Current Update:

• The Saturday Thomas Laighton boat is cancelled.
• The Friday Thomas Laighton 9:25 a.m. boat is still a go.
• The Friday Thomas Laighton 1:55 p.m. is still a possibility, though may be cancelled.
• Sunday boats may or may not run.
• Boats for Monday are expected to be back to normal.
• If we expect sustained high winds on Friday night and Saturday, we will likely cancel your conference.

Anyone who comes early on Friday who was planning to come on Friday does not need to pay extra.
Anyone who comes early on Friday who was planning on coming on Saturday would need to pay the 3 night rate; for a double room, this rate increase is $65 (which represents a significant reduction from our standard per night rates).

Earlier in the year the book was selected as the 2010 Winner of the Best Book on Environmental and Natural Resources selected by The American Society for Public Administration.

A very engaging book, written for the layman, The Chesapeake Watershed promotes the importance of individual action in restoring our environment by using stories from the Chesapeake Bay as a metaphor for all watersheds. It weaves together vignettes of the natural wonders found in our own backyards with science-based discussions of natural processes. It helps develop a greater sense of place as a basis for encouraging the reader to become a better steward of the land and all our natural resources.

The Chesapeake Watershed inspires readers to become champions at home, in the community, and at work to incorporate more sustainable practices into everything they do and is currently being used in colleges, high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools.

Tillman, a dynamic, intriguing speaker, is conducting fund raising events to provide books to schools that cannot afford them in order to strengthen environmental education throughout the region.

Tillman is the Chair of the Howard County Sustainability Board, past chair of the Howard County Conservancy, and a Sustainability Advisor to local businesses, colleges, and non-profit organizations. His firm, Growth Adventures, LLC helps these organizations assess opportunities, and develop plans for embedding good sustainability practices into everything they do. He is currently on a book tour presenting motivational talks and key-note addresses.

For further information visit www.TheChesapeakeWatershed.com or www.growthadventures.org. Or email email hidden; JavaScript is required.

Thanks to everyone who added their support for the film crew and a special thanks to Deskie Noah Braiterman who set up a room for the crew to videotape on very short notice.

The second annual Starry Night Wine Tasting and Exhibition will be held on Saturday, November 20 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Discover Portsmouth Center at 30 Middle Street in Portsmouth NH.

This year the gallery on the second floor of the Discover Center will feature photography by professional photographers Bruce Parsons, Peter Randall, Jill Brody, and Alex De Steiguer who will also serve as jurors to select photos to be featured in the first floor gallery. Photos must be of Star Island or the Isles of Shoals. If you are interested in submitting photographs please review the selection criteria below.

1. All submissions must be:
• made electronically to Justina Maji at email hidden; JavaScript is required
• submitted by August 15
• limited to 5 images
• images of Star Island or the other islands of the Isles of Shoals
2. Photographers will be notified regarding images selected for the exhibition by October 1. If selected:
• All submissions must be professional quality, framed with wire affixed and ready to hang, no saw-tooth hangers please
• All photography submitted must be for sale and priced.
3. Star Island will receive a 30 percent commission on all sales.
4. Photographer name, address, and phone number must be adhered to the backing of the framed piece.
5. All photography selected for the exhibition must be delivered to the Star Island Corporation office at 30 Middle Street in Portsmouth during the week of November 8-12.
6. Artists may provide one portfolio rack to hold Shoals related artwork up to 24’ x 24’. The number of pieces must comfortably fit inside the portfolio rack. Framed work should be shrink wrapped with a label on front right corner listing the name of the artist, title and price and numbered to correspond with a consignment sheet provided by the artist (the consignment sheet form will be provided to the artist prior to the show).
7. All photography must be picked up no later than November 30.

