NANCY GARDELLA

508-693-3308

(vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)

I’m sure you all read the beautiful obituary for our friend and neighbor, Harry Jones, in last week’s paper. The neighborhood is bereft, and our condolences go out to his wonderful family. What you didn’t read was not only how devoted Harry was to Rupert the Rooster and his faithful companion, Spookie, but how he loved all neighborhood pets. Before Rupert we had another wandering rooster who lived near my house. No one complained because he was so old his crowing was a whisper. He would greet me in the morning and walk me to my door at night. I named him Fred. One particularly cold winter I had to go to Chicago to help my daughter in law with her son and new baby while my son was in Iraq. I so worried about Fred! Not being a master builder like Harry was, I overturned a clean trash bin, filled it with leaves, and asked my friends to feed and water Fred as well as my dogs and cat. By the time I returned from Illinois, Fred had taken up with the Jones family. Aase had re-named him Rudi and Harry had built a wonderful condo for him. I used to kid them that a custody battle would ensue. After his retirement, Harry became particularly attached to the neighborhood kids. They all adored him. He could often be seen walking over to the trampoline to watch the kids play. When arthritis made his walking difficult you would see two children on either side, holding his hands and helping him back home. Sometimes they would put his slippers on him, prop his feet on the hassock, and give him a glass of water and a blueberry muffin, one of his favorite treats. Cheyenne, Monique, Ryan, Robbie, Dylan, Mary Afton, TJ, Anthony, and Andre miss him greatly and want to attend the future celebration of his life with me. I’ll keep you posted.

“Freedom!” Mel Gibson bellowed at the end of the movie Braveheart. Well, I’m screaming it, too. I have finally freed myself. I am no longer bound by the slings and arrows of Zuckerberg’s outrageous fortune, I have closed my Facebook account. Frankly, I didn’t even really know how to use it, some teens set me up with it a few years ago. I love you all, Gentle Readers, but not all or even many of you are accomplished writers. I do not want to know why you woke up in a bad mood, how distressed you were to spill coffee on your yellow dress and need to put on the blue one, how many cows, chickens, or pigs you need to buy for your virtual farm. Don’t ask me to support anymore bushels of lettuce, I would rather be outside growing my own. The hours wasted wading through all that trivia! I don’t need to see one more photo of your pets sleeping together or your baby dumping a yogurt cup on his head in the high chair. I would rather read the James brothers (William and Henry, not Jesse and his gang) or Dickens or Thackeray than read about your last visit to Chuck E. Cheese. You all have my telephone number and e-mail if you need to contact me and, oh! What a novel idea! I love receiving snail mail as long as it isn’t a bill. Now I shall be truly free when I get a teen over here to show me how to get off LinkedIn.

On the news last night I heard from the Cape Bureau of Fisheries and Wildlife that an unprecedented visitor made his way to Bourne to see what Memorial Day weekend on the Cape was all about. A juvenile black bear! He was so cute, and approximately 200 lbs. The bureau said he swam across the Cape Cod Canal, which is better than any of us could do.

Juliska’s new store, the former premises of Bramhall & Dunn, looks intriguing. I also overheard someone walking to Bunch of Grapes at the former Bowl & Board saying: ”Doesn’t it feel weird to have Bunch of Grapes over here?” La Choza is now open on Sundays for the season. I had my first pizza from Bob’s. Our Legion Hall will serve lobster rolls from 4:30 to 7 p.m. beginning Tuesday, June 5.

You know Janet Evanovich’s first book in her best-selling series. Our library is holding a free screening of that movie on Tuesday, June 5 at 7 p.m. On Wednesday June 6, same time, new Island resident Alberto de Almar shall entertain us with his skills as a Flamenco musician. A reception follows.

The ever-entertaining Tom Dresser will give a book talk at our senior center on Friday, June 8 at 10:30 a.m. Tom will discuss his new book, Disaster Off Martha’s Vineyard: The Sinking of the City of Columbus. It is an amazing piece of Vineyard history. I’ll see you there.

Please note that all films put on at the Katharine Cornell Theatre now start one half hour later than off-season. Tickets are available at the door at 7:30 p.m., the film starts at 8 p.m.

Trash tales, okay, I checked it out with our TPW. You may still bring your own trash to the dump with a current car dump sticker, sold in the office. One household gets two stickers for two cars, $25 for both. You can no longer buy top-of-barrel dump stickers at the office, but you may at Bruno’s, Cumby’s, and I’m guessing, the other retail shops where you used to get them. They are now $4.50 per sticker.

Condolences to my son and his family, Chris, Lilly, Corbyn and Dominic Clark. Their beloved chinchilla, Savannah, died. Savannah was beautiful, sleek and fluffy. They gave her a good home for many years.

Get well wishes to Tamma Cimeno, who spent a terrible birthday yesterday having surgery in Boston.

The birthday bandwagon pulls along Mary McPartlin today. June 2 is for Robbie Hale, Louisa Leuning, Anna Nivala and Al Koster. On June 3 Myra Stark, Sarah Lolley, Chaya Rubenstein, Arthur Battistini, Justin Smith and Raiver de Costa party hearty. June 4 belongs to Arthur Lenna, Josh Kochin, Ben Crisman and Peggy Tileston. June 5 is claimed by Margie Meltzer. June 6 shines on Hildy Mitchell and Denise Searle. And on June 7 Grace Murphy and Trude Hart take the cake. Many happy returns.