Mon 4 Sep Saturday's Fourteenth Annual Sycamore Regatta was a fun event... there were 41 people signed in ... all children for a day despite their ages. The day was sultry and steamy and the only people really happy were wearing gills, but the high relative humidity did not seem to dampen the fun. Loud thunderstorms passed to the southeast all afternoon. George and Marcia Loeb seemed to have the events timed perfectly so that the certificates and prizes were awarded just in time for people to escape ahead of the storm, but there was a revolt of the little people at the end... demanding to be allowed to compete in the cancelled balloon stomp event. So the afternoon ended in the rain, as kids (of all sizes) danced and stomped to be the last to have an inflated balloon tied to their ankle. The crowd favorite in this event was clearly Anthony Pill... by many years the youngest and smallest... but also, clearly largest in determination.

After the first flurry of rain and almost everyone's departure, 5 young-adult trespassers had to be ordered off the swimming float after being observed roughly pushing each other into the water while playing "King of the Float". The Caretaker "invited" them to swim to the Island so that they could be ferried to the towpath. This is the first instance of trespassers on the swimming float since it was moved out of the line of sight of the illegal rope swing.

Wed 6 Sep Officer Bill Thomas of the Mounted Park Police was by again today. We are happy to report that the Alison Thresher disappearance is still being investigated. Officer Thomas asked that we spread the word to folks we know who use the towpath regularly to be alert to and report any suspicious characters. He will be patrolling in the area for the next couple of weeks. He also reports that in October the Park Service "should" begin to build a new stable complex for mounted officers at Carderock, which is not far from here, and that this will mean more of a mounted presence in our area. Any citizen support to write letters or call official worthies to make sure this happens will be appreciated. Presently we do not see mounted patrols very often because they are now headquartered down at the tidal basin and must trailer a long distance. Formerly they were located at Glen Echo Park, but during their TDY to the Atlanta Olympics, their facility at Glen Echo was taken away by sneaky politicians while they were away, and they returned to DC to find they had been re-located in their absence. Hence their understandable distrust of the promises of Carderock. The Club should send a letter of support.

Thu 7 Sep After leaving the Island in the early afternoon, Rene Dunham returned shortly thereafter to report that two female cyclists she had just spoken to had themselves encountered a very suspicious man on the towpath near Lock 7. Rene had returned to the Island so that this encounter and description could be reported to Park Police. A few minutes later we heard a strange thundering sound coming up the towpath and looked up just in time to see Mounted Officer Thomas heading toward Lock 7 at a full gallop. Folks... it was inspiring! John Wayne never looked so good.

Fri 8 Sep Toby Smith has called to suggest that the Island's fishers might wish to contribute to an Island fishing log. Apparently some resorts and hotels that especially cater to fishing do this so that those going out can check to see what is biting and what is not. If enough interest in this idea can be garnered from the regular fishers, such a log might be kept in a red loose leaf notebook just inside the screen porch door so that anyone passing to put paddles and life preservers up might be motivated to make an entry. Stay tuned. By the way, last year the log began to mention "fisherpersons" when Judy Bader established herself near the top of the fishing pantheon, but I have recently been informed that the correct label is "fishers".

Sat 9 Sep Peggy Thomson has sent in an article from The Torch, the monthly publication of the Smithsonian staff, concerning an award-winning new film from the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in which Earl Nyeholm, an Ojibwa Indian, demonstrates the ancient craft of making a birch bark canoe. The article is fascinating and will be left upstairs for the Membership to access, but Peggy has suggested that the film might be a wonderful thing to feature at a monthly meeting.

Thu 14 Sep Staff has returned from three days of vacation to find everything shipshape as though we had never left. Kudos to Rene Dunham and friends who stayed so that we could play. Everything went so well in the absence of staff that the Caretaker is suffering from acute depression due to diminished self-importance.

Sat 16 Sep Johnna Robinson has called to report that a knowledgeable friend has suggested that the ubiquitous vine that has appeared everywhere is probably the bur cucumber... which should reassure all of you who have commented just how like a cucumber it looks. To those of you worried that it seems this year to surpass even kudzu as a threat to trees and herbaceous perennials... Johnna points out that it probably has just been excited by all this year's rain, and certainly that sounds right, because we do not recall seeing it before this year. This plant allegedly favors stream banks and is non-noxious.

Tue 19 Sep There has been much interest in the trove of old pictures from the Island's past contributed by Peggy Thomson. These have been the pre-meeting entertainment of the last two monthly meetings, and as they were left upstairs, many have enjoyed poking through them since. David Winer came down yesterday to take another batch home to scan and digitize. His goal is not only to use some in the Islander, but also to put them on a CD for permanent archival purposes. Any of you out there who may have or know of old pictures from the distant past suitable for inclusion are encouraged to contact David Winer (301-229-8963) or the Caretaker.

Thu 21 Sep The Island has received the draft of the Management Plan Environmental Impact Statement for Glen Echo Park. This plan was two years in the making and presents "five alternatives that the National Park Service (NPS) considered for the management of resources and developed areas within Glen Echo Park: a No Action Alternative, an NPS Management Alternative, a Public Partnership Alternative, a Non-Profit Partnership Alternative, and a Modified Public Partnership Alternative." Club Members should be mindful of the goings on at Glen Echo Park, as it is not only our very near neighbor, but also owner of the rail-bed right of way and bridge that we walk beneath when parking in the top lot. That bridge is in increasingly bad shape, and we quickly approach the time when either repairing the bridge to make the thoroughfare beneath safe, or closing it off, may depend upon the health of the Glen Echo Park budget... something to worry about. Check it out when you are upstairs in the Clubhouse.

Excerpted from the Caretaker's Log at sycamoreisland.org

-- Doc Taliaferro, Sycamore Island Caretaker