Codger’s column: Doing and undoing
Now that Shelter Island has an international reputation as “an exclusive Hamptons island” with “extremely picky locals,” Codger thinks it’s time to seize the narrative before Fox does it for us with...
View ArticleCodger’s Column: Facing traffic
Codger and Cur II were walking along West Neck Road the other day when they came face to face with a young woman powering toward them. Cur II took an excessive interest in her, which she handled...
View ArticleCodger’s Column: Noises off
On a lovely Sunday evening last week, a powerhouse Shelter Island task force assembled on a porch overlooking Gardiners Creek to gauge the noise coming across from a blues concert on the Sylvester...
View ArticleCodger: On the waterfront
While pre-habbing for a hip replacement in two weeks, Codger has been reading a book so scary in its planetary prognosis that he has hardly had time to think about his own moldy bones. If you believe...
View ArticleCodger’s Column: Perfect Island
Of all Town Councilman Paul Shepherd’s gnomic sayings, Codger’s favorite is this: “When people describe the Shelter Island that should be, it is usually the Shelter Island they saw when they first...
View ArticleCodger gives thanks
As everyone knows, Codger loves Thanksgiving, his favorite holiday, a festival of family, food and the lunatic fun of the Friends of the Library’s Turkey Plunge, an annual rite for all three...
View ArticleColumn: Codger looks back and ahead
Last week, Codger took Cur II for a walk. It wasn’t that much of a walk, certainly not one of their old howling, ball-chasing marathons, just a stroll on Westmoreland in the rain. Cur II kept looking...
View ArticleCodger Column: Already missing Paul on the Town Board
About 10 years ago, as Paul Shepherd told Codger recently, “frustrated as a citizen and despondent over regulations I felt were crippling my carpentry business,” he began showing up at Town Board...
View ArticleCodger’s column: Story time
Codger’s father, Coot, told epic bedtime stories. His wondrous Cooterized versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey, layered with moral asides and modern references, could go on for weeks. But the tales...
View ArticleSummer comes early: Second homeowners arriving with relief and respect
Supervisor Gerry Siller: “Like most families we might not always like each other, but we do love each other and we always take care of one another.” As a state of the town diagnosis, that home-page...
View ArticleCodger’s column: In solitary
Codger thought he’d have no problem surviving, even thriving, in solitary confinement. A fat boy, he grew up at a social distance. His best sport was swimming underwater. He worked like a mushroom in...
View ArticleCodger’s column: My president
These days, even Codger needs reassurance. He has Crone, of course, and Cur II, and Cat and Crunch with their families through cyberspace, but sometimes he needs to reach to higher authority. He needs...
View ArticleCodger’s column: Masks
Codger likes to pull on a mask (one of four, thanks to Crone), and not only because it hides the fact he didn’t shave. How else could Codger ever feel cool, roguish, and at the same time a responsible...
View ArticleCodger’s column: Gathering
Codger and Crone have been stepping out lately, which means shouting through masks to trusted friends scattered almost out of earshot on decks and backyard lawns about the only current topic — is this...
View ArticleCodger’s column: Mr. Rogers was here
In these waning months of the Trump regime, Codger has been toying with the idea of asking the president to send federal troops to protect buildings on Shelter Island. Codger has been most concerned...
View ArticleCodger’s column: After the fall
Codger has always loved this time of year, from Labor Day when the air whooshes out of the Shelter Island beach ball to Thanksgiving, his favorite holiday, a week-long family festival of hugging and...
View ArticleCodger’s Column: Orange Man blues
Several months ago, even before President Trump totally unmasked himself, Codger furloughed — with an option to fire — a friend of almost 40 years. It was not a logical or even useful gesture. That...
View ArticleCodger’s column: And now …
Just before The Great Exhalation, Codger’s friend, G, sent him a message that contained this paragraph: Whatever the outcome, please find your own peace and solace in knowing that life goes on no...
View ArticleCodger’s column: Stationary thoughts
As soon as Codger’s stationary bicycle arrives and is assembled by Crone and Cur II, the light at the end of the tunnel will click on. Some people think a new president or a new vaccine will...
View ArticleCodger’s column: Zeldin must go
The stationary bicycle arrived in pieces. Cur II was not confident that Codger and Crone could assemble it properly. Being an apricot standard poodle, he called an Island company called Silver Lab,...
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