$118 million for Homer's Pond plus

Last August, Gerald DeBlois, the owner of Homer's Pond on West Tisbury's south shore, listed a 266-acre parcel for $92 million.

It's still on the market. But now DeBlois has sweetened the listing with another 50 acres and his home at the new record price of $118 million. Caroline Kennedy, your move.

The addition of the DeBlois home and surrounding property to the previous sale package expands the beachfront area to be sold. It also has the effect of reducing the price of what went on the market last year from $92 to $74 million. The price on the DeBlois house and surrounding acreage is $44 million. The properties may be sold separately or together, the owner and his agents said.
This marks the second time in the past three months that a significant Island property has been placed on the market with an asking price of many millions. In early May the Kennedy family listed two large, undeveloped oceanfront lots for sale at Red Gate Farm in Aquinnah; they are priced at $25 million for a 53-acre lot and $20 million for a 39-acre lot. The lots are still on the market.

Remote beachfront populated only by shorebirds. — Mark Lovewell

Mr. DeBlois told the Gazette this week that he made a strategy decision to put everything up for sale because he thought it might be more attractive to a buyer or possibly a group of buyers.
“We obviously have had the property on the market since last July and decided sometime this winter that we needed to refocus,” he said. “And we became convinced that to attract people to the property we needed to do this. I’m 72 years old and I don’t want to do this twice.”
- See more at: http://mvgazette.com/news/2013/07/11/west-tisbury-property-goes-market-record-118-million#sthash.jx9EK0wa.dpuf

The addition of the DeBlois home and surrounding property to the previous sale package expands the beachfront area to be sold. It also has the effect of reducing the price of what went on the market last year from $92 to $74 million. The price on the DeBlois house and surrounding acreage is $44 million. The properties may be sold separately or together, the owner and his agents said.
This marks the second time in the past three months that a significant Island property has been placed on the market with an asking price of many millions. In early May the Kennedy family listed two large, undeveloped oceanfront lots for sale at Red Gate Farm in Aquinnah; they are priced at $25 million for a 53-acre lot and $20 million for a 39-acre lot. The lots are still on the market.

Remote beachfront populated only by shorebirds. — Mark Lovewell

Mr. DeBlois told the Gazette this week that he made a strategy decision to put everything up for sale because he thought it might be more attractive to a buyer or possibly a group of buyers.
“We obviously have had the property on the market since last July and decided sometime this winter that we needed to refocus,” he said. “And we became convinced that to attract people to the property we needed to do this. I’m 72 years old and I don’t want to do this twice.”
- See more at: http://mvgazette.com/news/2013/07/11/west-tisbury-property-goes-market-record-118-million#sthash.jx9EK0wa.dpuf

Mr. DeBlois told the Gazette this week that he made a strategy decision to put everything up for sale because he thought it might be more attractive to a buyer or possibly a group of buyers.
“We obviously have had the property on the market since last July and decided sometime this winter that we needed to refocus,” he said. “And we became convinced that to attract people to the property we needed to do this. I’m 72 years old and I don’t want to do this twice.”
- See more at: http://mvgazette.com/news/2013/07/11/west-tisbury-property-goes-market-record-118-million#sthash.jx9EK0wa.dpuf

Mr. DeBlois told the Gazette this week that he made a strategy decision to put everything up for sale because he thought it might be more attractive to a buyer or possibly a group of buyers.
“We obviously have had the property on the market since last July and decided sometime this winter that we needed to refocus,” he said. “And we became convinced that to attract people to the property we needed to do this. I’m 72 years old and I don’t want to do this twice.”
- See more at: http://mvgazette.com/news/2013/07/11/west-tisbury-property-goes-market-record-118-million#sthash.jx9EK0wa.dpuf

Mr. DeBlois told the Gazette this week that he made a strategy decision to put everything up for sale because he thought it might be more attractive to a buyer or possibly a group of buyers.
“We obviously have had the property on the market since last July and decided sometime this winter that we needed to refocus,” he said. “And we became convinced that to attract people to the property we needed to do this. I’m 72 years old and I don’t want to do this twice.”
- See more at: http://mvgazette.com/news/2013/07/11/west-tisbury-property-goes-market-record-118-million#sthash.jx9EK0wa.dpuf

