TIGHT LINES
BABIES, BABIES EVERYWHERE
with Andrew Spencer
It's baby-kissing season, as evidenced by Hillary and Barack and all the other hopefuls out doing their thing with the general American populace. I never understood the appeal of kissing babies as a way of garnering votes. I mean, unless I've totally missed the boat on some new legislation, the little tykes can't vote, right? Speaking of, Nantucket's own baby population increased by one recently, with the introduction of Madeline Rose Lombardi, the granddaughter of Robin and E. J. Harvey and Debbi and John Dooley.

Anyway, the other night, after a truly amazing Nantucket varsity lacrosse team victory over Martha's Vineyard, I ended up at the SeaGrille for dinner, where our table was literally assaulted by photographs of young Madeline. The photo display was accompanied by perhaps my favorite line to this point in the year, when Robin Harvey remarked about some of the earliest photos in the display, "This is her picture as a newborn."

Bear in mind, this child is now entering her second week of existence, but I digress.

As is so often the case at the Sea Grille, there's a general camaraderie that permeates the place, and people frequently stop by your table to say hello. Case in point, while we were sitting there discussing babies and things of that sort, out of nowhere, E. J. Harvey stops by and says to me, "I thought you were in Florida." I was torn between being glad that E. J. had read my column and disappointed that his tone was almost like he was saying, "The infection came back." I'm holding on to the happiness, though.

Following on the heels of E. J. came fisherman extraordinaire Bobby DeCosta, who also remarked that he thought I was in Florida. Bobby's tone was initially much kinder than E.J.'s, but then he got downright ugly. He asked me where my suntan was. Apparently a suntan is something that you are required by law to acquire while in Florida. However, the sad state of things is that yours truly sunburns in a well-lit room, so sun block is a necessity

whenever I'm outside. And, as a great deal

of the state of Florida is outside, I came back looking about like I'd left, suntan

speaking. Take it up with my

lawyer.

So Bobby starts talking about Irish oatmeal, and that was when I tuned out, and

instead focused on my own

sun-related issues. Being a redhead

is not without its troubles,

and chief amongst these is the

sunburn thing. And, as I'm not

blessed with the sun-tolerant complexion

of Mr. DeCosta, I'm stuck slathering on the sun block when I'm in situations where I might get burned.

Like when I go fishing.

Here's a picture of the baby's first day home, and here she's wearing that cute little hat her Uncle Tucker gave her. Oh, and here's her first segue.

Yes, friends and neighbors, it's a fact. When you're out on the water, the sun is brutal. And I don't mean that in the whole Medieval sort of way. I mean it more in the sense that, if you're not careful, you can very easily get burned to a crisp. There's a whole host of issues associated with being on the water that intensify the sun's power, including the reflection of the sun off the water. In essence, what the reflection does is cook you twice. You get the sunshine on the way down, plus you get it on the way back up when it bounces off the water. Also, when people put their sunscreen on once and then call it a day, they're heading down a bad road. You've got to reapply it, kids, or else it won't be nearly as effective. And don't forget, too, that both water and sweat can wash sunscreen off your skin.

The moral of this story is not to avoid the sun at all costs. It's just that you've got to be smart about it. Get waterproof sunscreen. I'm a big fan of Bullfrog, which comes in a 36 SPF that is marketed as "Quick Gel." It goes on easily and it's waterproof. The other thing I do is wear long sleeves. Dumb as it might sound, I'm a big fan of wearing long sleeves, even when the sun is high in the sky. I'm not suggesting you all start sporting flannel shirts in August, but look for lightweight long sleeve shirts. If you look in some of our local tackle shops, you'll be surprised how comfortable and effective at blocking harmful sun some of these things are.

For whatever reason, we've convinced ourselves that tanned skin is somehow healthy looking, when in fact it's actually your skin's reaction to damage done to it. It's kind of like saying a black eye is a sign of health. But like I said, I'm not here to proselytize and tell you all how evil you are for going out in the sun. Just be careful out there.

And if you're taking any babies out to get kissed by officials hoping to get elected, you might want to take them by the Sea Grille. That's where all the cool babies are hanging out these days.

Tight lines. I