Dear Sakonnet Times or I should say, “Dear Sidney Tynan,” as this is addressed to the Sakonnet Times’s most faithful correspondent. Sidney, how is it possible that we haven’t met, when you feel like an old friend?

I first made your acquaintance when I moved to Little Compton in 2015. I came here, along with my tuxedo cat, Claude, at the invitation of a charming man, for what was to be a week-long visit. It is a mark of how little I knew about the natural world and the creatures within it that I was shocked to discover Claude’s violent motion-sickness. When his hours of yowling and gagging ended as we arrived in Little Compton, none of us wanted to contemplate a return trip. “This cat is going to have to die here,” we joked. And so it came to pass. I never moved back to the city, I married the man, and Claude lived out the rest of his seventeen years as an LC resident.

Little Compton was bewildering at first. Having never lived in a rural area, I thought a grouping of deer, rabbit and skunk could only be seen in Bambi. Fortunately, I had a guide to the ways of LC’s flora and fauna: Sidney’s letters. They taught me so much! That bird that sounds like a rusty swing-set chain? Why, it’s a redwing blackbird, whose reappearance each spring is eagerly awaited. From flower to fawn to pheasant, Sidney shared her lifetime’s knowledge in elegant prose, and I was her eager pupil. Thanks to her, the natural world – something I barely noticed before leaving the city – is now one of my great joys here in LC.

Along the way, although I suspect it wasn’t her intent, Sidney also taught me how to live more fully. It’s firefly season now, which means that every night at 9:15, we step outside to watch the show. The beauty here is worth savoring, and that means looking up from our screens. Sidney also demonstrated, by priceless example, that one can keep giving to the community well past “retirement.” So, although I am saddened to hear that she’s taking a break from her letters, it would be churlish to complain. Instead, please allow me to say a heartfelt and very public “Thank you, Sidney,” for sharing your wisdom and enriching my life. I wish you a beautiful summer in the Back Forty.

Jenna Wims Hashway

Little Compton