There is no summer on Martha’s Vineyard until the Bermans arrive. For their 20th year visiting since the first celebration of their wedding anniversary here, and for the first time infant granddaughter Hannah was brought to the Island, Alan and Michele lit up Vineyard Haven as only they can with family, friends, birthdays and the ever constant wedding anniversary.

Hannah, their first grandchild, will be off to Wesleyan University in the fall. I still cannot get over how Hannah used a pair of scissors to help cut the lawn of their seaside rental as she grew to be a toddler. Her parents, Greg and Carolyn, and her sister Milly arrived from Brooklyn. Milly is an accomplished cook, and a rising sophomore at the Brooklyn Friends School.

Hey, Milly, this just occurred to me, do you have my wonderful first nephew, David Gardella, as your athletic director? He has worked at Brooklyn Friends for years. The Washington, D.C. contingent, MJ and his four kids, Charlie, Teddy and twins Scottie and Nell arrived to join this happy group for lots of swimming, tennis, boating, lobsters and just hanging on the beach and in the towns. Same time next year? You bet.

What would the last weekend in July be without the annual Art Buchwald Possible Dreams Auction? This stellar event benefits our Martha’s Vineyard Community Services founded by Milton

Mazer in the 1960s. Six much needed programs are funded this way.

The gala took place at the Winnetu Oceanside Resort in Edgartown. Much of the food and the beverages was locally sourced, a growing trend, and so well done on the Vineyard. A bluegrass band played during the silent auction. Our own town’s Thomas Dresser managed to collect quite a bit in donations. The overall take for our Island services was over $445,000. Same time next year. I am hoping to see you there.

Such a literary crowd here. I must tell you one of our very favorite authors, David McCullough, has just released a volume of some of his best speeches and talks over the last 30 years. You all know what bookstore you can find that at, right on our Main Street, the well-loved Bunch of Grapes.

Speaking of books, August brings another annual staple, the Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival on Saturday at the Harbor View Hotel and Sunday at the Chilmark Community Center.. Kick-off event is a talk on Friday, August 4 at the Chilmark Community Center from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Two White House reporters, one from the New York Times, the other from the Washington Post, will host a panel discussion on the strange and lively goings on these days in our capital.

I am so impressed with one of my dear friends, I can hardly believe this. Word has reached me that bibliophile Mary Elizabeth Suprenant exercised the greatest self-control anyone has ever had. She avoided the West Tisbury Library’s book sale. Every day of it! Well, it could have been because Carroll’s Trucking and Trip Barnes’ Moving Company had no spare trucks to lend her that weekend. I shall fact-check and get back to you.

Our neighbor in the ‘hood, Chris Paffendorf of Lenny’s Loop, took up the ukulele when she retired and moved from Lenny’s Loop to Los Lobos, N.M. She plays regularly with a group there. You may enjoy ukulele on Sunday on August 6 at our First Baptist Church on William street in Vineyard Haven. The program begins at 11 a.m. The multi-talented Martha Child will have a hand in the music. We are so grateful to Martha. 

My dear cousin, Carol Ann Petrone, passed at 1:15 a.m. on Saturday, July 29 at a hospice in Providence. Carol was a class act, yet a humble one, too. She leaves her husband, Michael, her grown children, Michael and Monica, her mother, my cousin Thomasina Petrone, and her sister Evelyn Petrone and brother in law, Bob Bick. Lots of friends and family, many co-workers who will miss her terribly. Carol’s Dad, cousin Paul Petrone, died last February. Carol and her sister Evelyn spoke eloquently at his service. Carol had a degree in nutrition and has worked at hospitals in Rhode Island. She had a kind and giving nature, and a calmness that always seemed to center those around her. She also had a flair for cooking and baked cakes that really looked too beautiful to cut into. It is a very large family I belong to. Still doesn’t ease the pain of every one who has left us. I expect Carol is dancing in heaven with her Dad, Paul, and singing with her Aunt Iole.

My computer is still frozen, my birthday book is somewhere, this is all I can remember now: Belated birthday balloons to Tennessee Boyd who turned ten this week. My good friend, Gisele Nascimento, celebrated on August 1..

The birthday bandwagon pulls along Thomas Colligan, Sharon and Patty Roddy, and this reporter—how could I forget my own? – on August 3. Barack Obama celebrates on August 4. And on August 5 Elaine Klein takes the cake. Many happy returns.

The Gazette wishes Vineyard Haven columnist Nancy Gardella a very happy birthday on August 3.

Send Vineyard Haven news to iklean@yahoo.com.