Sanibel Journal

When Roger and Lucia Wilcox would come to their winter home on Sanibel Island in the 1950s and 1960s, they led a relatively quiet life.  People on Sanibel were aware that the couple was well-known in the East Hampton, New York, artists’ world, where they often entertained and organized events.  In Long Island, their names were frequently in the newspapers.  But Sanibel people respected their privacy. Lucia Anavi was born in Beirut in 1902.   Her mother was French, and her father was Lebanese.    Early in life, she started to become a gifted painter, sculptor, and cook.   So at age 14, she left home to live in Paris. There she became a part of a legendary group of artists, including Piet Mondrian, Picasso, Marc Chagall, Carlos Montoya, Max and Jimmy Ernst, and many more.   Some of them encouraged her to go to night school, so she enrolled in the Académie Ronsard. In 1938, she and her partner at the time, Fernand Leger, left Paris for New York...

Running for election to the Sanibel city council is not a decision to be taken lightly. The city council consists of five people who serve four-year terms.   Every two years, a municipal election is held in which two or three of the council members are elected.   Sanibel city council members serve voluntarily, with no pay.   They should be year-round residents because important decisions regarding the city budget and other issues are made by the council during the summer months.   In addition to attending city council meetings, each council member serves in liaison roles in organizations throughout the region.   The council meets at least once a month.   In the days before each council meeting, members receive much information to read in preparation for many agenda items.   The time commitment is significant.   Council meetings alone can last for 5 or 6 hours or more. Sanibel City Hall Before deciding to run for the Sanibel city council, poten...

It is that time of year again.  Snowbirds and others who have homes elsewhere are returning to their south Florida abodes.  Those of us who are here year-round notice the change in traffic and general business of everything.  This ebb and flow of population is nothing new to us. But this year of the pandemic is different, and calls for new considerations. For those who are returning, here are some suggestions.   Just the very fact that you have traveled from here to your summer place and back means that you have been more at risk of COVID exposure than those of us who did not go anywhere at all other than a couple doctor appointments.   Some of you have traveled far more.   I’m sure that wasn’t easy. First of all, when you talk to us, please do not imply that our measure of isolation is too extreme.   Our degree of isolation may be due to an underlying medical condition that you don’t know about.   Risk taking for you might not be the sam...

 The Vendée is a department of France that has a few things in common with Sanibel and Captiva; the most obvious is beautiful sandy beaches.  Tourists from everywhere visit these beaches.  Birds nest in nearby mangroves along the coast of the Vendée, just like they do on our islands. However, the Vendée produces fine chicken, duck, lamb, brioche, a well-known raw cured ham, corn, wheat, and sunflowers – ah, those beautiful fields of sunflowers!   As you would expect for a coastal area, oysters and mussels are exported from the Vendée, too.   Ham with white beans is a famous dish from the Vendée, as is a garlic bread called préfou .   And of course, the Vendée produces wine. While Sanibel and Captiva long ago lost their agricultural economies, the islands did experience, for a couple glorious years, the talents of Chef Jean Grondin, another product of the Vendée.   From 1985 until his untimely death in 1987 at age 37, Chef Grondin lived on Sanibel a...

When I was little – too little to know about cake possibilities – I always got angel food cake for my birthday.  It was good – sticky, mild and sweet – and I suppose in all my blonde fairness, the adults thought that angel food cake seemed to be a good match for me. But then I grew up.   My skin is darker, my blonde hair is more like brown with a few highlights – both silver and gold.   My taste in cake and all other foods is broad and intense.   I love strong flavors, spicy and exotic foods, and chocolate – the darker and richer, the better.   I am what is called an adventurous eater. The most chocolate cake possible is a dark chocolate flourless torte that the French call La Bete Noire – the Black Beast.    It is so named because of its flavorful intensity.   I am the baker in this house, so yesterday I made my own Bete Noire, topped by a rich, dark chocolate ganache, for my birthday today. So now, at age 65, I am one of the adults.  ...

Many people have noted the strength and effectiveness of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Her gentleness was also noteworthy.  She learned about this quality from others.  From her mother-in-law, she learned that “in every good marriage, it helps sometimes to be a little bit deaf.”  Ruth applied this advice in her interactions at work, not just in her marriage.  Her reason was practical; she said, “When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out.  Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.”  She believed that collegiality was essential to the mission of the Supreme Court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg from the Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States, Photographer: Steve Petteway / Public domain She learned about gentleness from some of her professors.   At Harvard Law School, Professor Benjamin Kaplan used the Socratic method in class “always to stimulate,” she said.   “Never to wound.” On the Supreme Co...

The summer of splendid isolation is what I call this time, in a deliberate effort to keep my spirits up.  In this year of horrors, my husband Tom and I are doing our part by staying home, not allowing the virus to find us.  The previous 22 summers of our lives we took ourselves and our computers to Paris, where we summered in the city. Even if we never return to Paris, that city has changed us in what seems like a thousand little ways.   We didn’t drive for those months in Paris, so not driving anywhere much now isn’t so strange for us.   In Paris, we learned how to live comfortably enough without air conditioning even when summer turns wickedly hot.   Tom loves the French bakery breads so much that I’ve now learned how to make a boule [1] that we’d be pleased to find in a Parisian bakery.   We experienced the full range of French cuisine, as well as so many other ethnic cuisines that can be found in the big city. In Paris, we came to love certain aspe...