Sunrise over Plum Island, Massachusetts

Mounted on a Sea Scout Unit 49 presentation display below "The Sea Promise" ~ the image is from the portfolio of Skipper Alice Twombly.¹ Then president of the unit's sponsors, Ring's Island Rowing Club ~ Alice skippers the small tall ship Misty Isles (when used as a Sea Scout sail training vessel) ~ which is the adopted flagship for the Waterside movement.²

Open water rowing at dawn, Alice recalls she was inspired to drop her oars so she could capture the time and place (and the imagination) for posterity. The image calls to mind a favorite sonnet by Edna St. Vincent Millay whose childhood home was on Ring's Island. Published in the collection Huntsman, What Quarry? ~ its inspiration can be found at the link within (Poetry in Motion) ~ looming wisdom.

It was a new dawn, and further enlightened with reflection upon the paradox of verses 7, 9 and 10 from Chapter 1 of the Book of Ecclesiastes: All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again ... The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said: See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us ... in a Motion of Comity.

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¹ And retracing steps (under a Harvest Moon in 2004) Comity footnotes that The Fourth Estate published a topical piece about the Ring's Island Rowing Club: The Daily News article entitled Young Rowers go with the flow is archived on this Web site, with permission of the publisher.

Incidentally, when Alice had described this early morning row to us, she had mentioned that her 9 year-old niece was with her ~ and Alice had asked that she hunker down in the bow of the dory so the photograph could be taken. Upon reading the news piece, Comity did a bit of math and wondered if the 14 year-old mentioned in the article was one in the same person. And at a recent gam on Ring's Island, when asking this good question, Alice confirmed (with a smile) that indeed it was her niece Jaque who was in the dory, in camera, when the photograph was taken. Now a Sea Scout, Jaque likes to row the waters solo ~ at her own pace.

Any generation can join the Ring's Island Rowing Club which --- to quote Alice --- "welcomes youth of all ages." Reference the news article for contact information.

² And soon, with dawns (and moons) ~ a ray of hope for the launch of a new boating program at the mouth of the Merrimack. The venture in seamanship is propelled by Ray Pike ~ a native of Ring's Island and owner/captain of the small tall ship Misty Isles (and coincidentally, co-founder of the Ring's Island Rowing Club).

As noted in the Ship's "log" (of sorts) at the link within ~ Ray fulfilled plans on the horizon since the New Millennium when he returned to his home port to begin a new adventure on this leg of Life's journey. Since his homecoming in the summer of 2003, Ray assumed the role of Salisbury's Harbormaster, then formed a relationship with the Boys and Girls Club to establish a boating program ~ while maintaining close ties with the Twombly crew and the Lawrence Boating Club upriver. Along the way, Ray and his first mate Wendy Pike became the proud parents of a new little shipmate.

This fall, Ray's relationship with the younger generation evolves (or rather comes full circle) when he resumes a role he served a generation ago: a public school math/algebra teacher. We envision Ray will figure out the ways and means to combine all facets of education when he joins the faculty of the Triton ~ the regional school system which serves Newbury, Rowley and Salisbury. Come to know more about the Triton Regional School District at this link without ~ and of course, keep in mind the deft ply with the name "Triton" (given the tri-town school system for these three regional coastal communities) ~ in that in Greek mythology, Triton is the messenger god of both fresh water and the sea (link without). Come share more good tidings about the Captain's plans at the Waterside community gam.