New Island's Putney Times

Putney Sees Major Improvents

2012-01-07T08:37:00.000-08:00

It's not the same old Putney anymore!

The downtown area of Putney, especially the Peagarden Park district, has seen many improvements in the last year. A new light rail line opened today to make it more convenient for commuters to get to the West Putney neighborhoods from Downtown Station. More trains have been added to decrease the maximum waiting time from 30 minutes to 15.

New streets and buildable lots have also been added in the Peagarden neighborhood bordered by Jones Street, Cecelia Avenue and the railway lines. We'll have stories about what the residents are doing here, in good time.

A bike road has also been built all around Putney Bay, complete with a ferry ride available at the mouth of the bay. Commuters love it! Also, some interesting bicyles have been seen using this new path, particularly some belonging to the dedicated surfers who travel during the wet winter months to catch the big waves off Putney Head. Our roving reporter found this home-built specimen:

With thanks to a creative, dedicated and very real surfer somewhere in the Sunset District of San Francisco.

New Island Embassy Now Accepting Americans

2011-06-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

In May 2010 New Island's foreign embassy
opened in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, USA.
The Embassy is upstairs in the Oceans and Dreams Gallery,
above the KC &T coffee shop.
and will be open during regular coffee shop hours.

The New Island Embassy is showing New Island art, and welcomes anyone who wants to visit New Island or become a resident of this imaginary island-nation. By appointment you can meet your delegate, Lee Mothes, who will be happy to explain anything you'd like to know about The Commonwealth of New Island. He'll help you claim your land on this 12,000-squre-mile island-nation and then you can let your imagination run wild! You may e-mail Lee at mothesart@gmail.com .

New Island artifacts, maps, original images, as well as documentation from New Island residents is continually on display.

If you are in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, in the middle of the vast continent of North America, stop by for a great cup of coffee, and then go upstairs for a look at a different world! The map below will get you there from the closest main roads:

American Newspapers Talk about New Island

2010-06-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

Post-Crescent photo by Wm. Glasheen

The Appleton Post-Crescent, a Wisconsin USA newspaper, sent a top-notch photographer-and-writer team for a rare interview with Lee Mothes, who will be opening the New Island Embassy Exhibition in Kaukauna Wisconsin. New Island's artist-and-delegate, seen here at work on yet another image of New Island, will serve as the embassy delegate in North America for the time being.

See the entire article by clicking this link: http://www.postcrescent.com/interactive/article/20100723/APC0803/307230011/ViewFinder-slideshow-Kaukauna-artist-s-Commonwealth-New-Island

Sites Ready to be Claimed on New Island

2010-03-31T19:20:00.000-07:00

The Land Office is open!

Building sites of approximately one to five acres are ready to be claimed in various locations around the island. Here are some of the listings:

Site 1. Five acres at the mouth of the Barysh River on Putney Bay, near Skegness.
Sloping hillside and 200 feet of beachfront, access to Route 1, grass and some trees, $1200.

Site 2. Two acres on Silver Bay at Freshwater Pond.
Swim in the Ocean off your front deck! 100 feet of beach frontage, water, access from East Coast Path (no roads), sandy with scrub and wildflowers, $1200.

A deed comes with each property, which can be sold or given away at any time. The buyer also receives a plat map and other New Island artifacts. A painting of the site with your improvements can be custom-ordered by artist Lee Mothes. To purchase these sites or to choose another site on new island, write to Lee at mothesart@aol.com.

New Island's Skies at Night - Wow, What a View!

2010-03-02T19:20:00.000-08:00

Melissa MacBeth called in the first sighting of this
as yet unnamed nebula, and our crack reporter from Wheatland
came to have a look.

On certain very clear nights, a huge nebula within the Small Magellenic Cloud, known to astronomers as NGC 602, has been seen rising above the settlement of Gay's Asylum. Local residents might be having a mass hallucination here since it's (supposedly) not visible to the naked eye, according to scientists. But here it is, caught setting over Gay's Summit in full glory early this morning!

