James Brubaker

In TGO there are dozens of ponds. They are a part of us! We can’t get into TGO without filling our windshield with a view of lake Judy or a pond in Hidden Lakes – they are everywhere in TGO. Most of the lakes are shallow retenion ponds with sedimentation that covers the Bass and Bluegill spawning beds making reproduction dificult. To keep our ponds/lakes healthy, beautiful, and a positive influence on our environment, they need fish – so we restock them. That happened last week through the help of a lot of volunteers – THANKS

12 18 2023 Restocking

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – think about nature and the ways we all can help keep nature healthy, beautiful, and a positive influence on our lives.

Islands create social engagement. A.  All whom an Islander meets knows their name. B. God’s landscape and water are shared by all. C. Since there are a limited variety of things to do, Islanders share a lot of experiences. D. God’s weather controls the activities of everyone. Three photos: 1.Together experience making hay for the horses. 2. A borrowed driveway scrapping blade in exchange for doing the scrapper’s owner’s driveway. 3. Bad weather sends every home from the GAP.

Bad weather setting in Drummond

Sharing experience -Drummond

Sharing tools and chores – Drummond

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – You determine your own social engagement – Whether in a city with many people or on a small Island with few people it can help you age well

Using the photo on the left, I painted the book cover on the right. I wanted show how you can use a photograph, as a base, for a story.  In this case the story is: Did the Four Winds get traded for the West Wright Potter before the Potter (or the author) sailed off into the GAP’s sunset?  Keep coming back – the end of the book has not been written yet. 

A book without end – Yet

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – Snap more photos, tell more stories – better yet – Live a life full of stories!

Jim wrote:   You can’t buy happiness but you can buy a boat.  I had a number of “bay boats”, canoes, kayaks, sunfish, windsurfers.  I can’t help but rub it into my family with a photo like this when I am boating  in my open outboard, padding my canoe, or boating through the Gap at night in my Four Winns inboard/outboard.  Actually, I used this photo to entice them to come visit and spend a week with me. I feel this photo belongs in a magazine sailing (selling) the good life idea.

Summer 2019.

Dave wrote:  Hi  Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog.  Tundra Swans. They breed in the high Arctic and migrate thru NY state in the late fall. They stop on the larger lakes in NY on their way to the Chesapeak Bay area where they winter. Dave

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – Snap some photos that will help you sell the message that you want family to visit you!

I wroter:Here is another Gap photo – and an other life of me photo. In another life and another Island, as an ordained minister, I performed many weddings, most performed in the church with small to moderate sized parties. Some were performed outside overlooking the Atlantic Ocean with a wedding party of a hundred. So, years later, a small informal wedding on Whitney Bay, overlooking the Gap, caught my attention. In order to not disturb them, I peeked around my bushes to take the interesting snapshot, showing the Gap in the background. One more Gap photo was added to my photo library.

A wedding on Whitney Bay overlooking the Gap. July 2021

Me performing a wedding – Block Island. Around 1990.

Dave wrote:  Hi  Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog.  Tundra Swans. They breed in the high Arctic and migrate thru NY state in the late fall. They stop on the larger lakes in NY on their way to the Chesapeak Bay area where they winter. Dave

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

AS I SWING THROUGH LIFE – My goal at the weddings I performed was to make that their most special day. – To make someone’s day special is a good idea!