This is the height of mud season here on Chappy. There is very little that can be done to economically smooth out a muddy road. The dashboard of my truck now has half as much clutter on it thanks to potholes and a stiff suspension. Just makes it easier to find what I’m looking for with the stuff spread out on the floor of the truck.

The next Chappy potluck will be hosted by Mary Spencer. Appetizers at 6 p.m., with dinner at 6:30. Last time we had an abundance of main dishes and salads, but only one small apple pie for dessert. We survived and had a good square meal to boot.

A prefabricated house arrived at the ferry point last week. Since these objects are too big for the ferry, they are delivered to Chappy aboard John Packer’s barge. We see this occur every couple of years. This particular house was manufactured on the west coast and brought to the Vineyard on three big highway trailers. The trailers, along with a very big crane, are loaded onto the barge at the public landing at Mattakessett. They are brought one at a time up Katama Bay and unloaded at the ferry point. The barge has its own ramp and noses into the beach dropping its spuds to hold it in place during the transfer of the vehicles. It’s pretty exciting witnessing these large heavy objects creaking over the barge’s ramp onto the corner of the parking lot. The big 10-wheeled Baxter crane is an impressive site. The house was assembled quickly and the crane headed back home in a mere couple of days.

Daffodil Day and St. Patrick’s Day are on Monday, March 17. Daffodil Day is an annual fundraiser sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard Cancer Support Group, an entirely volunteer organization which lends financial, as well as moral support, to cancer patients and their families. You can buy a nice bunch of daffodils for $10 at Cronig’s, Stop & Shop and the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Everyone you know has been affected in some way by cancer. What a wonderful way to welcome spring and to help a neighbor.

The heather has been in bloom at Mytoi for a couple of weeks now, and right behind the Mytoi sign is a witch hazel in blossom that at a distance, looks like a threadbare forsythia. The snowdrops of course are up and even a few crocuses. Of all the first days of our four seasons, the vernal equinox seems to be the most noticed and the most important. The re-emergence of life from the thawing ground and the unfurling of blossoms from tree buds always feels like nature’s sigh of relief.

Thirty six years ago at one hour before noon on March 15th, my daughter Molly Rose was born at home on Curtis Lane in Edgartown. I never would have guessed that she would come home to Chappy, bringing with her three blond-headed Tasmanian devils to keep their grandmother busy and a very skilled son in law to make my life a breeze.