Well, Wednesday is the first day of the fall season. We are thankful for all of our summer memories as September is slipping away as quick as you can say Jack Frost! We know he is waiting just around the corner, but it doesn’t seem possible with the late summer weather we are enjoying. Colleen Morris reports that on Tuesday she will be celebrating Johnny Appleseed Day and Yom Kippur begins at sundown on Tuesday. Folks are busy harvesting the last of their vegetables from their gardens, gathering what few berries that still are available for canning, and settling into their fall routine as the sun is now setting before 7 p.m. Jane Konicki reminds you it is National Coffee Day on Tuesday, Sept. 29.

Susan Dickler of Music street reports she and her husband Sig Van Raan had an exceedingly busy summer capped by a 70th birthday weekend for Sig. The house was full with children and various spouses and partners and extended family. A party was held Labor Day weekend in the backyard complete with a jazz trio, catered dinner and fireworks, plus speeches and poems celebrating Sig’s “adventurous” life. The following weekend, Sig and Susan flew down to NYC to celebrate her Mom’s 102nd birthday and another family gathering. By midweek, the last remnants of visiting family had left and the Music street house is now quiet again.

Sig also celebrated the completion of a play he’s been working on for six months with a reading at his house by various Island luminaries in the arts and theatre. This play is based on a true story recalled by his parents during World War II in Nazi-occupied Holland. Now that things have quieted down, they plan to stay through October before heading to New York city for the winter.

Ellen Weiss of Old County Road returned home earlier this week from a trip to Uruguay and Argentina with a group from the Society of Architectural Historians, 12 days of seeing architecture with local designers and historians as guides. The long flights there and back were wearing, but the four cities she visited were delightful and the company she kept was charming. All buildings all the time, just the way she likes it.

Remember that Saturday, Oct. 3 the annual Living Local Fall Festival will take place at the Agricultural Hall. There will be a wide variety of agricultural events. It will conclude with a community supper and contra dancing.

Also the antique power and car show starts at 9 a.m. and runs until 5 p.m. on Oct. 3. George Hartman of Panhandle Road, known far and wide as the guru of steam engines, reports that this will be the 28th annual show at the Antique Power Museum in the agricultural society barn. All owners of old or not so old machinery (gas and steam engines, toys, cars, trucks, motorcycles, tractors and machinery, rusty or otherwise) are invited. For more information, call George at 508-693-6039.

Happy birthday to: Celine Segel, Sandra Bernat and Mary Dacey Friday, Eleanor Stanwood, Susan Block, Sara Alwardt and Melissa Thomas Saturday, Tony Rezendes, Susan Silk, Lenny Beford, Marilyn Hollinshead, David Laurie, Lanny McDowell and Antonio Simoes on Sunday, Judy and Larry Schubert, Amanda Dickinson, and Ben Gunn on Monday, Carole Kimberly, Angela Scarborough, Jake Bilzerian and Kathy Lobb on Tuesday, Granville White, Mike Donaroma, Terre Young, and Sean Conley on Wednesday, and Lydia Olsen, Brandie Lewis, Tim Williamson, Marjorie Pierce and Heather Sharp on Thursday.

Well that is all of the social news for this week’s column. If you have any news please call or e-mail me. Have a great week.

Send West Tisbury news to alleys@vineyard.net.