Writer's Notebook - James Rafferty Blog

Remembrance of Paddy

The summons came in the late Fall around 2007. You're invited to breakfast. My wife Cindy and I had been asked to breakfast by our neighbor, Paddy Wazan. Paddy and her husband Hank lived in a unique house across the street, a contemporary built during the Sixties to Hank's specifications, complete with a classic New England living room and a garden one could see through the glass behind the dining area in the middle of the house.  On this morning, we weren't the only guests; another couple from in town had also been invited.  We all sat around the breakfast table, which filled with vivid conversations, fueled by wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen. Soon a brunch was served -- replete with eggs, pastries, bacon, fruit, strong coffee and juice. We hadn't seen Paddy very much since we'd moved onto the street, since she spent her summers in Nantucket and would come back to our town of Norfolk for the winters. Paddy had loads of energy and loved hosting guests and cooking delicious meals. Hank was a quiet man, but loved doing projects and had a background in architecture.  They were a generation older than us, but good neighbors.  

As I write this, another nine years have elapsed and so much has happened since then. This was one of our early introductions to Paddy, but we got a glimpse of her vitality and artistry in the kitchen during that breakfast and on other occasions where she would host groups large and small. In 2009, all of this changed. Hank was diagnosed with cancer and within weeks he had passed. Paddy came back from Nantucket and had to re-build her life without having her beloved Hank by her side. The sad occasion brought our families closer together, as Cindy helped Paddy get organized when she decided to sell the house in Norfolk and I would help Paddy with whatever computer needs she had. 

In time, the Norfolk house was sold, but we soon received the first of many invites to her new abode, a two-story apartment in Wellesley. She would get in touch with Cindy and we take the jaunt across a few towns to her place. Food was a common theme; she always seemed to have a delicious meal waiting for us. She had also struck up a relationship with our son Jason and their fifty some year age difference didn't stop them from becoming fast friends. 

Paddy loved to travel and would regale us with tales of her trips to places like Australia and Japan. Over time, she'd met people from all over the world and was quick to make a plan and take a trip to see these far flung friends.  As she got to know Jason better, she insisted that she would make a visit to see him in his adopted town of Asheville, North Carolina, where he was studying at the local college UNC at Asheville and producing remarkable art. So, in the fall of 2011, our family made plans to visit Jason in Asheville and Paddy arranged to visit during the same time period, just a few days before Thanksgiving.  

Thanksgiving that year was special. We all arrived at Jason's house in West Asheville, which he shared with three roommates from UNCA and immediately got to work cleaning and making preparations for the Thanksgiving feast. Paddy was a guest, but she had definite ideas about what food we would need and we got a few additional provisions at a supermarket down the street. Paddy took command of the process of cooking the bird and she had several other ideas about what needed to go with it. I can remember sitting on the porch in a rocking chair and smelling the enticing mix of foods, both traditional and vegetarian. Later we all sat down for the meal and it was one of the best ones in our memory, as Paddy had worked her culinary magic in a strange kitchen and produced a delicious and diverse meal.

During the next year, Paddy invited us to visit her on Nantucket, so Jason, Cindy and I hopped on a ferry from Hyannis and took our first voyage to Nantucket. Nantucket is an amazing place and we found that Paddy had a charming two story apartment she called the Snuggery hear the harbor. We were staying at a bed and breakfast place nearby, but passed on the regular breakfast to join Paddy for a shared meal at her home. Over the weekend, Paddy took us all around Nantucket and we had a fabulous time.  Here is a picture of Paddy with Cindy and Jason on the beach.  

 Our family had many other fine visits with Paddy over these years.  Whether we were meeting at her apartment for brunch or sharing a lunch at a local seafood restaurant, there was always much to talk about. Paddy tended to be feisty and unstoppable. She had the occasional health issue, but exhibited marvelous resilience and came back from many challenges and then would set out to yet another destination. Last winter we met at her house and she told us about a planned trip to Africa. A few months later, she came back and told us about it; she'd gone on safari and seen so much else on a trip to South Africa.  

We were looking forward to seeing her again when she came back to Wellesley in the late Fall, but heard unfortunate news in mid-October. She'd had a relapse in a bout with cancer and was flown back from Nantucket to a Boston hospital. After so many times of pushing back illnesses and other incidents, she'd finally reached a point where she was beyond treatment. She did return to her home in Wellesley under hospice care and she said her goodbyes over a couple of weeks. She passed away about a week ago and we attended her memorial service and a reception yesterday.  Friends and family gathered, and we all told stories about her, the many times we had met and about her unrelenting zest for life. Paddy will be missed, but will also live on in our memories as a treasured friend and remarkable example of a well-lived life. One of her friends called her "the hostess with the mostest." Yes. Here is a picture of Paddy with Cindy and Jason in front of her Nantucket apartment. Au revoir dear friend.  

Nantucket Sojourn

I recently visited Nantucket, an island to the east of the Massachusetts mainland.  It's famed for playing a central role in the history of whaling, as immortalized in Herman Melville's Moby Dick.  On the final day of our visit, clouds closed in and winds caused whitecaps to form in the harbor.  We planned our day for inside activities and visited the Whaling Museum, which is on Broad Street, not far from the harbor.  The museum offers films, multimedia presentations and many impressive artifacts from the whaling era.  The coverage of Nantucket's history was thorough and it explained a few things we noticed on a walk through the village two days before.  I wrote about the first part of that walk in my last post, which is here.  

