MARGARET KNIGHT

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

People are already talking about swimming! It certainly was summery enough this past week, although the water must be just about warm enough to pop in and then right back out again. After such a warm spring, and a late Memorial Day, this weekend may bring some beach time for all those visitors here to enjoy the early days of the summer season.

The Chappaquiddick trees all have leaves now. Some of the later oaks, the white oaks especially, have an adolescent look about them — you can see their potential for full greenery, but they look a bit gawky still. The black locust, the latest trees, are starting to bloom and leaf out. Their fragrant blooms look like a cluster of pea blossoms, and they’re tasty in cakes or fruit dishes.

The rosa rugosa is at its peak. It’s the best time of year to drive the Beach Road between Edgartown and Oak Bluffs. The long stretches of pink, red and white beach roses, each in its own-colored section, fill the air with their fragrance. On Chappy, the roses are blooming along the main road between Litchfield Road and the Point. I always look forward to this time of year when they bloom, but in recent years it’s been dismaying to see the bittersweet swallow more and more rose patches. The bittersweet’s roots travel along underground to colonize new territory. Almost all the roses by Caleb’s Pond are at least partly covered now.

I’ve been waging war on the bittersweet vine’s early invasion of the rosa rugosa at the Point along the ferry line turnout, a last holdout. I carry gloves and clippers in my car, and do a little work when I’m waiting in the line. It would be better to dig up the roots because each time the growing part of the vine is pulled up, a couple of new shoots form, but the roots can’t be reached through the thicket of roses. If we do nothing, the vines will cover the roses pretty quickly anyway, so I’m taking an active stance, and I invite anyone else to help out.

This in-between season is a busy time of year. We’re still going to winter meetings and classes while carrying on the intensely physical activities of spring, and now trying to fit in early summer. Even though I’ll miss my winter groups and friends, I’m already looking forward to focusing my life more on Chappaquiddick for the summer. Traffic this week made me remember what the roads will be like, and why I buy a bus pass about now.

The next potluck at the Chappy Community Center is on Wednesday, June 2, starting at 6 p.m. for appetizers, and 6:30 for dinner. Paul Cardello and Judy Buss will be the hosts. All are welcome. The potluck on Wednesday, June 16 will be the final one for the season. If anyone is interested in hosting that potluck, please call the community center at 508-627-8894.

The community center summer calendar is filling up with events including ice cream socials, concerts, films, special evenings and classes. There is still room in the sailing and tennis classes for both kids and adults. Classes begin the week of June 28 and run through August 19. Call for registration or information. Yoga classes will begin that week as well, at 8 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday mornings — no need to sign up in advance.

The community center got a new copier/printer, and is looking for a home for their Epson printer which is in fine condition. You can call 508-627-8222 or e-mail chappycc@verizon.net.

A contemporary version of the medieval play Everyman, directed by E. St. John Villard (ferry’s Captain Liz), can be seen this weekend at St. Andrew’s Church, 34 North Summer street in Edgartown, tonight and Saturday at 7:30, and on Sunday at 3 p.m. Admission is $15. The characters use the old ways of speaking but Liz has added some music to the play. The cast includes John Ortman as Everyman, in this case a cancer patient at the end of his life, looking for peace and acceptance. Jeff Enos, Plumber of Last Resort, who can often be seen in Chappy crawl spaces, plays Death.

Vineyard Voice, an online journal of arts and ideas, wants to introduce its Community Media Lab, a production facility and web video studio. Here Islanders can learn about and produce web video and digital media in the media studio at Featherstone Center for the Arts. The lab is having an open house on Thursday, June 3, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. with refreshments, music and demonstrations.

The Chappy ferry is now officially on its summer schedule — no more obsessive watch checking, at least not until late in the evening. Hopefully the bars can make up for the loss of income (from those waiting for the ferry) with the overall increase in seasonal business. Now you can come and go as you please, so to speak, between 6:45 a.m. and midnight. Don’t forget to turn off your headlights while waiting in the ferry line at night. That’s so the captain can find the slip, and take you home.