JOHN S. ALLEY

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

Today begins a long holiday weekend in the commonwealth. Monday is Patriots Day and the 117th running of the Boston marathon. Town offices will be closed.

Anna Alley reports driving by three baby white-tailed deer walking down State Road near Deep Bottom Road last Friday evening. Cherrilla Brown spotted three otters in the Mill Pond Tuesday morning. The blue flowers in Paul Cook’s yard burst open in all their glory this week transforming his lawn into a sea of blue. Daffodils are in bloom everywhere, signaling that spring is here.

Monday is the deadline to file your tax return with the federal government (although you have until Tuesday to file state returns). There used to be long lines at the post office with folks getting their returns postmarked before the deadline. But now you can file them online in a snap and save a lot of time.

Allen and Lynne Whiting have recently returned from nearly a month’s vacation on the island of Bequia in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Andy Boass and his wife Susie of Hopkinton have been here for the past two weeks at their home at Glimmerglass. Susie, one of the famous Glimmerglass Girls, reports that Andy has been busy with his bees and she has been working on bottling honey for their roadside table.

Jennifer Tseng over at the library reports that on Sunday, April 21 from 3 to 4 p.m. the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Vineyard Haven will host the West Tisbury Library’s semi-annual Community Poetry Reading. The event features community members reading their own poems or the poems of others. Help keep the tradition alive by attending as a reader, a listener or both. Numbers will be drawn from a hat to determine the reading order. Refreshments will be served.

Tomorrow the Island Democratic Council will hold a meeting at Howes House from 9 to 10:30 a.m. to host representatives of the two congressmen who are vying for the Democratic nomination for U.S. senator from Massachusetts, Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch. This is a hard-fought primary election with the outcome to be decided on April 30.

On April 12, 1945 President Franklin D. Roosevelt died at his retreat in Warm Springs, Ga., in the early afternoon. That night the Grange held a special meeting in the Agricultural Hall with a short but impressive memorial service for the late President who had been a Granger for 31 years. He was a seventh degree member and possessor of a Silver Star certificate denoting 25 years of continuous membership that he hung in the White House. A picture of the late President was draped with the Grange memorial ribbon. An original poem written by Emma Mayhew Whiting especially for this solemn occasion was read by the Master Maud Call. George Magnuson sang Lead, Kindly Light and the service concluded with the Lord’s Prayer.

Happy birthday to: Carmen Wilson, Max Jasny, M.E. Horowitz and Antone Rezendes today; Prudy Whiting, Sarah Neubert, Nathan Thompson, Deborah Eggers and Tony Higgins tomorrow; Gina Solon, Joe Capobianco, Diane Nolan and Marion Ellis on Sunday; Debbie Magnuson, Jonathan Revere, Don Luce, Joanne Scott, Mike Post and James Brodeur on Monday; Janet Bank, Linda Vadasz, Nancy Clair and Kimberly Angell on Tuesday; Maggie Schwartz, Ann Maley, Tom Wetherall, Andrea Haden and Clarissa Murphy on Wednesday; Norman Lobb, Mary Fischer, Lynne Whiting, Marina Sharkovitz and Gerald Morelli on Thursday.

Well, that is all the social news for this week’s edition. If you have any news please call or email me. Have a great week.