As my son and I walked up Main Street, we found buildings which were clearly much older than those found on the waterfront or in the immediate downtown.  For example, here's a building erected in 1802 and named after Admiral Coffin, whose family was among the early settlers of the island.   

From Main Street, we walked uphill and then meandered to the right, into a neighborhood whose buildings and homes offered a distinctive look.  Here's one home that caught my attention along that walk.  The trellis, finely clipped hedges and broad veranda of this house and its surrounding yard were examples of themes which recurred often during our walk.  

We continued our walk and eventually looped back, heading toward the downtown on Centre Street. Here, almost all of the buildings dated back to the period that ranged from the late 1700's to the middle of the next century.  Many have been converted to cafe's or B and B's and most had plaques which stated the year the buildings were built. In the heart of this neighborhood, we encountered one of the tallest buildings in Nantucket, a white-steepled church.  

One of the aspects we liked most about our walk was the sense of neighborhood.  Nantucket has been highly proactive in preserving its architectural heritage and the fruits of those decisions were evidenced as we saw entire streets whose buildings hearkened back to the Federalist era of the United States.   There were also a number of clever touches, little gateways from the street into a yard.  Here's one I particularly liked:   

My son and I took a break from our walk, scouting around the downtown for liquid refreshment.  My son opted for a coffee.  I wanted a smoothie, but didn't find it.  Instead, we walked over to Main Street and found a pharmacy which had an old style soda fountain. No smoothies, but they did have a combination of lemonade and orange sherbet, which I purchased.  We strode up the brick sidewalks outside the pharmacy and found a park bench nearby, then chatted while sipping our drinks.  Thus fortified, we resumed the walk, this time turning left off of Main Street onto Orange Street.  We immediately encountered another neighborhood lined with older buildings.  The streets were narrow here and we had to be careful to stay on the brick sidewalks to avoid passing cars.  We meandered again, heading toward the shoreline, which took us through several residential neighborhoods.  We eventually found a spot where the road cut over to the right.  A sign noted an ongoing project to remove invasive species, but there was a walking path.  We followed the path, which led us to a stretch of unfettered Nantucket with wonderful views of undeveloped fields and swamplands.   

Ahead was the proverbial crooked path.  Alongside, tall grasses and shoots waved in the breeze.  New growth plants emerged from vernal pools in counterpoint to the aromatic decay of vegetation, all part of nature's perpetual cycle.  

Even on a sunny day like this, the weather can change quickly in lands by the water.  The heat of midday gave way to the cooling breezes of late afternoon and I zipped up my windbreaker for the last part of the walk.  We circled back through more residential neighborhoods and spotted one house whose combination of weathered shingles and complementary earth tones seemed perfect for this particular street.  

We concluded our walk by stepping along the cobblestones of the downtown and returning to the area near our B and B.  Here's a parting view of Nantucket, as seen from Children's Beach, looking out onto the harbor.   

Visiting Nantucket is truly a walk into history which offers many reminders of colonial America.  We enjoyed this short stay immensely and look forward to returning again to this island of contrasts.    

Nantucket Stroll

Last weekend, we visited Nantucket for the first time. It's the off season, but we had fine weather -- perfect for strolls in the village and along the beaches. We departed from Hyannis. At this time of year, the logistics are easy -- park the car, hop a shuttle and scoot onto the ferry. We were a mite tardy, but they let me grab my tickets. We ascended onto the upper deck and here's what we saw as the ferry began to pull away.

The ferry itself was quite modern and designed for speed. Nantucket is 27 miles from Hyannis, but we made the trip in an hour, reaching speeds of up to 40 mph when on the open seas. I'm accustomed to having time to read and relax on ferry trips, but this time I sighted land after reading just a couple items from the Sunday paper. The water vantage point offers fine views of the village:

We stepped off the ferry and quickly found a casual place to eat -- the Easy Street Cantina. My wife got the last of the lobster salad rolls, but my son and I were content to munch on falafels and sip from raspberry lemonades. We were staying at a B & B, so we set out to find it after lunch. We ended up walking a bit too far, but enjoyed a stint out in the bright sunlight. We circled back and soon found the right spot. We got settled in pretty quickly and then checked out the view from the deck attached to our room.

It was wonderful to be able to stay at a place right near a small beach and within easy walking distance to the downtown.  My wife decided to nap on the veranda, but my son and I set out to explore the village.  We walked toward the center of town and soon encountered cobblestones underfoot on the roadways and inlaid brick on the sidewalks.  Soon we reached Main Street and found a sign which helped to orient us -- turns out we were only about 3700 miles away from Paris.  

We turned back to Main Street and began walking up its slight incline.  The street is lined with numerous shops.  We'd noticed the buildings near the waterfront all looked relatively new, but the buildings seemed to get older as we walked further up Main Street.  A bookstore on the left caught our eyes.  Inside, the books were neatly arrayed on the shelves and I quickly found myself thumbing pages of books by David Foster Wallace, Thomas Pynchon and Robert Silverberg.  Tempted, but not hooked, we eventually moved on.  I'll finish this post with a glimpse of Main Street as it looked on this comfortable spring day.  

In my next post, I'll talk more about our walk into Nantucket's history and reflect on a few of the sights we met along the way.