Caroline Dines

Life at the island is relaxed and laid back. We enjoy lounging by the water, reading, swimming, and of course eating good food. One of the best things in my mind is that there is no packing up for the beach. I have always loved this because it takes all the stress and planning out of packing lunches for the beach. Here is a shot of the house my grandfather built which sits literally steps from the grass and beach where we all congregate.

Don’t get me wrong, packing lunches can be fun, but sometimes it is more enjoyable to eat out of a real bowl and not worry about your salad getting soggy!

This salad was chock full of local products. My mom supplied the greens which included arugula which I thought I didn’t like but ended up loving. We also had broccoli, homemade bread with hummus for protein, almonds, tomatoes, and a fresh dill pickle from this year’s batch (made by my dad). You can see in the picture above that I had already taken a bite out of the pickle. Sometimes it’s hard waiting to take pictures of the food, especially when you’re dying to try the homemade pickle!

Another aspect I love about being at the island is that I am surrounded by delicious sweets since everyone on my Mom’s side of the family has a huge sweet tooth. I ate a lot of these little guys this past weekend. They are my grandmother’s brownies which we all are partial to. They have walnuts in them and are made with canola oil instead of butter. My grandmother always jokes and says that she isn’t sure if they’re a good batch or not. I have never had a bad brownie baked my by grandmother in all the years she has been making them, and this batch was no different! Delicious!

After some swimming, reading and good conversation it was time for a little bit of work to be done. My Dad and I gathered the tools and set out to the sand bar to dig clams and find some mussels for dinner! The bar is the road that is exposed when the tide goes out. We are able to drive off the island or walk for that matter during low tide but during high tide you need to access the island by boat. This picture shows my Dad walking down the road to the mid section of the bar where the best clams are found.