The sea witches of Marblehead

BY COURT MERRIGAN

If you were to go to Torrington, Wyoming, you would observe a small town of about 6,000 souls, a dot on the high plains. Scan the map south to Texas and north to Canada, and you’ll find very little to halt the wind – few towns and fewer trees. Torrington is smack in the middle of all that open country, where you can see the weather coming from 50 miles away and can’t do a thing about it.

When I decided to move to the environs of big city Boston, I more or less assumed that the weather would decline in personal significance. Traffic jams and cultural events would make the household blotter, not hail storms and drought.

So imagine my surprise to find myself devoting 66% of the early My Marblehead First Time columns to the weather. Turns out the weather colors my experience here, too. To wit: the other day it sank to minus 3 here in Marblehead, and this brought out the sea witches.

Knowing I’m on constant lookout for unique Marblehead experiences, a colleague told me the day before that cold snap hit that the sea witches would be making an appearance.

Sea witches? Sure, she said, just go down to the water. You’ll see.

I’ve since heard the phenomenon referred to as “sea smoke,” or just plain old mist. My informant wondered if maybe it was just her family that called it “sea witches?” I get it.

Growing up my family always referred to the ditches alongside gravel roads as “borrow pits” –much to the confusion of many of our neighbors, who knew this feature by the vastly more homely moniker “ditches.” But based on what I saw that frigid morning, “sea witches” is the poetic and apt descriptor.

My partner and I arose early that cold Saturday morning for a look. Would’ve been easier to hunker down in a warm house but that’s never been my style. I grew up on a farm and there’s no shying away from the weather there. The work has to get done regardless of how you or Mother Nature feel about it. And so very fortunately for me, I’ve found a partner who sees life the same way. When I told her the sea witches were coming, she was in.

We bundled up and jaunted down to the seaside. The howling wind riffled the surface of the water and sent the sea witches skating across the foam-green sea. Sea witches are formed in temporarily extreme conditions, as happened recently when the water temperature became much higher than the surrounding air. These conditions cause wisps of steam to rise.

And when the wind is up, these magical wisps dance like covens of witches taking flight. Like the ever-changing sea is itself putting on a whole new visage.

Perhaps I am attracted to such moments of change because I am myself in the midst of one. I sought out a new life and new opportunities with a new love here in Marblehead. I sure didn’t have to. Things were going my way back in Wyoming. The kids were cruising along with friends they’d known since preschool and I was coaching baseball. I had a good career, a freezer full of beef and a 50-mile view of the horizon from my living room window. Perhaps a situation from which it is unorthodox to walk away, but I did it anyway.

When I lived in Japan I took the opportunity to study Zen Buddhism at the feet of genuine masters. One once encouraged me to hold water in one hand. Go ahead and try. You simply cannot do it. Thus, he said, goes our lives. Best not to hold on to what cannot be held. Best to appreciate the moment as it comes, and let it go when it’s gone.

I thought of this often in the months as we pondered a move to Marblehead. It’s easier to stay put and stay satisfied, just like it’s easier to stay inside on a frigid day. But then you miss the sea witches. So my partner and I stood out there, together, in a windchill of 29 below zero as long as we could stand it.

In the spirit of my colleague, who first told me about the sea witches, if you’ve got an idea for something I should try out for My Marblehead First Time, please write me at court.merrigan@ gmail.com, or chime in on the Current Facebook page. Meanwhile, I’ll be back soon with another edition of My Marblehead First Time.

Wyoming transplant Court Merrigan is a new Marblehead resident. His column, “My Marblehead First Time,” appears regularly in the Current

Regarding the pickleball drama, this issue has been mismanaged since its inception because all stakeholders were not considered, which is the most basic strategy when seeking to elicit change.

Pickleball is a loud game. Never at any point was the impact on the neighborhood surrounding Marblehead Veterans Middle School considered. The din of the plastic equipment and the abrasive vocalizing of the players is nerve-wracking.

Locking the pickleball courts was the best decision Recreation and Parks has ever made. The noise from the courts, without protection from foliage, reverberates through the neighborhood due not only to the game and its players but also due to the proximity of the PAC. Neighbors were neither consulted nor warned about the construction of these courts. I live across the street, and I can hear the game inside my house with the windows closed.

