The eclipse last Monday brought lots of folks outdoors on a beautiful sunny day. You could watch the whole thing on television or on a computer, but folks seemed to revel in the community participation in the awe of the celestial event.

Perhaps we were responding to the realization that this will not happen again for decades. In truth, eclipses, both solar and lunar, occur often, just not directly over our houses.

If you were willing to do some traveling, the next one is visible from the southern half of South America.

Take note: Bethel College in Wichita, Kans. is asking people not to throw their used solar eclipse glasses away. Instead, to mail them to Eclipse Glasses USA, LLC, PO Box 50571, Provo, UT 84605. They will be passed on to school kids in that part of the world so that they can view the solar eclipse taking place Oct. 2, 2024.

If you have a solar array and a program to monitor the wattage output, look at this past Monday mid-afternoon. You can see the darn moon blocking the valuable rays of the sun as production slowly decreased up to the time of maximum eclipse here and then increased in the exact same way.

The next Chappy Community Center potluck supper is on Wednesday, April 17 from 6 to 8 p.m. Unfortunately, the Edgartown Conservation Commission hearing for the Trustees of Reservations to present applications for over the sand vehicle use on barrier beaches has been moved to that same day. But they might just breeze right through it in time for you to get to the supper before clean-up. See the town website for agenda details and zoom link.

The next meeting of the Chappy Ferry steering committee is on Thursday, April 25 at 5 p.m. See the town website for agenda details and zoom link. The notice might not be posted until a few days before the meeting.

The new loading ramp for the ferry slip on the Chappy side is nearing completion. If all goes well, the plan is to install it during the weekend of May 11 and 12. If the weather is horrible that weekend, the following weekend of May 18 and 19 is the backup. Passengers will be carried during the entire operation but vehicle traffic will be suspended between 9 a.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday.