MARGARET KNIGHT
508-627-8894
March made a second pass at us this week with a blustery northeaster that blew in cool air and showers for a few days. However the greening and the blooming continue despite the temperatures in the 40s and 50s. The beach plum bushes are just popping out with their showy display of white blossoms. The stretch of road between Litchfield and the Point is a good place to see them, although they have been much reduced by smothering bittersweet over the years. The red oaks and scrub oaks are covered with tiny, furry, monkey hand leaves and tassels. The white oaks are waiting a few more days to leaf out.
There are lots of wild edible plants waking up now, too. Dandelion greens are good, lightly steamed. Young stalks of Japanese knotweed are good as asparagus or used like rhubarb. I like to mix knotweed and rhubarb together with a crisp topping. Just peel off the reddish skin of the knotweed stalks up to about one foot tall. Poke sprouts are starting – also eaten like asparagus. Chicory, watercress and nettles are tasty spring greens, and all are common on the Vineyard — although I don’t know of any watercress on Chappy. You can find out more in Linsey Lee’s Edible Wild Plants of Martha’s Vineyard, available at the Vineyard Conservation Society. It has lots of information on preparation and medicinal properties, along with hand-colored drawings and recipes.
The service for Joe Cressy will be on Saturday, May 21 at 1:30 p.m. at the Whaling Church in Edgartown.
Maybe the Chappy ferry should start a new run, going to the mainland. Again this week someone got on the ferry hoping to go somewhere besides Chappy. This woman was actually heading for Nantucket eventually, and Brad told her she’d be going in the right direction but she couldn’t get to there from here. She had a GPS in the car, but maybe the GPS just gives up when things get as complicated as multiple ferries.
The potluck at the Chappy Community Center on May 18 will be hosted by Dot and John Dropick. Appetizers begin at 6 and dinner at 6:30 p.m. Bring a main course or dessert dish to share. All are welcome. If anyone would like to host the June 1 potluck, please let me know.
An Authentic Movement and Art workshop will be held at the community center on Saturday and Sunday, May 21 and 22, with Aileen Crow, who has led these groups for many years on the Island. Aileen is a creativity counselor from New York who has studied Arnold Mindell’s Dreambody Process Work extensively, and who led an Alexander Technique training course for many years. The workshop is for anyone who likes to explore movement and art, and have fun — not just dancers! It will run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a break for lunch, and cost $50 a day. For more information or to register, please call me at 508-627-8894.
Work on the tennis and basketball courts continues. They have their final layer of asphalt, and the tennis court is ready for its cushion surface. If you haven’t received information about using the court, you can download it from the Web site (chappycommunitycenter.org) or leave a message at 508-627-8222. Registration is open for sailing, tennis and The Trustees of Reservations classes, and forms are available on the Web site. Katie Clinnin and JJ Phinney will return as sailing instructors, and Donna DeFrancis as tennis instructor. Sailing classes are available for adults as well as kids. Sarah Lindenberg will work as assistant to the coordinator (me) this summer. Yoga, Pilates, and Latin dance exercise classes will be available again. And lots more!
On Thursday, May 19, from 6 until 9 p.m., the Martha’s Vineyard Cancer Support Group will hold An Evening Under the Stars, its 25th anniversary celebration gala event and benefit, at the Granary Gallery in West Tisbury. Hors d’oeuvre, beverages and desserts will be served, with music by Mike Benjamin. Tickets are $100 per person (a tax-deductible contribution), in advance or at the door; 508-696-9849.
The Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living board member Shirley Dewing would like all to know about the fifth cultural luncheon on Saturday, May 21, from noon to 2 p.m. at The Grill on Main in Edgartown. The luncheon will honor the whaling wives of Martha’s Vineyard, with Vineyard-born mystery writer Cynthia Riggs. Cynthia’s great-grandmother, Mary Carline Cleaveland, sailed with her husband, Capt. James Cleaveland, on a five-year whaling voyage into the Pacific, during which Mary gave birth to two daughters. For tickets, call MVC4L director Leslie Clapp at 508-939-9440, or MVC4L board members. A musical interlude will be provided by Island musical director, organist and composer Phil Dietterich and vocalist Martha Hudson.
This time of year I usually stop putting sunflower seeds out for the birds, partly because the chipmunks spend the morning filling their cheeks with seeds and then hiding them for later – or for the rats. I’ve also heard that it’s good to allow the birds to follow their natural diets when the food is available to them. This year it’s hard to shut down the feeder when there, right outside my kitchen window, is such an array of birds and a display of color. The other morning there was a bright yellow goldfinch, a lustrous red cardinal, and a female towhee with the most beautiful browns, standing there eating away, with chickadees flitting back and forth to the nearby tree. In the yard, the bunnies like to hang out around the chickens, and play hide-and-seek and follow-the-leader in the yard. One actually leapt over a chicken’s back in the midst of a run. Between the birds and the bunnies, there’s lots to look at back here in the woods.
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