ago it looked like the pharmacy and the lunch counter might both be gone this summer. Allen wanted to retire and no one was stepping forth to buy the business and keep it as it was.

Allen and his pharmacist of 45 years, Ken Knutti, deserve a lot of credit for hanging in there while Allen tried to find a buyer for the business who would keep it going pretty much as it had been. Otherwise we were faced with Nantucket Pharmacy closing and all that it offered to the year round community going away while the property turned into yet another real estate office, expensive jewelry shop or high priced art gallery – nothing that regular people need or want.

How we’ve Changed

Years ago after John Bertolami sold Congdon’s Pharmacy to Seaman Schepps, a Palm Beach jewelry store, I went in to check it out and asked to try on a particularly pretty bracelet. Just for fun. It was $65,000. I could have bought a fancy car for that price - but I would never spend that much money for a car. And to think, people who spend money like that are just buying an accessory to wear only occasionally. The amount of disposable income people who come here have is ridiculous.

I saw this week where Franklin and Arline Bartlett’s former home on Pleasant Street just sold for over $7.3 million. Someone bought it from Arline’s heirs after she passed away and the buyer renovated it, flipping it for multiple times the purchase price. But it sure doesn’t look like something you’d pay $7 million for. It’s an attractive but modest 5-bedroom house with a small yard on less than a quarter acre of land. Franklin and Arline Bartlett were salt-of-the-earth Nantucketers. I wonder what they’d think of how Nantucket has changed.

Lastly, I was glad to see the ConCom finally approved the expansion of the geotube on the Sankaty Bluff to protect Baxter Road and the homes on its east side from erosion. This should have happened years ago. Those few who decry how the geotube is ruining the beach fail to recognize that specific beach is rarely used by the general public. However, by extending the length of protection of the geotube it gives the town more time to figure out how to relocate Baxter Road, if indeed that is what needs to happen.

Searching for Deliciousness

One of the big success stories in the category of local mom and pop businesses has to be Wicked Island Bakery. Ben Woodbury and his wife Heather have created a specialty bakery that has lines out the door with high demand for their morning buns, breakfast sandwiches, ham and cheese croissants and any other buttery, flaky pastry they are offering.

Last week when I stopped in to pick up a chocolate croissant for a sick friend – the best by far on the Cape and Islands – there was a special dessert that Ben had created: Morning Bun Bread Pudding with caramel sauce and whipped cream. Forget that I had decided to swear off evening desserts as of the first day of spring. This confection called to me. So I picked up two for dessert that night, without whipped cream. I always have heavy cream in the refrigerator.

The Morning Bun Bread Pudding was better than I could have imagined, ooey, gooey, and redolent of cinnamon. Unctuousness at its best. Another home run for the Wicked Island team.