DeBlois Gallery Opening

Still Life

My friend Patricia is a painter. 

Waiting on Route 2 in Exeter for Triple A to come resuscitate her old car,

she sat in the sunny back seat and painted the yellow birches

in both watercolors and pastels.

It really is a blessing that Triple A is so slow

because the resulting painting is quite lovely.

Plein air painting is for the birds.

Painting while standing on one's feet for hours is literally numbing.

Georgia O'Keefe did it right.

And so does Patricia:

Front seat, back seat,

Getting down the bones of the landscape and filling it all in from the comfort of one's own car.

This really is as good as it gets.

RDB

December 4, 2016


*Artist is Patricia Szydlo

Early One Morning

Early one morning at Sunnyfield Farm in Middletown, Rhode Island, the cows were ready for milking.  Two farm hands were missing.  The other two men milked as many cows as they could.

It was still dark outside and it was autumn cool.  It was many decades ago and one of the farm hands was my step-grandfather, who told my father this story.  Both are gone now, so I am telling you the tale that happened so long ago.

If you tell a person that they cannot do something, they will always find a way.  The era of Prohibition made many men wealthy.  It was all about connections: knowing the able bodies, the empty barns, the source of the liquor, choosing the right boats, time and place for pick-up and delivery.

On an island as Middletown is on, one fellow would call the police, distracting them to the opposite end of the island, while the crime was being committed.  For whatever reason, the ploy did not work out this particular morning.  The delivery was intercepted just before landing at Third Beach boat ramp.

One man evaded the police by jumping out and swimming away in the dark, while the other man, who did not know how to swim, was apprehended and taken away in handcuffs to do time in jail.

The swimmer had not planned on being late for work.  He ran two and a half miles up the road, through the fields,  to Sunnyfield Farms, drenched to the bone, to milk his share of the cows.

It always pays to be able to swim.

RDB

November 17, 2016

Plea for Reconsideration

Public figures we are:

Tall and poised we stand,

Sentries of common and uncommon domiciles.

Although we have both passed the century mark,

We are strong, willing & eager

To live at least a century more.

We have no birth certificates at town hall,

No social security numbers,

Or drivers’ licences.

‘Lest you think we are passing the hat

At this holy time of year,

Fear not the bells of charity mongers!

All we ask is sun, rain and good drainage,

And at least another hundred years-

You see—I am an ash tree and my friend 2 streets away

Is a maple.

RDB

12/17/1995
published in ProJo South County section

History of Dunlap Wheeler Park

A Beginning

In 1941, the Middletown Improvement Association spent $7,425 to secure property just east of the Newport/Middletown line, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The intent was to preserve the land as a park that was to remain a beautiful spot from which to enjoy the coastal views at the end of Easton’s Beach.

The Green Pioneers

Alan R. Wheeler, a history teacher at St. George’s School for 45 years, was president of the Middletown Improvement Association, and Pauline H. Haire served as chairman of the executive committee. A number of forward-looking private contributors made this possible: Mrs. Hugh D. Auchincloss, Mrs. Oliver G. Jennings, Mrs. Hamilton Fish Webster, Mrs. Walter Belknap James, Mrs. William R. Hunter, Countess Laszlo Szecheny, Mrs. Nicholas Brown, Mrs. Michael Van Buren, Mrs. Louis Butler McCagg, Mr. Walter Gurnee Dyer, Mr. Alan R. Wheeler, William P. Sheffield, Esq. Mrs. George Cerio, Mr. James O’Connell, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Parish, Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs, Miss Maude K. Wetmore, Miss Edith Wetmore, Mr. William H. Vanderbilt, Mrs. T. I. Hare Powel, Mrs. G. Bogart Blakely, Mr. and Mrs. W. Henry Williams, Francis L. V. Hoppin, Stewart Duncan, Anonymous, Mr. and Mrs. William McMaster Mills, and the Middletown Improvement Association.

Mr. Edward J. Corcoran served as notary public and James A. Peckham served as town clerk at the time of purchase.

In 1947 the 0.97-acre piece of property was turned over to the town of Middletown for the sum of $10, to be used as a park or a common. This group, however, did not leave a maintenance fund or arrange to landscape the park. The park served as a dirt parking lot for over two decades throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Park Dedication- Alan R. Wheeler and Anne Slater Dunlap

 

In 1970 the town of Middletown dedicated the park to Alan R. Wheeler (1879-1956) and Anne Slater Dunlap (1922-1968), for their contributions to beautification of the town. Anne Slater Dunlap served the town of Middletown in many volunteer capacities. From 1965 to 1968 she was the first Green Acres Coordinator. She was secretary of the Conservation Commission during that same period. She was also very active in the Middletown Garden Club. Before there was a tree warden or a tree commission in Middletown, she saw the need for roadside trees. She brought this to the town’s attention, and she used her expertise as a botany professor to select the type of hardy tree that would provide the best ambience for the roads of Middletown. The town planted the pin oaks that Mrs. Dunlap selected (in the 1960s) up and down Green End Avenue, Riverview Avenue, Wyatt Road, and other roads in Middletown. Today their shade and foliage is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors alike.

