HOLLY NADLER

508-274-2329

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

Do you get the impression people are less spooked these days by Friday the 13th? That’s what today is, by the way, if you’ve picked up your Gazette on schedule. If you haven’t, you can give a glance back to this recent Friday the 13th and figure out whether it was notable for extra hardships, running the gamut from slipping on a banana peel (has anyone ever done that outside of vaudeville?) to having that homicidal maniac, Freddy, from the Friday the 13th horror movies raising his ax as you foolishly trod down the steps of your dark and spider-webby basement. Were you not listening to the scary music?

Oak Bluffers padding to the post office this week will have passed the reception committee of selectmen Greg Coogan and Kathy Burton, re-running for office, and the indefatigable Renee Balter lending her support. Greg and I have some side business going on: I’ve been trying to get him to reveal a true ghost story about an Island site that shall remain nameless on behalf of a television production company that made me sign a nondisclosure agreement (and, man, you’ve got to pretty much nail me to a cross to get me not to blab about something: we know this).

So, for a while this past Monday, I had the privilege of standing at the far left wing of this reception committee. It’s pretty easy to tell who will be voting for whom, and who will not. Some people try to sidle into the post office without making eye contact. Others shrug and sheepishly take the candidate’s flyer before galumphing away. Others, of course, grin and catch up on gossip and family, and accept the flyer as if they’ve come into town expressly to receive it. They may be firm supporters or the biggest baloney artists or both! Whatever, it’s always a pleasure to run into the hail-fellow-well-met of our community.

The third candidate, Roger Wey, put in his own hours outside the ever-lovin’ post office. I didn’t personally run in to him, but I’ve got to chime in that this man has endeared himself to me eternally, and I’ll tell you why: For the six years I owned and operated Sun Porch Books, Roger arrived every Christmas to purchase a book for each of his seven kids. Once I tried to put my foot down when he insisted on buying his daughter, Heather Wey, a cookbook. Heather worked for me; she is one of the daughters I never had (I’ve got about a dozen of them and they own my heart forever). Knowing Heather as well as I did, I lowered the boom on Roger: His eldest daughter had no interest in cooking. He seemed to think that if she at least gave it the old college try, she could land a good man.

Well, Heather is beautiful, kind and bright, with vivid blue eyes and a tumble of straight dark hair, so I didn’t think she needed to add anything more to her considerable repertoire. She did marry last summer — a lovely event on the exquisite Lagoon-side lawn of the Sailing Camp — and with any luck she is one of those savvy young women who actively seek out men who like to while away their leisure hours in the kitchen. We’ll see.

I do remember Roger went ahead and bought young Heather a book entitled The Best Recipe by the editors of Cooks Illustrated. (Believe me, I forgot what I had for breakfast this morning, but as a former bookseller, I recall most of my favorite customers’ key purchases). In the Best Recipe, mad foodies take an American staple such as mac ‘n cheese, and concoct it every which way in their industrial kitchen. They share fascinating lab notes until you understand what they themselves discovered in rendering the perfect version. The mac ‘n cheese from this cookbook is killer. If you need your kids to love you more, go ahead and make it.

The election will have taken place on Thursday, April 12 — hope you voted — so Friday the 13th will mark a not entirely propitious day for one of the three candidates.

Watch out for banana peels.

At the Oak Bluffs Library on Thursday, April 26 at 6 p.m., Dr. Rob Thieler of U.S. Geological Survey in Wood’s Hole will deliver the lecture Rising Waters, Rising Concerns: Climate Change Effects.

The Martha’s Vineyard Center For Living will hold a luncheon to honor, highlight, and examine the history of the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association of Oak Bluffs, at The Grill on Main in Edgartown, on Saturday, April 21 from noon to 2 p.m. The cost is $25. Call Leslie Clapp for reservations at 508-939-9440.