JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Chilmark is alive and well and as excited as the rest of the Island is on Fair week. Good luck to all the Chilmark entrants and their efforts. And let’s hope the hurricane stays offshore.

This last Tuesday evening was one of the busiest sunset hours at Menemsha that I ever remember! There were many families sitting on the beach with many walkers traveling between eating establishments and their beach stake-outs and people in cars trying to circle one more time in hopes of finding a parking place and just a general confusion of activities . . . all with the anticipation of witnessing a beautiful sunset. The mood was cheerful and laid-back with no confrontations between car drivers and walkers; the pace was definitely relaxed. I made a quick buzz of the beach the next morning and found it very clean and the only hint of what had been were the footprints in the sand. It was a memorable summer evening, except maybe for Dad circling in the car.

And I have to add, waking up on Wednesday morning after the dull roar of the evening, I heard nothing but the cooing of doves that were perched on the telephone wires and the gentle clang of the buoy off the jetty that was moving with the tide. That, too, was a perfect Menemsha moment.

This has been a busy and happy week at our house as our daughter, Sarah, her husband, Aaron Bennett, and their boys, Jack and Scott, are here from Attleboro for a summer vacation. The weather has been good and every event a hit with the boys. Our son, Caleb, his wife, Chris, and their daughter, Celia, will join us all on Basin Road for this weekend, thus concluding a most enjoyable summer of visits. School starts surprisingly soon.

Riggs and Helen Parker have been having a busy summer of family visits. This week granddaughter Kelly Meyers paid them a quick visit, coming from her new home in Alexandria, Va. Kelly recently has been awarded her nurse practitioner degree and will be joining the pediatric brain tumor team at D.C. Children’s Hospital next week. Granddaughter Chloe is here for a few days’ visit between horse shows. Chloe, eight years old, competed in her first international equestrian competition in July and was awarded overall reserve champion in her division at the Appaloosa World Youth Show in Jackson, Miss. Chloe was reserve champion again last weekend in New Jersey. She has another weekend competition coming up this week in Maryland. Riggs’ daughter and Chloe’s mother, Robin Meirs, is co-owner with her husband, David, of Concord Stud Farm in Cream Ridge, N.J. and is the one who coordinates getting Chloe, horses, tack and feed to these shows, sometimes in some intense July heat.

Paul and Ruby Iantosca are enjoying a long awaited family reunion at their Wooten Bassett Road home on South Road. Sebastian Elias, the Iantoscas’ second grandson, who is one month old, is making his first Vineyard visit. His father was only six weeks old when he first visited the Vineyard. Justin Iantosca has come from Luxemburg where he works for the European Investment Bank and Alisa is here from Boston. All are looking forward to visiting with old friends and enjoying the pleasures of August in Chilmark.

Kwame Osei Reed will be the guest preacher at the Chilmark Community Church on August 23. He is the guest this week of Warren and Marilyn Hollinshead in West Tisbury. The church volunteers will be making and selling lobster rolls on Tuesday nights until the end of August.

Bill and Roz Glazer are enjoying visits from their son, Aaron and his wife, Illana, and their daughter Ziva who have come from Los Angeles for their annual vacation. The Glazers’ daughter Hilary, her husband, Craig Bromberg and their children Sam and Isaac are here from New York city. They will join the Glazers’ son Jacob and his wife, Dalia, and son Solomon and daughter, Leah, who have been here all summer.

Irv and Margo Cohen, Emily Cohen Cavell, and Ben and Sasha want to thank all who played in and supported the Alex Cohen Basketball Marathon at the Chilmark Community Center on August 9. The event had the biggest turnout ever and the family knows Alex would have been thrilled to know that the marathon created over 20 years ago continues to raise charitable contributions in his memory.

Charles and Marjorie Phillips are back at their Larsen Lane home after a trip to visit family in Maine. They went to Union to visit their daughter, Susan, and her husband, Ed Weber, and their children Owen and Anna. While there, they enjoyed visits with, among others, their neighbors from Larsen Lane, the Hariph Smiths and the Doug Whittiers.

We are all invited to tour the newest South Mountain house on Menemsha Inn Road on August 24 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The owners, Andy Goldman and Susan Heibron will welcome us for a sneak preview of their new house that they hope to be moving into in the fall. Please follow the red arrows to find the house.

New York University Professor Dr. Carol Gilligan will discuss her new book The Deepening Darkness: Patriarchy, Resistance and Democracy’s Future on Wednesday, August 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Chilmark library. The public is invited.

Now for one more bat story. Bill Ramsey had to run next door and borrow his father in law’s fish net to capture and release a small (assumed to be baby) gray and brown bat that came down the chimney and was flying around the room. All is well with the surprised residents and the bat that made his way up after resting on the eaves of the house for a few moments. Larsen Lane is never dull!