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I am just back from Massachusetts and a family gathering with most of my siblings.

I went sailing for the first time on this trip. Everything went swimmingly until the boat tipped over and I went under. This put a damper on my Cape Cod sailing career.

Lucky for me, the dunking did not take place in anything resembling an ocean, but in a body of water that rivals the singular lake you find in that park known for some reason as “Chena Lakes.”

My singular sailing craft was a venerable 11-foot Super Snark, which may not fit your idea of a “boat,” but it didn’t sink and I didn’t lose the Red Sox hat borrowed from an unsuspecting brother-in-law with a surplus of Sox chapeaux. I swam the ship back to shore in 25 exhausting minutes, a task complicated by the underwater sail that doubled as an anchor.

Hours later and a bit wet in the humid air, I ventured to a game of the Cape Cod League, which is the effete East version of the Alaska League. The Hyannis Mets played the Wareham Gatemen in McKeon Park. An announcement on the loudspeaker that could have been delivered by Cliff Clavin, the mailman on the Cheers TV show, cautioned the fans against intemperate remarks directed against players or arbiters of the game.

I like the Cape Cod League. The playing field grass was green and the accented fans convivial. Several kids went after foul balls like retrievers after fresh meat, while adults invested in 50/50 tickets and cheered the home team. The area near the seats was covered with crushed white shells, courtesy of the Atlantic. The ballpark was reported to be two miles from the Kennedy compound, where I imagine no one sets sail on a Super Snark.

Before the game, which the Mets won 4-1, the volunteers dedicated a new $400,000 light system that brought night baseball back to Hyannis. Thanks to Edison’s invention, the games no longer have to start at 5 p.m. to finish before nightfall.

The new lights, burning bright in the ocean breeze next to Pope John Paul II High School, were needed to cut through the twilight after about 7:30 p.m. As the college players performed their magic, I remembered that the Midnight Sun Game was scheduled in Fairbanks that night.

I wish I could say that I returned to the News-Miner facing an empty desk or a clean slate, but that would be a lie.

I’ve seen the light, however, and plan to dig through the paper pile and get back into the newspaper on a daily basis with more-or-less fresh news.

Ideas and items for the column are needed, especially in times like these, and I welcome attempts at illumination. That’s where you come in. Sooner or later you may encounter a fact that you care to share. As regular readers know, almost anything might wash up on these shores, so to speak.

Feel free to contact me at cole@newsminer.com with news about what’s happening in Fairbanks and the vicinity, where outdoor lights are needed — particularly along the city streets — but not just yet.

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ROAD TRIP: Drivers piloting a dozen-and-a-half classic cars, such as Jaguars and Austin-Healeys from the 1950s and early 1960s, a 1961 Corvette, a 1971 Lotus Elan and others, are taking part in the “Panama to Alaska Friendship Rally,” organized by an English company.

The participants are scheduled to leave Fairbanks today for Anchorage, where they plan to finish the eight-week journey from Panama City. The cars are to be placed in containers and flown home from Anchorage.

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BIRTHDAY: Zelma Trafton, who presided over matters of finance and decorum at the Daily News-Miner from 1950 until about 1985, is turning 95. Her friends are invited to drop by the Pioneers’ Home on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. to celebrate with cake and ice cream in the Ptarmigan Room.

Zelma still loves dogs and enjoys the company of Buddy, who lives in her section of the Pioneers’ Home.

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TASTE TEST: Sorry I missed this one. The News-Miner team won the prestigious “Teflon Chef Competition” against the fast talkers from KUAC on Wednesday at Hutchison. I’m told that Marilyn Romano’s berry dessert helped secure the culinary championship.