HOLLY NADLER

508-274-2329

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

So there I was last Tuesday in Oak Bluffs, a sunny June day that puts you in the mood for schmoozing. Stopped into Craftworks to say hello to my friend and consigliore, Ron DiOrio, who reported that Memorial Day business was “not bad” which, in pared-down Ron-speak probably meant the boutique was stormed by customers tossing bills over the counter. In the meantime, several women stepped up to buy pairs of dangling earrings, so I believe we can safely say that, recession or no recession, women’s ears will remain beautifully adorned. Next door at Sanctuary, Frank and Rita Imbimbo looked radiant and relaxed, and I told them I was taking a mental picture of their two smiling faces to compare to their August expressions which might begin to show the subtlest outlines of the pitchfork-wielding farming couple in American Gothic beneath their continuing gracious glow.

Back on Circuit, heading toward Post Office Square to meet the guy — what’s his name? — to whom I was briefly married for twenty-five years, I decided what I really needed, even more than a catch-up with a divorced spouse, was a drink of water. The timing couldn’t have been better as I closed in on that pretty little green fountain outside the Corner Store — the one with the plaque reading Gift from Drew Newton and Joan Ambrose-Newton for The Steve and Michele Kirsch Foundation, San Jose, California. I pressed the little gold button for a refreshing spray of good old O.B. water (unless, thanks to Steve and Michele, it’s shipped all the way from San Jose). Nothing happened.

From across the street, Marnie Gauley called out, “Hey, Holly, that fountain hasn’t worked in two years!”

And why has it not worked? you might ask, as I did. Granted, the past couple of decades has convinced us public water is rife with bacteria, chlorine, and a secret North Korean drug that will turn the world population back to a 1950s level of communism. But more recent enlightened thinking has caused us to take a closer look at the ungodly amounts of packaged water we’ve been consuming (read Bottlemania by Elizabeth Royte), and some of us have relaxed sufficiently enough to think that an occasional sip of Steven and Michele Kirsch’s foundation libation is unlikely to kill us anytime soon.

So can we get this fixed, huh? We know town finances are like the elastic band of a skirt worn by a six-hundred pound circus lady, but how costly could it be to get that pretty little fountain operating again? If we all saved the buck we were about to spend on bottled water, and slipped it into a locked box beside the fountain, we could probably get the water re-hooked in 10 minutes.

These are the thoughts that keep town columnists awake late into the night . . . .

There’s more going on in town besides busted fountains. For instance:

On Friday, June 12, Windemere is holding an auction for its residents’ activity programs from 6 to 8 p.m. at the West Tisbury Agricultural Hall, with Trip Barnes presiding as auctioneer. One offering will be plane rides over the Vineyard, home heating oil, sailing trips, a week’s stay at a Maine beach house, massages, gift baskets, dinners. No admission will be charged and the Windemere gang will be serving wine, sweets, and hors d’oeuvres.

On Saturday, June 27 (rain date June 28) from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard will hold a grand yard sale and flea market in Waban Park, a.k.a. Dennis Alley Park. Last year’s event was a big success. Interested vendors and families are invited to visit hospiceofmv.org or call 508-693-0189.

The Oak Bluffs School is beating the bushes for volunteers for the Title 1 reading program. Volunteers are matched with students to inspire the next generation of readers. The school extends thanks to particular helpers over the school year: Melanie Marchand, Paula Caron, Mary Lombardi, Deb Stevenson, Liz Huss, Nora Dyke, Susan Potter, Kate Feiffer, Diane Morgan, Jeanne Rogers, Melanie Bilodeau, Ann Marie Cywinski, Merle Lincoln, Ann Davis, Stephen Danzig, and Sarah Trudel.

Also at the Oak Bluffs School, parents, teachers, students and staff bid a hail and farewell to science teacher, Lenny Schoenfeld who is retiring after 35 years of stretching minds and imaginations and indoctrinating scientific methods to so many kids, the oldest of which would be, by this columnist’s untrustworthy math, forty-seven years of age and still remembering their first look through a microscope at a single-celled proto-cynastoid (I made that up).

At the Oak Bluffs Library, a fun program has been scheduled for Thursday, June 25 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.: Australia’s Undersea Mysteries – The Great Barrier Reef to Tasmania, a photo and video presentation conducted by Michael Wooley.

Once again I’m announcing this date because it makes me want to run barefoot in the grass, devour fresh summer peaches, and turn cartwheels: The Last Day Of School is June 26 and it’s a half day. I’m gonna go see if I can still manage a cartwheel.

Ciao, amici!