We have not had a tough January like last year; the average daily temperature has been about normal when you factor in the near spring-like temperature, though we did have stormy weather on Monday, when wind gusts topped 60 mph. The line at the Up-Island gas station was long most of Sunday, with people taking advantage of the special price of fuel.

Cynthia Riggs, of Edgartown Road, extends an open invitation to everyone to attend her 21st annual Groundhog Day party at the Cleaveland House on Edgartown Road from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Her parties are much anticipated, very interesting and a lot of fun. Please bring your favorite hors d’ouvre to share with your friends, but she says it is not a requirement to attend.

Perry Garfinkel, of Music street, a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post who has been in India for several months, was here for a few days to see friends and attend to business before heading back to the West Coast on business.

Diana and Whit Manter, of Pond View Farm Road, returned home recently after enjoying a second honeymoon; they will have been married for 20 years next month. They spent a week in Dubai, where they may have set a record for buying nothing. They traveled around the city on one of those “hop on, hop off” buses and had a swell time. She reports that the city has a space age quality. They then went to the Maldives for two weeks, spending most of it on a dive boat as the diving was fabulous — whale sharks, octopus, tons of clownfish, white sharks and other stuff. Congratulations!

Matt Stackpole, of Merry Farm Road, returned to his job at Mystic Seaport, in Connecticut, on Monday. He was home for the weekend to be with his family.

Phyllis Meras, of Music street, returned home on Wednesday from a three-week business trip to Brussels, Belgium and other European capitals.

Bob and Barbara Day, of Willow Tree Hollow, went to Bethel, Conn., to help their son Matthew with the three children, Jackson, Garrett and Caroline, while his wife Tracy went on her annual trip to Florida with sisters, cousins and aunt over the Martin Luther King weekend. Their daughter Catha and her husband, Dave, and sons, Luke and Scott, drove up from New York city on Sunday for a visit. The Days returned home on Monday.

Lee Revere, of Forrest avenue, reports that the library is accepting book donations for their 53rd annual sale, to be held in July. Now that the holidays have passed, you may be doing some winter cleaning, so now is the time you may take books and drop them off at the library during normal business hours.

Gloria Sylva, over at the school, reports that the cabaret held last night in the gym was successful. This, coupled with the bake sale that ends today, with the proceeds binge matched by Tina Miller’s father, Alan, raised quite a bit of money for Haitian relief efforts.

Amy Houghton, reports that Paul Schneider will speak at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. His topic is finding a voice in a world full of facts. Also, the WWII exhibit has become very popular, and this town is well represented. In a glass case are John Mayhew’s flight suit, helmet and oxygen mask, as well as some photos of him taken in the 1940s in his Navy uniform and in his Corsair. He served in the Pacific area as a fighter pilot, and a taped interview of his experiences there can be heard with earphones at the exhibit. The Athearn brothers (Mike, Leonard and Cliff) also are represented in this exhibit, which will be there until the summer.

Muriel Doane, of Edgartown Road, serves as the election warden in town. She would like to know if you might be interested in working at the polls on election day. Currently she is managing, but she would like a pool of reserves to call on if needed.

From the archive: “On Feb. 1, 1954, Stanley Eddy of Chilmark announced he had leased the former Ole Borgen/Maud Call store, which he had purchased at public auction last summer, to Miss Erdine Cobb, of New York city. The building has had many uses over the years, store, post office, a parlor that featured famous homemade ice cream and penny candy, it was also the headquarters of the only filling station in North Tisbury. It sold Texaco Fire Chief Gasoline and had only one pump. Miss Cobb plans to operate a special kind of catering service. It will be limited to providing casserole dishes, hors d’oeurve, sandwiches and canapés for cocktail parties and teas. Miss Cobb has named her business the Covered Dish and she plans to open around Memorial Day. She will take up residency in the newly remodeled apartment about May 1st when all the renovation work will be completed. Miss Cobb is excited at this golden opportunity an d believes it will be a profitable business venture.”

Happy birthday to Pam Speir, Janice Ovios and Charlotte Cole today; Dr. Charles Silberstein, Tallia Emily Annese, Jack Wilson and Adele Schonbrun tomorrow; Margaret D’Angelo, Melissa Lawry and John Hough, Jr. on Sunday; William Deeble, Bob Salop, Leah Smith, Tammy Jardin and Rosemary Hoeft on Monday; Larry Brandon, James Irwin and Gayle Mone on Tuesday; Janet Belain, Rita Reynolds, Ken Francis and Jeanne Ogden on Wednesday; Lillian DiMartino, Fran Paciello and Ernie Chaves on Thursday. Happy anniversary wishes to Ken and Cathy Campbell.

Well, that is all of the social news for this week’s edition. If you have any news please call or e-mail me. Trivia that could come in handy: Our Market, in Oak Bluffs, received its first shipment of Krueger’s canned beer 75 years ago today; they were the first brewer to try this new packaging method.

Have a great week.