A bonus post this week in the shape of a repost of an item from the same date last year. Only a couple of things have changed — it’s now my seventy third birthday, I have over five hundred new subscribers, and I’ve been on the Substack platform almost two years — but this much remains the same. I’m grateful to each and every one of you for subscribing, reading, and engaging. Thank you.
I have a couple of questions for you down at the bottom. I’d love to hear your responses.
September has always been a pivotal month for me. There's a back-to-school energy, now enhanced by not actually having to go back to school. Here on the island, most of the "summer people" are packing up the beach cabins, the ferry lines have become more reasonable, and we're getting our island back. We have some rain after a very dry summer.
September's also the month of my birthday, actually today, and my 72nd, if you're counting. The start of a new trip around the sun coinciding with the change in seasons makes it a perfect time to look back, and forward. I'd like to share a look back, and forward, with this newsletter.
Around the beginning of 2022, I decided to quit the too many boards and advisory committees I was on. To keep in touch, I started an occasional infodump email to about a dozen former colleagues. I moved it to Substack not yet a year ago, and now have well over a hundred subscribers around the country and the world, and another fifty over on LinkedIn. I appreciate every one of you, wherever you read this. It's an honor to write for you, and to have you read.
During the summer I offered you lighter fare, sharing posts about our island communities and our travel adventures in Europe. For the fall, I'm planning to offer more substantial pieces some of which are requiring some research. There may be longer gaps between these posts. I may sprinkle in some more community items. We have so many communities to choose from!
Please let me know in the comments:
Which posts have resonated with you?
What would you like to see more of?
What is the change in season to autumn (or spring!) bringing for you?
Happy Birthday John! And Congrats to your wife Brenda for making it to worlds in triathlon. I enjoy your column and always learn something. I like the way you combine history and community and current environmental issues and manage to write it so I can hear you saying it. Like the time you traced current island struggles with land and water rights back to structures created when white pioneering families settled on the island. Bravo!
Happy birthday! I also think of September as the start of a new year, probably from living so many years of my life by the school calendar. Unlike others who feel they have to survive winter, summer is the season that most challenges me. September is always a relief and re-start for me. I always feel so good when we get the first rain. This morning I heard our furnace turn on for the first time in months, and I felt a little zing of happiness. I enjoy all the things you share, but I especially like pieces that give me a way to visit your part of the world, which will always be home to me. I know I'm not that far away (Portland), but it just is not the same place in so many ways.