HOLLY NADLER
508-274-2329
My humble apologies if anyone looked for my column last week and found it missing. Normally town columnists fight to the death to get our weekly bulletins to the paper. Some of us are drafted from the U.S. Marines, that’s how tough we are. There was once a town columnist, back in 1874, who put on snowshoes in a blizzard and staggered through snow banks all the way down from Quitsa Pond to Edgartown to file her week’s news. Both her feet were amputated at the ankle, so she sent for her seed corn, pigs and goats at her Quitsa farm to start a new homestead next door to the Gazette, just so she’d never risk falling short of another deadline. And also she couldn’t figure how to get home without her feet.
So that’s the stuff we’re made of, but last week I got hit with that flu bug that I hear has taken out others of our citizenry. It doesn’t even hand you cold symptoms until a few days later. First it knocks you out with a one-two punch so that you realize, when you wake up in the morning, you’re going to need hydraulic help to lift your head from the pillow.
And now the elections have come and gone. Far be it from me to say anything political in this space, so I won’t, except, well, no, never mind. One funny part about voting on the Vineyard occurred to me: You don’t think about this until the next election arrives, and you promptly forget about it right afterwards, but isn’t it funny how you see a bunch of friends and acquaintances braced around signs for their candidates, and you have to smile and wave at all of them? Even the ones you’re not voting for? I mean it would take a pretty tough-skinned Yankee to frown and deliberately ignore the lady who’s going to be raking the leaves off her side of the shared driveway later in the day.
As I walked my bicycle through the parking lot of the Oak Bluffs Library last Tuesday, I wondered if I could simply tell the sort-of-not-for-me candidates that, 30 seconds before heading into the voting booths, I was still undecided? On the long march out, I even blurted to a super nice town official whose opponent I’d just vetted with a big black marking pen, “Good luck!” Could you get any phonier than that? But he was so friendly and sincere. Maybe I should have turned on my heels and requested another ballot? Can you do that? And what would you give as your reason?
Speaking of the flu bug, it’s rumored in the health community that some of us are suffering not from random colds but from Lyme disease. So I’m passing along the following information from Dr. Enid Haller who has made it her ministry to get the word out: The next meetings of the Lyme disease support group are scheduled for Nov. 15 and 17 at 6:30 p.m. at Howes House. The Nov. 15 meeting will entail a forum for people to speak about their own stories, ask questions and give and receive information about their individual problems with Lyme. The second meeting on Nov. 17 will be more about the political side of Lyme, recent updates in treatments and an educational series. Dr. Haller will show DVDs from the ILLADS Conference and there will be a discussion afterwards.
This just in from Judy Williamson to the large Oak Bluffs contingent of Hospice supporters: Calling all bakers, jam makers, knitters and candlestick makers to lift your hearts and hands and share your talents making items for Handmade from the Heart for Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard. On Dec. 11 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. the doors of the beautifully decorated Dr. Daniel Fisher House in Edgartown will be open once again to offer all the items and gifts made by our generous friends and supporters. Enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and homemade goodies after shopping. When you shop you give twice. Please help by creating your handmade items. You can call the Hospice office at 508-693-0189 for information. They thank you in advance!
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