HAIL TO THE WHALE!

The first time I found my love for whales was on Nantucket, the home of the Whaling Industry.  I bought my dad a wonderful belt with a mahogany color leather rectangle about 1 1/2" x 2"  with a brass whale on that.  I have that belt today. When I find it, I will take a photo and post it here.

I remember a 7th birthday in August and barbeque and a home made birthday cake, chocolate with lots of candles....at our friends house where there were lots of generations there to celebrate. That trip to Nantucket, I bought my dad a present that I thought was the perfect Nantucket gift.

Anything whale makes me happy.  Vineyard Vines couldn't have a more perfect logo.  My first visit to Nantucket was when i was very, very young.  Nantucket was different then.  It was all things Yankee, New Englander and way before million, oodle billion dollar mansions.

NANTUCKET THEN:

Less cars on island....old station wagons filled with families.

Quiet money. Old money.
Artists and Writers.
No Nantucket stickers or license plates.
Old Grey Lady of the Sea...cottages with old worn. grey shingles and loads of beach plum and roses.
No traffic lights.
Lilly dresses worn for years.
Old khakis.
Worn oxford shirts.
Madras.
Old boat bags.
Worn out Top Siders held together with Duct Tape.
Families filled the houses.
Backyard barbeques with hamburgers and hot dogs.
Plastic flip flops.
Hardware Stores.

Simple living to get away.
Lobsters always.
Straw baskets for the beach.
Sandy floors and screened in porches.




NANTUCKET NOW:


Personal Jets to the island.
Range Rovers
Designer labels
Fine dining restaurants with reservations.
Hollywood.
Wall Street Billionaires.
5000 square foot homes with swimming pools.
Landscape "designers."
Interior designers
Nannies

And some things have changed. The good news is there are the same old school prep families and artists and writers. There are still people who go to Nantucket because of their family homes that they've had through the generations.  There are still families who stay in houses filled with kids and grandparents and sandy toes and lobster dinners with plastic bibs.

That's the beauty of Nantucket. The quiet. The beauty. The beaches. The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with sand.  Boogie boards and sandy bathing suits and sun burns and barbeques and bare feet and Coppertone lotion.

The talented artists who rent. The writers who live in small spaces just to be in a place of beauty, quiet and inspiration.

Nantucket still has the natural beauty and families making memories.  The crowds have made it more challenging to find the quiet spaces but they are still there for those who love the simple Nantucket.