MARGARET KNIGHT

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

Chappaquiddick took on the look of winter this past weekend when snow and stormy weather continued on for several days. Unlike the rest of the Island, Chappy barely got enough snow to cover the ground — maybe an inch — and the wind kept it from frosting the trees.

The last couple of winters I’ve noticed several times that Chappy will get rain while the rest of the Island, sometimes even Edgartown, will receive snow. It may be because we are farther out to sea, and the ocean moderates the temperatures more. In the summer, we often get fog while Vineyard Haven experiences a sunny day. Strange that an Island as small as the Vineyard can have such variation in climates.

Since we don’t get much snow most winters, I try to ski whenever possible, even on the slightest cover. This particular snow was very wet, though, and because the ground was not frozen, there were too many bare patches to get anywhere on skis. So on Saturday, when I heard reports of 6 inches of snow in West Tisbury, I got my skis out of the basement and headed up-Island, and had a great ski at the Sepiessa Land Bank property. Up-Island, the branches and boughs were covered in white, and everywhere looked beautiful with gray clouds and white fields and woods. At Sepiessa, several paths go through the woods and a recovered “savannah,” and lead to a wild-looking point out in the Tisbury Great Pond.

Roger Becker has created a new Web site (chappybikepath.com) as a “forum for debate and discussion about a shared use path on Chappaquiddick.” According to the web site, Chappy people will be able to “cast their ‘votes’ on the issue of a bike path,” and read or post relevant material. The web site is not affiliated with the bike path committee or the CIA, although Roger plans to post whatever is submitted by them, as well as links to other sites offering information on bike paths. There are also lists of people for and against the bike path, derived from a survey taken by the bike path committee and individuals’ letters to the CIA, and sent out to the CIA e-mail list.

We received word of the death of Oliver Selfridge in the beginning of December. Oliver was the husband of Edwina Rissland and father of Olivia. Oliver began vacationing on Chappy after he met Edwina in the 1970s. He was eminent in computer science, being one of its early pioneering thinkers. He loved and appreciated the quiet and natural beauty of Chappaquiddick, and especially enjoyed gardening and swimming, always keeping track of the tides.

Capt’n Bob brought his new Akita down to the ferry to sniff around the night he arrived on the Island. An Akita is a breed of dog, originating in Japan, and Bob’s Akita, Cain, traveled here from Morganton, North Carolina. He’s three years old and is a handsome, self-possessed looking dog. Bob found him at the Burke County Friends of Animals through the Petfinder web site, which lists thousands of pets in need of rescue. They transported Cain part way, and Bob picked him up near Hartford. Akitas are known for their courage and alertness, and their extra affectionate and loyal nature, with a reserve toward strangers. Bob and Cain seem to be settling in together well.

The FARM Institute has hired Sidney Morris as year-round manager of education programs. Executive director Matthew Goldfarb says, “He’s especially well suited to help TFI grow as a learning environment that nurtures and cultivates qualities of civic engagement, creative thought, independent action and responsibility, cooperative effort, pride and integrity.”

Sidney began teaching on the Island at the Edgartown School in the 1970s, and went on to teach in independent, public, and public charter schools here. He was a cofounder of the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School, and the Chappaquiddick Community Center, where he started its sailing program. Later he created Vineyard Voyagers, an experiential maritime studies program for young people, which built and sails the boat Mabel.

Sidney says he especially hopes to lure more teenagers to the promise of feeding Islanders with locally-grown organic food as a challenging and fulfilling path to making a difference in the world, both locally and globally. He also says he may no longer be able to resist the temptation of fulfilling his desire to raise goats.

Peter Wells was mentioned last week in Phyllis Meras’ annual Christmas poem epic. In the poem, many Islanders are assigned appropriate presents, in rhyme, and his was more sand to give away for sandboxes. I guess Santa already delivered because more sand has appeared next to the slip on the Chappy side. Or it may have been Steve Ewing with his clamshell digger, who dug out the slip so the ferry doesn’t touch bottom at low tide. It’s been less than a month since he dug it out last.