Chilmark is a howling place as I write on Wednesday. The winds are blowing and the snow is flying around just like February, and not like the end of March. Where is the lamb in all of this? It appears in this year of global warming that March came in like a lion and is going out like one! So far the power has blinked once but remained on all morning. We are grateful for that. The snow is drifted up against fences and doorways and has required several passes with the plows . . . maybe six inches or so.

Well, somewhere under all this are some hearty daffodils awaiting their turn. Soon, please. I share the multitude of emotions that all seasonal business people are feeling right now . . . when do we get to start the necessary preparations for our busy summer schedules?

We send condolences to the family and many friends of Peter Darling of Quitsa and Stratham, N.H., who died on March 19. He was an active seasonal resident of Chilmark all of his life and held Chilmark interests close. Among other things, his annual volunteer chore was to clean up the town pond in Quitsa and his efforts were appreciated by all. He held a lifelong interest in the library, and especially in the landscaping around the building. Peter, his wife Della and children Peter, Scott and Susan have maintained a historic house overlooking the Atlantic and Peter was always happiest when he was in residence. We shall all miss his joyful spring visits when he first arrived and made his annual hellos to the town. His devoted family and his many Vineyard friends will always miss him.

We also send condolences to the friends and family of Donnie Mills of West Tisbury, and to the circle of friends and family of Pat Brown of Edgartown — two familiar faces whose lives touched many of us across the Island. I find that the rhythm of my Chilmark life is readjusting. I didn’t realize how much my even keel depended on the familiar. As I traverse the town and the Island there are landmarks in my memory reminding me of the residences of friends, acquaintances and familiars. So many of them have left us this winter that I find myself slightly off balance. The comfort is that the community valued them and that they all were very much a part of the Island life.

Dave and Catha Carlson and their children, Jessica, Luke and Scott, all of New York city, spent some time at their Peaked Hill home last week in order to share in the excitement of the film festival.

Congratulations are due to some Chilmark folk from us all: Ann and Daniel Merhalski and their new daughter, Isabel Anne, who was born on March 12 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, and to Yongbum Park who has earned a Doctor of Philosophy on constructive theological ethics from Boston University, and to Cody Coutinho who was named to the dean’s list for fall 2013 at Merrimack College in North Andover. Cheers from us all!

Let’s get our calendars set up for April. Martha’s Vineyard Community services has scheduled the annual electronics disposal day for April 12 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 111 Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road. There is a long list of electronic and electrical items acceptable and you can call Mary Korba at 508-693-7900, extension 229 for information or send her an email at mkorba@mvcommunityservices.com.

Friends and family are inviting us to a pasta dinner with music and live and silent auctions at the Portuguese-American Club in Oak Bluffs on April 12, at 5 p.m. This is a fundraiser for the benefit of popular Islander, Lena Araujo Vanderhoop who recently had emergency open heart surgery. We all send her get well wishes.

The 33rd Women’s Symposium will be at the Chilmark Community Center on April 26, from 9 a.m. to noon. There will be speakers, discussions and refreshments. Donations are welcome to help to cover expenses.

The month will end with the annual town meeting to be held at the Chilmark Community Center on April 28, at 7:30 p.m. Voting will take place at the center on April 30, from noon until 8 p.m. The warrant is published for the town meeting and can be seen at the town website or at town hall.

Did you know that in 1936 John Foster Dulles owned an auxiliary sailboat named Menemsha? Was it ever in Menemsha? Do you know who John Foster Dulles was? Just wondered...