SALTAIRE MEMORIES

Sene Thorp Remembers:

My memories of Saltaire are many and fond: me losing all the races on Field Day when my sisters won them all (how could I help it if I was the smallest kid in my age group and hey! I had asthma!)…the Coast Guard towing older sister Pam in the Sunfish my mother bought with her first Real Estate commission (I think she still has that Coast Guard hat!)….a gazillion watermelons in the field on Captain Al’s birthday and that same captain bringing my daddy and other daddies over from Bay Shore in a BIG thunder and lightening storm on a Friday night. My aunt Jeannie storming down the beach and pulling me off the dunes when I was trying to steal a teenage kiss …singing with sister Gaby and finally directing the Labor Day show at the Yacht Club.

The warmest memories perhaps are the everyday ones…heading to the beach to ride the waves (how did all that sand get and stay in all those places?!), looking up at the sky in the outdoor shower as the breezes blew through me (is anything better?), taking a summer nap under a beach umbrella or in my little dark room, reading a book, sitting on our side porch shooting the breeze with Tots and waving to friends as they passed by on Pacific Walk.

My parents bought the place in 1955 I think- the year I was born. I don’t think there has ever been a summer since where we didn’t spend at least part of it there. While my mother never loved the place, it became my dad’s refuge- a place he loved and could make his own. He did most of the work over the years with his own hands, his own sweat, and most of all his own heart. When he couldn’t do it anymore- his way- he did as Jack does- he “turned the page.” Now new owners get to build those fond memories.

The good news is all those Fire Island memories are locked up tight inside me and that sweetness can never, ever be purveyed! Thanks again to those of you that are keeping this alive through Saltiare38.

Sene Thorp Bostrom
Duxbury, MA
August 2009