I find this decision very upsetting. I felt that the locking of the courts was respectful of the neighborhood, but I see that this niche organization has again used a manipulative strategy to get its way.

In general, the “regulars” at the MVMS courts are loud, rude and disrespectful to the neighborhood. I know, for a fact, that some of these regulars have driven out other pickleball players as well as those who enjoy playing on the lone tennis court. I do not welcome them back and am not looking forward to the noise pollution perpetuated by this decision.

Had stakeholders been considered from the beginning, a compromise ... would have been a rich start to the conversation.

It would have been less impactful and far more considerate to reopen the courts at Seaside if courts had to be reopened at all.

And, in case people are of the opinion that I should have been at the meeting — believe me — had I known, I would have been there. As with the construction, neighbors were not informed.

I have attended a Rec and Park meeting in the past to ask about noise mitigation, which was explored and is both cost and safety prohibitive. MVMS is, first, a school. The currently available mitigation, which is an acoustic wrap or acoustic baffles, blocks view and sound, which is inappropriate for the courts’ primary purpose.

I have reached out through both phone calls and emails to Superintendent Peter James regarding planting a non-deciduous barrier, such as fast-growing arborvitae or Japanese larch, on one to three sides of the courts, and he has neither returned my calls nor emails.

I am not necessarily anti-pickleball. Had stakeholders been considered from the beginning, a compromise, such as fewer courts with some funds encumbered for noise mitigation would have been a rich start to the conversation.

When the Farmers Market wanted to relocate from Village to MVMS, stakeholders were informed, our concerns were heard, and we were able to move forward. Our neighborhood now welcomes the Farmers Market as a vital part of our makeup. They approached change appropriately.

I am not irate. I am wildly disappointed in everyone involved with this. Selfishness is never an admirable characteristic.

Maura Dartley-Rocco Vine Street

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TO WN OF MA RB LEHE AD BOA RD OF APP EAL S

The Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing on Tuesday February 28, 2023 at 7:45 PM on the request of Elaine & Ashish to vary the application of the present Zoning By-law by allowing a Special Permit to construct a shed as an accessory to an existing single-family dwelling on a preexisting non-conforming property with less than the required lot area and side yard setbacks located at 3 Rock Cliff Road in the single residence district. The new construction will be in the rear yard and side setbacks. This hearing is held in accordance with the provisions of the Marblehead Zoning Bylaw and Chapter 40A of the General Laws as amended and Pursuant to Governor Baker ’s Order allowing suspension of Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A, § 18, this public hearing of the Board is being conducted via remote participation. The public can attend this meeting via the remote participation platform through the following ways: Join Zoom Meeting ht tps:// us 06 we b.z oom .us /j/ 87 87 83 472 82 ?p wd =e nlwRXd3V2xmdHE3cy92SklTU1BTUT09 Dial in + 1 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 878 7834 7282 Passcode: 404568

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Those only dialing in will not have access to the visual presentation at the meeting, but can follow along with the project materials available for download at https://www marblehead.org under the zoning board of appeals page and the date of meeting. Members of the public attending this meeting virtually will be allowed to make comments if they wish to do so, during the portion of the hearing designated for public comment. Interested persons may also submit comment in writing electronically and send to lyonsl@marblehead.org and the comments, will be included in the record. Alan Lipkind Secretary season full of grief and adjusting to a change in her rhythm. I’d love for her to experience even an ounce of the love she’s offered to her grandmother over the years.”

Stella Fenty, 3, is all smiles as her mother, Alexandra, thanks her daughter for the flowers on Monday in the SPUR office. Fenty was there to help make cookie boxes to be delivered to Salem Hospital workers on Valentine’s Day.

Volunteers also baked and delivered more than 1,400 cookies to social service providers, including social workers, guidance counselors, food pantry directors and more.

“These are all people who need a little extra love,” Nothnagel said.

Finally, students in the Support and Be Supported Club at Marblehead High School made 40 Valentine’s Day cards for hospice patients.

“It feels nice to celebrate love and maybe brighten someone’s day,” said Stephanie DeFazio of Marblehead as she placed tulips, daisies and carnations in a glass vase. (Magic Hat thrift shop donated the vases.)

“It feels special that someone who really needs it will receive this nice little treat that they’re not expecting,” added Julie