HOLLY NADLER

508-687-9239

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

I had a feeling on Tuesday night that the Celtics were winning because the guys downstairs at Jellyfish on Circuit avenue, with their big old plasma television set in constant service, were sending up bellows like whales belching after a meal of seal steak tartare. The guys sound different when their team is losing, more like the same whales flopping up on State Beach. Then on Wednesday morning, walking my dog downtown, a sign on the poster board of Island Theatre announced the Celtics’ championship win.

You can’t help but be thrilled for all the men in our region. It wasn’t until recently that I learned how men’s emotions are totally regulated by their teams’ wins and losses. It would be nice if they could muster the same intensity for their wives’ or girlfriends’ birthdays, but we wouldn’t want them to be phonies, would we? Out in Los Angeles my son, Charlie, is guiltily gloating at all the sour Lakers fans surrounding him, to which I replied, lose the guilt: we must take our pleasures any which way we can.

On this triumphant note, I’ll bid adieu — until the fall — to my readership as the excellent Bettye Baker returns to take over the Oak Bluffs column. Between closing down my bookstore and passing the torch to Bettye, I feel a bit as if I’m shipping myself off on one of those Eskimo ice floes. But with any luck I’ll see each and every one of you around town. Have a grand summer and remember that all those seasonal rituals that gave us joy as kids – ocean dips, wedges of watermelon, hikes through the woods, escapist reads — they still work!

Okay, down to business: The Windemere benefit auction takes place today, Friday, June 20 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the agricultural hall. This fundraiser will benefit Windemere’s activities program. Some of the auction items are sailing trips with lobster rolls and champagne, airplane rides over the Vineyard with lunch on Nantucket, kayaking for eight, photo sittings with Island photographers, hand-knit sweaters, antique glassware, your name as a character in Cynthia Riggs’s next mystery novel, an autographed copy of Ray Ellis’s new book, handmade quilts, two nights at the Hob Knob Inn, dinner for two at Atria, canine massage, human massage, and pedicures.

With summer breaking, the Oak Bluffs School sends out this urgent message:

Hunt high, hunt low

Hunt everywhere you go

In backpacks, under beds

Behind the TV

At Grandma’s or Grandpa’s

Your friend, Suzy B’s

We need them all back

So take a long look

Please find and return

All your library books!

On Thursday, June 26 at 1 p.m., the Oak Bluffs Public Library is hosting a focus group and picnic, inviting baby boomers and older adults in the community to share ideas about new programs. Please respond by Monday, June 23 by calling 508-693-9433.