JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Chilmark looks like Dubai this week . . . great tall building cranes everywhere you look. Actually, there are three of them and they were all working at the same time some days this week. One is working for the town of Chilmark, rebuilding the way out to the fill dock; one is working for the U.S. Coast Guard on their dock and the third is working for a private home owner replacing a dock. I suspect manning the cranes has been a challenge with the strong winds that hung around Chilmark all week.

Life in general has picked up a momentum this week. The early flowers are blooming, lots of folks are back looking tanned and fit and town meeting is coming up soon! We are done with the quiet times for a while.

The Allen Farm is welcoming new lambs daily and, at my latest count, there were 30. Cheers to all!

Tomorrow, Saturday, April 9, will be the Chilmark Preschool’s spring celebration at the Chilmark Community Center from 10 a.m. through 2 p.m. The $5 per child cost will offer food, games, animal rides and many other fun things that children will enjoy. Parents are free. Funds raised will be used for many extras provided by the school.

Josh Aronie is extending the hours of his popular Menemsha Cafe. He will now be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday with dinners continuing on Fridays from 5 to 8 p.m.

The word is that Phyllis Conway is mostly recovered from the pneumonia she suffered this winter and she enjoys chatting with her friends; best to call before visiting, says her husband, Bob. Cheers to Phyllis from us all, we hope to see you out and about soon.

Bea Phear reminds us that the League of Women Voters will hold a public forum at the Chilmark Library on Thursday, April 14 at 7 p.m. All candidates up for election and re-election will be offered a chance to speak and answer questions. This is always a good chance to meet the candidates that you haven’t met and hear what they all have to say. Thanks to the league for always offering this forum.

Please make note that the Women’s Symposium will meet for the 27th time on April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Chilmark Community Center. There will be talks, discussions and refreshments. Donations are requested to cover the costs of this free event.

Two treats of spring for me have been the receipt of two spring newsletters full of colorful pictures, exciting reports and the promise of much more. You can find them yourselves at their Web sites. The first is photographer Peter Simon’s at petersimon.com. He gives us a lively report on his winter and plans for the coming season. The other site worth checking out is Jan Buhrman’s kitchenporch.com. Again, this one has lots of pictures, exciting reports and plans for the summer.

Nick Porter, son of Tom and Helen Porter, is a new member of the Dear Abbeys, a premiere all-male a capella group at Boston University. Nick is hosting a visit by the group to the family home on the Menemsha Crossroad next weekend. The 13 members are preparing for a concert at BU on April 30. They, too, have a Web site: dearabbeys.com.

Please note that residents who used to receive an early mail-in application form in the mail from the beach committee for summer beach passes will not receive them this year. Instead, there are applications at the reception desk at town hall and a place to leave the completed application. The regular beach pass application desk will open at town hall June 1.

Sue Larsen has found a way for the children of the Chilmark School and all who wish to join in to send money and support to the Japanese people recovering from their natural disasters last month. She has contacted Peter Grilli, president of the Japan Society of Boston, who plans to visit the Chilmark School this week. The project is for the children and any interested members of Chilmark to make paper cranes and donate them, with $1 for each crane made, to the Japan Society who will donate the string of 1,000 cranes to the Consul General of Japan in Boston. The money collected will go the Japanese Disaster Relief Fund, Boston. The making of the cranes involves folding paper; Sue suggests cutting squares from our local newspapers. Sue tells us she spent three years living in Japan and remembers the country and the people fondly. And, yes, this is the same Sue Larsen who, with her daughter, Brigida, is training for the Avon Walk for Cancer on May 14 and 15.