Chilmark had a busy week of sun and fun and welcomed a large number of visitors, fishermen and travelers. Hopefully, all enjoyed the sunny days and maybe some good fishing. The menus locally seemed to indicate that the fish were biting!

Let’s start with a fish story that doesn’t include a fish. Conrad Neumann was fishing with some friends on a boat last week. They were somewhere in the vicinity of the painted house, a landmark for boaters, between Squibnocket and Noman’s Land. A gust of wind took Conrad’s swordfish cap off and blew it into the sea. The old, red, billed swordfish cap was a treasured bit of his wardrobe and was sporting a derby button and a gold insignia pin given him in recognition of his descents in submersibles Alvin and NR-1, a nuclear research submersible. Needless to say, this was a loss to regret. Approximately 10 days later, Conrad met Mike Holtham on the dock at Menemsha and Mike handed him his hat! Nick Wilbur of Vineyard Haven was free diving off the Gay Head cliffs at Aquinnah and found the hat on the bottom of the ocean. He retrieved it and brought it into Menemsha where someone recognized it as Conrad’s. He sends thanks to all who helped him retrieve his treasured hat. The tides had apparently moved it about two miles along the bottom. A good fish story without a fish...

Congratulations to Alexander Rossi and Cassandra Roberts, who were married on Sept. 19 at the Captain Flanders House. Alex is the son of David and Ann Rossi of Edgartown. Cassandra is from New Jersey. The wedding included Alex’s brother Matthew as best man and his sister Meagan as a bridesmaid. Many friends and relatives gathered for the festivities and the families honored those of a generation past, much remembered. Congratulations to the newlyweds and cheers from us all!

Word came this week from Bob Conway, long a Chilmark resident now living in New Jersey. He sends greetings to all his friends and says he misses his oysters from the Menemsha Fish Market, his lunches at the State Road

Restaurant and his dinners at the Home Port. But most of all, he misses the sounds of the pipe organ at the Chilmark Church. We all miss you too, Bob, best wishes from us all!

Roberts Morgan tells me that the Harbor Crafts Shop will close on Sept. 30 this year. She still has some wonderful craft items that will make great holiday gifts so check it out before she packs it all away for next year. Her hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. these days.

Betsy Larsen hopes to keep her popular fish market open for a week after Columbus Day. Best to call for hours if you are coming up-Island . . . true of all our Menemsha businesses at this time of year.

The Chilmark Planning Board hosted a meeting of the All Island Planning Boards at the Chilmark Community Center on Wednesday evening.

Please be aware of the all Island cycle adventure coming up on Oct. 3. The Rotary Club Cycle MV will use the parking lot at the community center as a rest and refreshment stop on the bike route so there may be some biking activity in that area.

The Women’s Symposium is coming up so make a note of Nov. 7 at the Chilmark Community Center from 9 to noon with the topic this time, Never Say Never. All women are welcome and a donation is requested to cover costs. This is always a popular event that has been held twice a year for 36 times!

The Chilmark library’s Wednesday program at 5 p.m. will be a talk by Roi Maor from the Institute of Advancement of Shared Citizenship in Israel. Roi lives and works in Israel and will discuss the politics in the Middle East. Please call the library for more details. The program is sponsored by the Friends of the Chilmark Library.

This week I am happy to be entertaining my cousin from Melbourne, Australia. She and I share the same great-great-grandparents who rest at Abel’s Hill and we enjoy getting together and sharing family history. Her great-grandfather George was my great-grandfather William’s brother. Both were born and raised in Chilmark and went whaling as young men. George fell in love with the laundress’s daughter and stayed in Sydney, founding a large family of Moshers there. Cousin Karen is the first to return to Chilmark and she has since made several visits, finding she is very comfortable in Chilmark!

Send Chilmark news to slaterjn@comcast.net.