From Parking Lot to Landscaped Park

In 1978 the park returned to being a parking lot. In response to concerns expressed by Rowena Dunlap, daughter of Anne Dunlap, the town planted grass in the park and agreed to landscape the area. The town has mowed it but it has not yet been landscaped to show the park’s best face to the public.

In 2000, a grassroots effort, led by Rowena Dunlap Burke, was launched to help Dunlap Wheeler Park finally realize its potential as a fully landscaped place of beauty to be enjoyed by the public. Since then many individuals, local businesses and institutions, including family members of Alan Wheeler and Anne Slater Dunlap, have contributed to the effort and many talented individuals have volunteered their services.

Frank Amaral, of Amaral Landscaping in Newport created the initial design for Dunlap Wheeler Park in September 2000. With this design, the project gained serious momentum: Several grants were sought and awarded: a grant of $2,500 from the Aquidneck Island Land Trust, a matching grant of $11,000 from the R.I. D.E.M., and an $11,000 grant from the Bank of Newport. These monies were all deposited to a town account expressly for Dunlap Wheeler Park. Several fundraisers were held at the Atlantic Beach Club.

In August 2001, the chain link fence that surrounded the park was removed. The park took on a whole new open and inviting look. People commented on how good the park looked, inspiring and encouraging those who were working towards its revitalization to realize their goal. If it looks good now, why not make it look great?

A View to the Future

In the spring of 2003, plans by landscape architect Anna Tillinghast were approved by the town of Middletown. In addition to maintaining an open lawn area overlooking Easton’s Beach and the Atlantic Ocean, the design includes trees appropriate to the environment, walkways, benches, and appealing sculptures. Completion of planting is anticipated by August 2004.

Dunlap Wheeler Park has a site of unusual prominence on Aquidneck Island. From its waterfront position, thousands upon thousands of people drive, bicycle, and walk past it daily. Once beautified by elegant landscaping, it will become the true gateway to both Middletown and Newport.

March 2004

1957

I think my life began at 3rd Beach. I suppose I made my debut at 2 months of age on the 4th of July. I don’t know how early on I got dipped into the Atlantic. 4 older siblings were known to toss twirl spin and occasionally bodily harm me once necessitating multi-digit stitches across my tiny head when gravity overruled the situation. Head to concrete, this happens. But not at the beach. Most harm happens at home.

So let me tell you about 3rd Beach. There are 3 beaches between points of land on Aquidneck Island. 1st beach is in Newport, Rhode Island. 2nd Beach is in Middletown and 3rd Beach is also in Middletown, Rhode Island. When you hear the phrase ‘good for young and old’, that describes 3rd Beach. The in betweens go to 2nd with their radios. The singles scene is at 1st in Newport. The young and old are quietly enjoying the glassiness, the pastoral qualities of 3rd Beach. There comes a point in life when the crest of a wave is no longer the peak of one’s existence. Happy with oneself, you’re at 3rd. It’s a way of life.

We rented a small piece of real estate at 3rd Beach from Mrs. Peabody. Each day, one by one, we changed into our swimsuits and hung up our clothes on pegs in our changing room. Mrs. Peabody also ran a small concession stand. About once a week my mother gave us money to buy ice cream bars. Otherwise, only money found on the beach was spent at Mrs. Peabody’s. Mrs. Peabody wore a housedress and a very large hat. She lived in a house several hundred yards across the road from the beach. I never saw her except for June, July or August. I have no idea what became of her cash flow or if she had a husband. I believe her house was willed to the bird sanctuary up the road. It needed some serious work to be habitable for the young bird sanctuary director and his wife. Anyway, Mrs. Peabody was a fixture. She hired people to collect money for parking cars and to sell ice cream bars at her concession stand. She spent her days walking between her cash flow operations and greeting her customers by name.

Now we’ve gotten past Mrs. Peabody, and that was no mean feat, we’ve found our ‘spot’ at the beach. Just like homeroom, everyone has a designated piece of the beach. You know people by where they sit on the beach. Just a few people walk the beach during the summer sunlight hours. Leatherman is the memorable exception. I hope he to God that Leatherman never required any kind of surgery because scalpels woulda broken on his shoe leather hide. He basted. He sunned. He strutted. 8 hours a day. I don’t know what he did in winter, either.

Summer is a whole way of life on the island. And 3rd beach is a very, very pleasant state of mind, much better, much more intoxicating than any alcoholic buzz.

On Memorial Day weekend I spent $70 on a beach pass to park at 2nd and 3rd beaches for the season. A few weeks ago I received a letter from my church stating my annual donations for tax claiming purposes. So I went to church 4 times this year and gave $60 in total. I agree, it’s a little shameful. But I can’t see rectifying it. I worship water. I worship the beach. 3rd beach is my place of worship.

4 bathing suits are kept busy all summer long. Pink, purple, green, and turquoise, depending on my mood. I usually feel turquoise. Not many bikinis are spotted at 3rd beach. Mostly on toddlers. 3rd beach is for serious swimmers. Long distance swimmers, people swimming religiously, like myself, and people swimming to strengthen their heart muscles. This is the 3rd beach that I love and know.