The rhododendron and lilacs appear to have relished the extra cold and snow of the winter. This is the blossomiest spring in my memory. Mytoi garden is particularly dazzling. The little bit of rain we had last week unfortunately didn’t really end the drought. However, I was sorry to see that it did encourage my lawn to grow.

Chappy Community Center summer programs begin on June 29. Sign up for sailing and tennis. Check the website or bulletin boards for schedules for yoga, pilates, Tai Chi and the dozens of other activities planned for the summer ahead.

Last Saturday I saw a parking patrol officer gazing wistfully across the water at Chappy Point. I imagined that he was recalling the easy pickings last spring on his first visit when we were all still in winter parking mode, which means—anything goes. Last weekend in town I noticed lots of parking tickets. It’s only a matter of time before the parking patrol comes to Chappy. A word to the wise: pay attention to those parking regulation signs.

Paving at the ferry point is complete. Line painting and grass planting will follow soon. The northeast edge of both the paved and dirt parking areas was expanded out to the property line, making for much more spacious maneuvering room. The dirt area was extended about 50 feet toward the beach club. There will be a nice swath of green on each side of the road now. Parking spaces on the paved area will be laid out at 10 feet wide, giving enough room to get in and out of your vehicle without having to pay for a new paint job.

Those who expressed their great affection for keeping the dirt parking lot as dirt will be happy to know that it remains unpaved. So there is now is even more room for you to enjoy the many wonderful attributes of a dirt parking lot. I expect that you will demonstrate your devotion to the dirt by using it for parking rather than taking up spaces on that offensive asphalt.

The Falmouth to Edgartown ferry Pied Piper will start on its daily summer schedule beginning Friday June 26 with four round trips per day and an extra Friday evening run. For the next two weekends they will be doing three round trips per day Friday through Sunday. They have succeeded in putting a dollar value on avoiding a trip to the SSA to fetch guests or to send a sad husband back to work. Remember to add at least ten minutes to your schedule when planning to get someone aboard a departing Pied Piper. I’m happy for anyone one who gets an extra night on Chappy because they missed the last Pied Piper. You can even blame me, just remember whose fault it really is.

During my time at Maine Maritime Academy, several of us would often go out to Monhegan Island for the weekend. By Sunday night not one of us felt like going back to school, so we would take turns calling the duty officer to explain that the darn Monhegan ferry, which at that time was a fishing boat with a lot of benches, was not running and could he pass along our regrets to our instructors. One of the classes that we would miss on Monday mornings was seamanship taught by a sharp old guy named Hap Hathaway. Three days a week he would talk about subjects such as tying up to a mooring buoy from the bow of a thousand-foot-long tanker or determining how many cargo booms were necessary to lift a locomotive onto the deck of a cargo ship. His handouts were so well drawn and he had such a willingness to repeat himself that we truants were able to pass the course in spite of our repeat absences.

At graduation Hap introduced us to an old friend of his, Horace. Horace, Hap made clear, just happened to be the skipper of the Monhegan ferry. Hap explained that he and Horace used to talk on the phone every Sunday night after Hap watched repeats of the variety show Heehaw. Hap would tell Horace what he had missed on the show that night since he would still be out driving the ferry back from Monhegan. I’m sure that Hap enjoyed watching our rosy cheeks go pale. Hap winked at Horace and they headed off, probably to unsettle the nerves of some of my other classmates.

Send Chappy news to peter@chappyferry.net.