JOHN S. ALLEY

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

The weekend started out gray with a threat of rain, but lawn mowers could be heard buzzing most everywhere in town. There was a shower or two but it didn’t amount to very much after all and many outside chores were completed. The rhododendron bushes at the Foote tennis court were in full bloom and absolutely magnificent last weekend. Sunday and Monday gave us cool mornings and picture perfect weather.

Sig Van Raan, of Music street, reports that they are all here for the summer. His son, Jackson, graduates from Beaver Country Day next week, and he has been accepted at Redlands University in Southern California but is opting for a gap year to live and work in Ecuador before starting college. Sofia has just finished her sophomore year at the University of New Hampshire. His wife Susan’s daughter, Willie, has just graduated from Johns Hopkins University and is spending her summer taking pre-nursing science courses at Harvard.

Pete Karman and his wife, Jill Carlton, of New Haven, Conn., arrived on Friday to stay at her house on State Road for the weekend. Jill worked in her garden while Pete was busy doing chores and making improvements to the property. They returned home on Monday.

Ellen Weiss, of Old County Road, arrived to spend the summer at her home last week. She is a professor of architecture at Tulane University in New Orleans, La. Ellen reports that her friend, Mary Beth Norton, is not going to have a vegetable garden this year.

Noah Block and his wife Susan, from New York city arrive today to spend a long weekend in town. They will be staying with their builder, Will Monast, and working on their plans to restore the Frank Adams house on Music street and visiting friends. They would like to move here when the project is completed.

Malcolm Hall and his wife Judy of Oklahoma City, Okla., arrived on Tuesday afternoon. They will be staying at their home on Pond Road till August. Malcolm will be bringing along a good supply of the locally packed Cain’s coffee and is excited to learn that his home-grown okra plants are nearly three inches tall. Judy is developing plans to entertain their children who will be arriving for the Fourth of July weekend.

Sal Laterra, of Providence, R.I., was the weekend guest of Phyllis Meras on Music street. Sal and Phyllis hosted a dinner party Saturday evening and Sal finished a lot of household chores for Phyllis and a few for Anna Alley as he hadn’t been here for five weeks.

Dan and Robin Moriatry, of Cambridge, were at their summer home on Sweet William Way last weekend. They both were kept busy with yard work as they prepare to open the place for the season.

Daniel Whiting and his sister, Tara, of State Road, returned home on Tuesday after a wonderful week in Italy. They spent five days in Rome and two in Florence. The tickets were a gift from their mother, Bobbie Lima, in celebration of Daniel’s 40th birthday. Tara reports that this was her second trip but was happy to go back as a guide. Daniel was an art major in college and still works in the field of computer animation. Therefore the opportunity to see all the art in Rome and Florence was very special to him. They enjoyed themselves and had a tremendous amount of fun and are grateful to all who helped make it possible!

My cousin Alice Magnuson Scott died on Monday. She had been in poor health for some time. Alice, a native of this town, will be missed by her friends and relatives. Our condolences to her daughter Nancy and grandchildren Kelly and Sam.

Senior commission planner Bill Veno, who plans the trails for the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank, will be leading the Land Bank’s 17th annual Cross-Island Hike tomorrow in celebration of National Trails Day. Each year’s hike is different and is intended to show participants public conservation lands and the trails that connect them. This year’s hike starts at 8 a.m. at the coastline of Great Rock Bight Preserve and concludes 21 miles later at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown. For more details go online to mvlandbank.com.

Sue Merrill reports that the school is a beehive of activity as the school year draws to a close. Forty-three members of the eighth grade class depart for England today as part of the student exchange program they have participated in for many years, and they will return home on the 13th; the last bank day will be held on Wednesday; and there will be a number of field trips to various locations. The eighth grade graduation ceremony will be held at the Agricultural Hall on Thursday night, June 18, beginning at 6:30 p.m., and school closes for the summer on June 26.

Mark this popular event on your calendar today: the First Congregational Church’s 21st annual Strawberry Festival will be held on June 27 between the hours of noon and 4 p.m. Enjoy the berries on shortcake with whipped cream, or berries with ice cream, or berry smoothies! Tables will be set up on the lawn. Proceeds from this popular event provide funding for the continuing maintenance of the historic building and grounds.

Barbara Welch reports that a great number of landscapers, artists, decorators and design “wizards” are busy at work offering a new look at a very old house, in the form of the Habitat for Humanity of Martha’s Vineyard’s Decorator Show House, sponsored by Comcast. The historic Captain Thomas Mellon House, located at the entrance to Main street in Edgartown, built in 1840, has been completely transformed by these artisans, and you will have a rare opportunity to see inside one of Edgartown’s fine old homes real soon. The festivities will start with a patrons’ preview party on June 27.

The May 27, 1976 annual town meeting lasted over five hours, a record, and many issues large and small were discussed at length. The matter of spending $9,600 to maintain the town dump drew a variety of opinions. T.J. Hegarty wanted to know why the money spent annually wasn’t put toward the purchase of machinery to do the job. Fred S. Fisher, Jr. of the finance committee responded by saying “for years we have tried to stay away from that. You would then need a place to house it and a man to run it; he would want a salary and health insurance. Eventually we’ll have all this, I suppose we will be spending 40 or 50 grand and providing money to fix his teeth — but as long as we can stay away from it we should.” An informal standing vote indicated the town did not want to purchase their own machinery to cover dump. The budget request was then approved by a vote of 131 yes 96 no.

Happy birthday to: Dale Julier, Margery Meltzer, Mona Rosenthal, Jason Look and Aleah MacNelly today; Dorothy Gregory, Mary French, Hildy Mitchell, Mike Faraca and Ernie Barrett tomorrow; Andrea Hartman, Steve Berlucchi, Cheryl Grimes and Holly Pennington on Sunday; John Powers, Richard Andrade and Melinda Brodsky on Monday; Woollcott Smith, Elise Fisher, Jodi Blair and Josh Gothard on Tuesday; Susan Safford, Anh Ho and Susan Kennedy on Wednesday; Minor Knight, Joan Mancuso and Jean Wexler on Thursday. Belated anniversary wishes to Ron and Deb Kokerneck and Dan and Dorothy Whiting.

Well, that is all of the social news for this week’s edition. Tomorrow is the 65th anniversary of D-Day. If you have any news please call or e-mail me. Have a great week.