I know that, with your help and participation, we could fill several hours sharing stories about Dave and Edith Pierson, who the Corporation honors today with this award.
Why do we honor them today? We know that Star Island is that unique place, where families come for generations, and then pass the traditions on. And Dave and Edith were central in shaping both traditions and the Star experience for many of us, me included.
They were indefatiguable, and took their role as senior staff seriously, knowing that their mentoring could help young adults not only come back, but lead in turn They led by example. There was no task that he wouldn’t do and that made us want to work all the harder.
Nancy Meyer remembers, “Dave was quiet, patient, and unfailingly kind. He used to urge us to take days off, to avoid burn out. When we’d ask when his last vacation was, he’d answer, ‘every day is a vacation.’ And there was even a song made up about Dave: “Roll, roll, roll your boat, gently down the lawn. How can a man who’s twice our age still be twice as strong?”
Bruce Parsons said, “There was a reason why we called Edith,’ Ma.’ She and Dave taught us about work ethics, global and environmental awareness,” and what it means to be a caring community: Although Edith was violently seasick – she always took trips on boats by lying on the floor of the boat as it crossed – she was the quintessential island presence. And she, too, was an incredibly hard worker and role model. Scott Stewart remembers, “In 1975 I was working for Edith during open-up, moving rocks from one side of the Island to the paths leading out to the John Smith monument. This was tiring work, and one afternoon, I was pleased to see rain coming, figuring this would allow me to get some rest from moving rocks.

“So the rains came, and in my best acting performance, I went up to Edith with tears in my eyes and told her I would not be able to move any more rocks that day because of the rain. She said, “this is great, because now you can go out in the rain and rock back and forth on the rocks and settle them nicely in the mud.” Which I proceeded to do, because when someone tells you to do something with that much joy in their voice, you know it must be the right thing to do.”

Dave showed up in the kitchen every single lobster night and stood there, making sure the steam worked – not a dinner where you wanted problems! When something was broken, he would appear, almost without being called. Nancy Meyer reports, “We used to joke, if you needed to see Dave all you had to do was stand on a chair to paint a ceiling or reach something high up. (We weren’t supposed to use chairs as ladders and he had an UNCANNY knack of showing up just as we were doing the thing we weren’t supposed to be doing.)”
They lived for a while in the Engineers Cottage, near the back door of the kitchen, and it wasn’t long before it became known as The Piersonage. Dave became known for his dry, humorous quips: “We started late, so we’d better end early,” and “Working hard, or hardly working?”
Scott Stewart said, “Dave is one of the great teachers I have ever been around. What made him great was his use of the word “oh”. Dave would come up to you when you were working on a project and ask you how it was going. He would intently listen, and if at any point you described something that didn’t sound right, Dave would simply say “oh”– which meant either that you were on the wrong track or that you should explain more. A soft “oh” meant you probably did something a little wrong, but the louder or more toned the “oh”, the more you were doing it wrong. And he would engage you, and sometimes you would convince him that what you were doing was right and sometimes he would gently lead you back in the direction of the correct fix. He rarely if ever lost his temper. He always could do a project faster and better than us. But he understood that if he taught us, together we could accomplish great things. And we did.”

Edith’s sense of social activism led her to pen “Star Island is our Spirit’s Home” so that the racist “Marching to Praetoria” words that ended every Pelican Show were replaced with something that fit more with Star Island’s values. She was a passionate advocate for justice and equality – which the Pelicans adored.
Both Dave and Edith were modern models of the fishermen and their wives who lived on the Shoals for centuries. Although they would receive occasional deliveries of their standard order — milk and broccoli — from the mainland during the winter, they gleaned what they could from the sea, walked the rocks and the closed buildings, and, accompanied by their dog, SmuttyToes, checked the neighboring islands to make sure that all was well. Their boat was the Sturgeon, and those Pelicans who were out on the water with Dave would sometimes hear the call between island and boat: “Sturgeon, Sturgeon, Sturgeon. This is Sturgeon on the island calling Sturgeon on the water.”
Carey Kasky summed them up this way: “Dave taught me about quiet leadership and how to set a good example. Edith taught me how to respect nature and find beauty in all that is.” They were, and are, island originals, and richly deserving of the Star island Corporation’s Maker of Light Award. Bravo!