JANE SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Chilmark enjoyed a steamy hot spring day today as I write midweek, but we are reminded that it is still spring and we are still on an island when the fog rolls in and out all day.

On Tuesday a group of four U.S. senators hosted a premiere screening of the new National Geographic documentary, American Heroes Fishing Challenge. This documentary tells the story of how the American Heroes Saltwater Challenge for wounded veterans came to be. At the same time that many who were involved in its production were watching it in the U.S. capitol building visitors center theatre, it was screened at the Home Port Restaurant for the local folks who have shared in the challenge activities here in town each year. The veterans are invited in the fall to the Beach Plum Inn to fish in the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. Bob and Sarah Nixon of Washington, D.C. and Chilmark, are their hosts and their son, Jack, is the fisherman whose idea sparked the whole event. Please mark your calendars to see this National Geographic special on the National Geographic channel at 10 p.m. on Monday, May 29, Memorial Day.

The Chilmark Community Church will hold its annual plant and yard sale on Saturday, May 25, from 9 a.m. to noon. They will offer plantings and seedlings, attic treasures, Chilmark Chocolates and the makings of a lobster roll. They will sell the lobster in a container with a roll and chips. It is a great introduction to the season’s weekly lobster roll sale.

Congratulations to Samantha Smith, daughter of William and Kathie Smith of Menemsha Crossroad, who graduates this month from Bridgewater State University. Cheers from us all!

Mary Anna Eaton is back at her Chilmark home after a winter in Florida. She is happy to have Don Wilkerson, a friend of 34 years, as her guest. He is here from Pasadena, Calif. They are working to prepare Mary’s cutting garden for the annual Polly Hill Garden Tour on July 17. Her garden is one of four Chilmark gardens on this year’s tour that will benefit the Arboretum.

The Home Port Restaurant opens officially on Thursday this week. New to the restaurant this year is chef Matt Safranek and his wife, manager Angela Vezzone. Be sure to call for reservations.

The Chilmark Library’s Wednesday program on May 29 is titled All About River Otters. Luanne Johnson and Liz Baldwin have been studying the life cycles of the local river otters and will bring us up to date on their work with photos, videos and more. The program will begin at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited at no charge and the program is sponsored by the Friends of the Chilmark Library.

The Lamachia-Binghams (Joani, Alex, Lucy and Jeremy) are back at their Menemsha home, the Lobster Pot, this week — but not for long. The family will be traveling to Bali and Cambodia in the near future. Joani is a cooperative education faculty advisor for international affairs majors at Northeastern University. As part of her job, she develops co-op internships for students at international organizations around the world. In May, she will join other Northeastern faculty members on a summer program taking them to Bali to meet with international partners. Joani’s son, Jeremy, is a student at Northeastern and is participating in the program in Bali. Joani will then go to Cambodia to develop partnerships in Phnom Penh and Siem Riep, and there meet her husband, Alex, and daughter, Lucy, to travel in Cambodia. The family is looking forward to coming back to Menemsha in late June with lots of stories to tell us all!

Beebo Rantoul Thurman is here from California with her daughters, Brenna and Laurel, for their annual visit to the family home in Chilmark. They enjoyed the Mother’s Day holiday and have been busy gardening. The next visitors to the Middle Road home will Neal Rantoul of Cambridge and his daughter and grandchildren over the Memorial Day weekend.

Marjorie Phillips of Lexington, Va., Is at her Larsen Lane home for the summer season. Her son, Chip, and his son, Matt, drove Marjorie’s car up for her and she enjoyed arriving by plane this year.

Noah and Beth Solomon of Manhattan are enjoying a May visit with parents, Sue and Bill Stibel. They are happy to be welcoming home their daughter, Amanda, who has been a student for a semester in Copenhagen.

Lois Blazer of Warwick, R.I., enjoyed a one-day visit to town to catch up with her many friends here. She enjoyed Chilmark summers for many years and continues to visit when she can. Her friends here miss her regular visits.

We send condolences to the family and friends of Garth Edwards, who died at his Essex, Conn., home recently. He and his late wife, Ollie, were annual residents of Abel’s Hill since 1968. Ollie predeceased Garth in 2013. Their many Chilmark friends will miss them.