New Island's Highlands plateau, at about 3,500 feet in elevation, and far away from any man-made lights, is an excellent place for sky watching. Gay's Summit is close enough to the inns at the Asylum (as it's locally known) to make it a popular getaway for skywatching and other outdoor activities on warm nights. Talk is going around to possibly build a proper observatory on the 8,800-foot summit of nearby Mt. Hayes, but anti road-building groups and the fact that the mountain is an active (though sleeping) volcano has slowed the idea.

The Small Magellenic Cloud, a neighboring galaxy to our own Milky Way, can easily be seen but only in the Southern Hemisphere, by the way.

Report from the Wave Dance

2010-01-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

Alison's Beach.
From here it's a 14 mile walk north to the dance site.

NORTH OF ALISON'S BEACH (Jan. 2) On a warm windy night last week, hundreds of New Islanders began to gather around an old stone platform built on the ocean's edge. They had been arriving all day, setting up camps with their families and friends, relaxing with a little wine, and now they are ready to dance! The platform's stone floor, set centuries ago by a mysterious culture known locally as the Old People, was smooth and cool under bare feet. On the adjoining hillside a group of women known as Wave Drummers have begun beating on big conga-like drums creating an energized rhythm that booms with the surf. The highest tide of the season has begun to crest and waves are smacking the platform's edge and sending spray over the growing crowd. Torches were lit and a nearly full moon slowly rose over the water. As the drummers beat crescendos in tune with the crash of the waves; the revelers, still sweaty from the heat of the midsummer's day, began to shed their shirts and other layers while they danced. With an increasing frenzy of drums and ocean power, the dance went on for hours. What a night!

Get ready for the 2010 Wave Dance!

2009-12-30T20:51:00.000-08:00

We think this is Drewina Wellings practicing for the
wave dance on the stone platform at Wave Point.
About 40 dancers can dance here at once before people start falling in.

The first high tide will be on January 2, 2010, so get ready for the Wave Dance Festival!

The oldest island festival will be starting soon as the high tides peak with the full moon. Islanders are already pitching camp at the three Wave Dance sites. The biggest celebration is usually at isolated Wave Point, on the Eastern Coast Path about a 14 mile walk north of Alison's Beach.
The wildest will likely be at Samantha's Wild North, at the old platform next to the compound.
The easiest site to get to is just west of Danny Head, not far from the P1 bus line stop at Tavora.
More later!

Massive Iceberg Seen off Coast near Irian

2009-12-12T18:01:00.000-08:00

The Commonwealth Navy
has tracked large icebergs off our southern coasts since 1993.

A huge iceberg about 54 square miles in area, more than twice the size of Manhattan Island in the USA, has been tracked by the Australian Antarctic Division. Satellite images have placed it's location at about 1700km (1,056 miles) south-west of Australia's west coast. See more about this from CNN.

Well, we could have told you that! The berg has been sighted by many New Islanders off the southwestern beaches of Edgarford County. It seems to be slowly drifting north, and slowly approaching shore! On Dec. 7, it was seen by wanderers off Carmichael Point, then on Dec 11, Wendy Westley, 11, was building a stick ranch on the dunes near Irianheads when she spotted the enormous slab. Her mum took the picture above.

Some swimmers have noticed the water being a bit chilly for this time of year--It's almost summer after all! Also, when the wind is just right, one can feel a definite dry chill coming off the iceberg. It's rather hot and a bit damp one minute (normal for December here), then a waft of dry cool air passes for several minutes, then it's warm again!

We hope this isn't a trend!

New Island Flag flies Proudly in Switzerland

2009-11-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

New Island's flag is displayed (center) among other nations
on the lake in Biel, Switzerland

New Island was represented at the UTOPICS social sculpture exhibition in Switzerland last August and September. The flag was displayed with other countries that most people have never heard of.

We were proud to have our flag there, though none of us manged to see the show, being somewhat isloated where we are...

Goddess Festival a Wild Event

2009-11-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

Eldra Waldorf, Trina's sister, tries out Middle Sand Lake
the day before the Goddess Festival.

by Trina Waldorf

This Year's Goddess Festival was held Nov. 1 at a beautiful sandy site between Upper and Middle Sand Lakes at the edge of the Sheffield Desert. The Goddess Festival is New Island's annual celebration of the Loving Goddess, who is believed to have helped the original settlers survive and flourish here. It also celebrates the goddess in all of us, male and female!

Though it really began on Saturday, the festival ran all day Sunday and into Sunday night, where the stars, planets and our moon were honored. During the day, vendors and performers offered their expertise and wares while music and dancing went on at the main stage. The site is bordered by the pristine, spring-fed Sand Lakes, and the day was warm, so nearly everyone enjoyed a swim! Kris Freewoman gave free African dance and movement lessons, while artisans like Samiah showed off her excellent line of Goddess-inspired clothing, and Stargazer Li offered her Planetary Essences!

On Friday night Oct. 30 My sister Eldra and I camped out on the shore of Middle Sand Lake after stopping at the Zen Farm the day before. On Saturday travelers from all over the island began to arrive on foot, or by the jitney bus through Davoo, about 3 miles south. The stage was set up, drummers began, and hundreds of people showed up to celebrate!

The partying went pretty late Sat. night but nearly everyone got up before dawn on Sunday for the Sunrise Goddess Dance. The coolness and golden light were perfect for a spirited round of cleansing movement and dance, all spontaneous, to only the sound of the local water birds. Dancing, dance lessons, body movement, drum lessons, yoga, massage, even swimming lessons went on all day Sunday, and then a kind of spontaneous mass nap period took over at about 3 pm! Eldra came up to me then and asked, "Where is everyone? It all just stopped! Will it start up again? I'm bored!" (Eldra can be a pain...) Sure enough, the food vendors eventually woke everyone with a cowbell and alluring aromas and everyone emerged from their tents, the surrounding dunes and other planes of existence, for supper!

On Monday morning many of us had one last (brisk) swim, a hot breakfast, and then we packed up for the trip home. See you next year I hope!

Where is this Place Again?

2009-11-01T19:38:00.000-08:00

The real Indian Ocean

This island is not really where the last several articles in the official Commonwealth of New Island blog have alleged it to be! Island residents have requested that the island's location remain secret, so consider all those maps and location stuff more or less a fog job.

For years, New Island's residents, with the help of the old Soviet Union and the American CIA, have kept New Island's existence a secret. Since gaining independence in 1992, the island has of course become known in nearby Western Australia, since friends and relatives have traveled to and from the Port of Fremantle for over a century.

However, by law the location of New Island is not to be revealed--the Commonwealth is quite adament about that!

Hey, Did You See This the Other Night?

2009-10-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

Both hemispheres of the Planet Janus, a planet-like object
recently discovered by Highlands resident Wanda Blakely.

Idlewild resident Wanda Blakely was star-gazing with her Vixen VC200L telescope with Sphinx Mount around midnight on October 22, when she came across what appears to be an unknown planet in the southwestern sky. "This thing wasn't in my Star Book. I just happened to spot it and was able to lock onto it. It was spinning quite rapidly while moving across the sky from Northeast to Southwest at a pretty good clip", said Ms. Blakely over the phone. "It set over the western horizon about ten minutes after I first saw it." She managed to capture digital images of both hemispheres of the planet's Mars-like surface, and submitted the above photos to us.

The planet has not returned since, and Ms. Blakely is requesting corroberation: if anyone else has seen this planet-like object, to please let us know.

Ms. Blakely has claimed naming rights with her discovery, and has tentatively labeled the planet Janus, after the Roman god with two faces looking in opposite directions.

The 2004 Indian OceanTsunami

2009-10-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

This towering wave is from a distant storm, not a seismic shift! New Island has great surf often exceeding 50 feet, but has so far been very lucky around tsunamis.

The devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004 was hardly noticed on New Island, since the waves traveled mostly north, east and west of the epicenter. Some beach residents on New island's eastern coast, especially in the Japanese settlements, noticed the tide rising and falling about 6 feet every half hour or so, instead of over the usual 12-hour period, on that day. No surging waves came ashore, and no damage was reported.

Of course this is old news, but the Times has just entered the blogosphere, so we are catching up!

2009-10-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

A view of New Island from 450 miles up! This incredible picture was photographed by a NASA astronaut
some time in the mid-1980's. It was not released to the public until 1998.

The Putney Times is New Island's flagship newspaper. We print all the news we think is fit to print, and then some. We are not above gossip or tattling.

Thanks for being here!

- Lee Mothes, itinerant publisher