Mr. DeBlois told the Gazette this week that he made a strategy decision to put everything up for sale because he thought it might be more attractive to a buyer or possibly a group of buyers.
“We obviously have had the property on the market since last July and decided sometime this winter that we needed to refocus,” he said. “And we became convinced that to attract people to the property we needed to do this. I’m 72 years old and I don’t want to do this twice.”
- See more at: http://mvgazette.com/news/2013/07/11/west-tisbury-property-goes-market-record-118-million#sthash.jx9EK0wa.dpuf

Mr. DeBlois told the Gazette this week that he made a strategy decision to put everything up for sale because he thought it might be more attractive to a buyer or possibly a group of buyers.
“We obviously have had the property on the market since last July and decided sometime this winter that we needed to refocus,” he said. “And we became convinced that to attract people to the property we needed to do this. I’m 72 years old and I don’t want to do this twice.”
- See more at: http://mvgazette.com/news/2013/07/11/west-tisbury-property-goes-market-record-118-million#sthash.jx9EK0wa.dpuf

Mr. DeBlois told the Gazette this week that he made a strategy decision to put everything up for sale because he thought it might be more attractive to a buyer or possibly a group of buyers.
“We obviously have had the property on the market since last July and decided sometime this winter that we needed to refocus,” he said. “And we became convinced that to attract people to the property we needed to do this. I’m 72 years old and I don’t want to do this twice.”
- See more at: http://mvgazette.com/news/2013/07/11/west-tisbury-property-goes-market-record-118-million#sthash.jx9EK0wa.dpuf

Bert and Ernie Outed

Jack Hunter ~ The New Yorker

From Human Events:

"No, not even Muppets are spared in our culture war. Below is the cover of the new issue of The New Yorker.

" 'It’s amazing to witness how attitudes on gay rights have evolved in my lifetime,' said Jack Hunter, the artist behind the cover.  'This is great for our kids, a moment we can all celebrate.'

 "Then again, in response to an 2011 online petition calling for Bert and Ernie to tie the knot, the Sesame Workshop’s Facebook page offered this statement:

" 'Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics…they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation."

"Platonic Muppets. Something to ponder."

Vineyard Haven Regatta

And the competition was fierce.

Got Privacy?

Richard McGuire ~ The New Yorker

P.C. Vey ~ The New Yorker

Paul Noth ~ The New Yorker

Can you hear, track, audit, tax, prosecute and drone me now?

And the backpedaling begins . . . 

• "You can't have 100% security and also then have 100% privacy and zero inconvenience," Mr. Obama said. "You know, we're going to have to make some choices as a society."
• "The administration has now lost all credibility." The New York Times editorial board
• "What the ....?" Google CEO's blog post

Seven Mile Beach

Seven Mile Beach ~ Grand Cayman

Castles made of sand

The Vineyard Gazette has been reporting for several months about the Schifter house along the eroding shores of Wasque Point on Chappaquiddick.

Now The Wall Street Journal has picked up the story with a front-page story in its Mansion section.

"There's a dramatic scene currently under way on Martha's Vineyard. To keep their 8,300-square-foot house from plunging off an eroding bluff, the owners are moving it back 275 feet. The estimated cost: at least $1 million.

"The stone and wood-shingled house, built in 2004, has seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a massive basement with a bowling alley, according to public records. All of that—plus a 1,814-square-foot guesthouse and a garage—is going, much of it to the 4-acre property next door that the owners bought in January for $4.5 million for that purpose.

"The move involves digging underneath the basement, moving the structure through a trench and then refilling the hole with soil. Still, that pales in comparison to what the house cost to build: The current appraised value of the buildings and the land is $7.6 million, but contractors put the cost of rebuilding the main house alone at around $10 million.

" 'If I'd spent all that money on the house, I'd be moving it, too,' says Edward Vincent Jr., chairman of the Edgartown Conservation Commission." (Owner Richard Schifter, a partner at private-equity firm TPG Capital, declined to comment.)

As Jimi Hendrix sang, "And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually."