(My) Tulip Thief

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 7, 2018

That was a long winter.  Typically, I don’t complain but it was not nice weather-wise.  And the cold and the wind – couldn’t Mother Nature have given us some more snow to at least enjoy – and break out that new sled we got my son – a “big boy sled.”


In any case, I have been watching the tulips I planted last fall in front of the Mitchell House.  They started to break ground, then it got cold, then they came up a little more, then the bunnies got to them.  (We now have THREE bunnies at Mitchell House.  Imagine how many babies we will have!  ARGH!)


I’ve been watching and watching these tulips as their leaves twisted, were eaten, snapped at by cold, flurries, and frost.  And then, they started to grow more, and to show buds, and color!  Is spring REALLY here?

And then the other night, a thief came!  I had not even gotten down to Mitchell House yet when our Executive Director stopped me and said he had a, “What would Jascin do moment.”  Not sure if I should be honored.  But, needless to say from out of his window after dinner he spied a young man on his bicycle, bending over the Mitchell House fence, snipping away at the tulips!  He raced downstairs in his pajamas and politely confronted the thief.  The thief was embarrassed, taken aback, and was told to, “Drop the tulips!” – well, not exactly.  He was told to leave them and then politely told that the MMA pays for those tulips and the work that goes into gardening.  The thief left sheepishly.


The next day, I was in the Mitchell House with the front door open doing my annual mildew cleaning of the front sitting room ceiling when I heard someone at the door trying to open the locked screen.  I got off my scaffold and found a young man at the door who I did not completely recognize at first.  Then he said my name and I knew who it was.  With him, he had a bag with three pots of tulips.  “You’re my thief!?” I exclaimed.  He replied, “They were just so pretty that I couldn’t resist.  I just wanted them.”  This thief is a former student of mine – way back from when in addition to the MMA, I also was a teacher.  He is one of those students who could be trying at times, always pushing the edge, always finding something to get himself into trouble, but one that you will forever have a soft spot for.  I hugged him.  Yelled at him.  Told him he only had to ask first, and then told him the names of his stolen items – Viricic and Beauty of Spring tulips from the Colorblends Company.  And then gave him heck because I told him about the bunnies.  I cannot be mad at him – he has a soft spot for gardens and flowers so I will take my choice of tulips – and my Mother’s – as a compliment.


(I’m thinking if further time is needed, he can come help me weed this summer.)


JNLF

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By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • August 24, 2026
I have always wanted to find a piece of a clay pipe. I know – weird – but if you have ever read any of my blogs here for the MMA then you know I have a thing for pottery shards. I sort of figured I would not find a piece of a clay pipe – not even a piece of a stem. But the other day, walking in a place where I have found quite a few shards, I found a piece of clay pipe! Now, I’m not talking about water pipes – I am talking about tobacco pipes. And I know very little about clay pipes. Yes, I am a curator of a historic house museum, but this family did not smoke. They were Quaker and among the many things they abstained from, tobacco was one of them. Therefore, I am not up on clay pipes so I am doing a bit more research.  For one, age can be determined by the width of the hole inside the pipe. So based on this one, I would say it’s fairly late. Since they were so fragile, and those holes pretty small, if it got filled with tobacco, the person just broke off the stem creating a shorter pipe and one that was not clogged with tobacco. Apparently, stems could be recycled – in fact, 15,000 broken stem pieces were uncovered at a historic walkway at Colonial Williamsburg – they were used as fill! And pipes were made into the early twentieth century – falling out of favor around World War One. It makes sense – they were cheap, easy to make, and affordable. Typically, one could last a few years – unless you dropped it of course. An,d pipes were used by men, women, and (eh, em) yes, children. I can see that Nantucket may not have had a lot of tobacco smoking residents – not just that some were Quaker – but because of the Quaker influence. I t does not mean people here do not smoke – I just think there may have been fewer smokers on the island in the nineteenth century and earlier. JNLF

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By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • August 17, 2026
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