On Saturday we had a small blizzard. Sunday and Monday were sunny and beautiful. Now they are predicting rain for the next two days and by the time this paper is printed, we might be having another snow event. But it is now light until after five and that makes me very happy.

Happy Birthday to all who celebrated their day this past week. Big balloons go out to Olivia Coyle, who celebrated her day on Feb. 19; Layla Carlos and Brooklyn Petersen on Feb. 21; Wyatt Grady and Luca Quinton on Feb. 22; and to Matheus Lage and Otavio Xavier, who celebrated their day on Feb. 24.

My niece Debbie Noble is now my roommate. She is working as the RN Clinic Director at Island Health Care. It is great to have her here and she is good company for me. It is now school vacation off-Island so we went to Woods Hole on Sunday to pick up her grandson and my great nephew, to come visit for the week. Finley, who is nine, was very excited to see his Mimi as he spent a lot of time with her when she lived in Somerset. It will be a busy week keeping him busy. He loves to ask a lot of questions and learns quickly. We already have done the drive around the perimeter of the Island and visited the Gay Head Cliffs and Menemsha. I am considering it my yearly trip, but we will see.

I was in the Stop & Shop and ran into Ann Burt. Ann was a nurse at the hospital in the time of Roxanne Smith, Judy Hathaway, Jane Keenan and Louise Yapp, who was the nurse who always wore her uniform and cap. They were a great team and even though you were not well, you were glad to see these ladies on your side. Ann was a great nurse and always had a smile and the devil in her eyes. When my mom was in the hospital, I would go visit. On quiet days I would find her in my mother’s room, and they were up to no good. I loved it as I knew mom was being well cared for and she kept my mom smiling and her spirits up. That was the best medicine.

While standing in the checkout line I was looking around at the self-serve aisle, the scanners themselves and trying to remember the old A&P and the cashiers and registers. Sandy Grant was in the office as you walked in, watching the cashiers and doing the bookkeeping. In the morning, there was Tommy Smith. He is no relation to Sargent Tom Smith that was an officer in town. Tommy worked from opening to 1 p.m. everyday except weekends. He came into work with his white shirt, A&P apron and his famous bow ties. The older ladies in town would shop those mornings and they did not care how many people were in line and how many other registers were open: they would wait for Tommy. We all wondered why they scheduled anyone else to work, because we just stood there and watched. We could not even bag for him because he packed them special.

Times have changed and I don’t know how he would handle all this technology but he would have done it with a smile and a bright bow tie.

This coming week is school vacation and some families are travelling either north or south. I wish you safe travels. If you get a chance, email me with some of your adventures.

Have a great week and keep the home candles burning.