NANCY GARDELLA

508-693-3308

(vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)

For those of you who have my cell phone number, fugghedaboudit. I know it’s not lost or stolen, it’s just misplaced in the morass of truck and home I fondly refer to as the Bermuda Triangle. My techie friends say, call it, you’ll hear it ring. Unfortunately, I had shut it off. I do think the locator on my home phone is one of the best inventions since contact lenses. Why not locators on everything? For instance, the 100 pairs of reading glasses I have spread from California to Florida to Germany and Italy. Why not on the contact lens case? And that ever-elusive item, the car keys. Just reach me at the above number until my assistant, Corbyn Garza Clark, finds it for me. I know he will.

By the way, the visit with the family is going very well. Some of you have run into 4-year-old Corbyn with me downtown, where he graciously greets all with a handshake and holds doors open for everyone.

Corbyn has a new aspiration for what he wants to be when he grows up. Corbyn wants to be the man who raises and lowers the drawbridge here on Storybook Island.

Ed Colligan at American Legion Post 257 is asking for volunteers on Friday, July 4 to help put up and take down the 415 flags along the Avenue of Flags at Oak Grove Cemetery in Vineyard Haven. We put up the flags at 7:30 a.m. and take them down at 3 p.m. Please help.

The ’hood is filling out. Welcome to Elise Ryan and David Lott. Betty Roberts arrived last week, can her family be far behind? Ralph and Mareda Gaither-Graves have been busy on their landscaping and preparing for the 13th annual Performers Workshop on island. Watch this space for concert and master class performances of these talented pianists and singers. The workshop commences July 2, but give us a few days to rehearse.

I was drawn to the Island by my love of the sea. I’ll meet you tonight between 5 and 7 p.m. at the newly re-done Louisa Gould Gallery on Main street for the opening reception of a Vineyard Painting group show, capturing the colors of the season and the smell of salt air. The four featured artists are Lynette Goric, Carolyn King, Christopher Pendergast, and my personal favorite, Donna Blackburn. I promise you can find a spot on your wall for one of these indoor renderings of what we love about this place.

I can never forget the warm laughter and kindness of Joe and Laurie Dine. Their son, Philip M. Dine, has certainly carried on their talent. Phil is an award-winning investigative reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. We are fortunate to have him on hand tonight at the free evening book talk series at Bunch of Grapes, 7:30 p.m., upstairs. As a confirmed believer in trade unions, the subject has always been close to my heart. Hear Phil discuss his new book, State of the Unions: How Labor Can Strengthen the Middle Class, Improve Our Economy, and Regain Political Influence. Hey, let’s meet at the Louisa Gould Gallery at 5 p.m. and walk on down to the Grapes for Phil at 7:30.

A Bronx cheer goes out to the annoying middle-aged woman I heard yelling at my dear Anna Duarte in the post office parking lot. Had the woman not disappeared before I could get to her, you can bet there would have been fisticuffs. The witch had parked in a handicapped spot (for which she had no permit) which forced Anna to park in a regular space and take a difficult walk. When Anna kindly pointed out the error, the witch acted like she owned the world and screamed at Anna that her lecture was “inappropriate for a person of your age.” What? Who was inappropriate? May that woman be sentenced to a stalled car in the middle of Five Corners on August 3. That would be a great birthday gift for me.

Get-well bouquets go out to Debra Little, recovering from rotator cuff surgery.

June 27 sees Phil and Gail Derick and Len and Georgia Morris celebrate another year of wedded bliss.

July 1 marks an anniversary for Joe and Joan Didato.

The birthday bandwagon pulls along Michael Wilson and Lance Pachico today. June 29 belongs to Flavia Stanley, Alexander Douglas Grant 2nd and Lynn Weber. July 1 is a party for Mya Jewett Rendall, Cynthia Schilling and her granddaughter, Jenev, and Dick Clark. July 2 honors Father Jose Alfonso Lima, John Clark Wallace, Jean Dowling, Penelope Bonelli and John Scott. And on July 3 Christine Geddis, Hans Buder and Larry Gomez take the cake. Many happy returns.