JOHN S. ALLEY
508-693-2950
The weather was more than seasonably warm last weekend, allowing for lots of yard work.
Tuesday night there were about 270 people at the annual town meeting at the school. School principal Col. Mike Halt was a surprise guest at town meeting, as he has returned after a stint in Afghanistan. Also last week the first organized baseball practice and Little League games took place at the Gretchen Manter Memorial Field. On Wednesday we awoke to heavy rain, thunder, lightening and strong winds; we received over four inches of rain. Priester’s Pond flooded and the stream leading to the Mill Pond was swollen and the Mill Pond was at least eight feet about the dam. The SSA was forced to cancel its early boats because of the weather.
The Vineyard Conservation Society will host the 19th annual Earth Day Beach Cleanup from 10 a.m. to noon tomorrow. Beaches in this town are Lambert’s Cove and Cedar Tree Neck. Join the conservation society for a lunch at SBS following the cleanup.
John Kelleher, senior deacon at the Congregational Church reports the Palm Sunday service is this week and begins at 10 a.m. It marks the beginning of the holiest week of the Christian calendar. Maundy Thursday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m., the Tenebrae service will be held. Tenebrae is one of the oldest traditions in the Christian church for the commemoration of the passion and death of Jesus. Communion service in remembrance of Jesus’s last supper with the disciples is offered. This is a spiritual event. He hopes that everyone will share in it with them. Passover is observed on Tuesday.
Today is the beginning of a long holiday weekend in the Commonwealth. Monday is Patriots Day and the 115th running of the marathon up in the Boston area, and it is also the beginning of spring break at the schools. Trout fishing in the Mill Pond continues to increase each day and should really pick up next week. Monday all town buildings will be closed to observe the state holiday. The street sweeper was busy last week, clearing many of the roads in town of tons of sand and salt spread on them during the winter.
Anna and I had to make a trip to Providence, R.I. on Saturday. We stayed with her sister, Nina, husband, Dieter, and son, Nick. We finished up our business early that evening and went in search of a place to eat dinner. We headed to one of my favorite areas of the city, East Providence, and highly recommend O Dinis right on Warren avenue; the food was simply superb and the company friendly, which was the reason it was packed with customers. We thoroughly enjoyed the dinner.
The following morning we drove up to Webster to meet Ed and Jane Konicki and another friend of ours, Dick Philibosian, as they have a ritual of Sunday morning breakfast at the Hungry I. This was Ed’s first breakfast there after his operation and hospitalization and he couldn’t wait to see his friends at the old stomping grounds. Thanks to Jane, we thoroughly surprised him. We enjoyed our visit, sightseeing (some folks were mowing their lawn in shorts), had lunch and talked with other family members. We headed back to Taunton and visited with our daughter, Nicole, and her husband, Arsen, for a while before getting the 7:30 p.m. boat home.
Monday, April 18, is the time to file your tax returns with the federal government (although you have until Tuesday, April 19, to file state returns) and there will be long lines at the post office with folks getting their returns postmarked before the deadline.
Last Sunday, about 30 young women gathered at the home of Lynne and Allen Whiting, of State Road, for tea and conversation. It was hosted by Lynne and Bea Whiting, Gina Solon and Lindsey Scott. The afternoon included a presentation by library trustee Dan Waters encouraging everyone to participate in the process of raising consciousness and money for the project. From volunteering time, energy, food and drink, to making financial contributions, everyone signed on with their support in the months ahead.
Anna Alley, of State Road, reports watching three baby whitetail deer walking down Music street last Friday morning before 7 a.m. Charlie Kernick spotted three otters in the Mill Pond last Tuesday morning. The blue flowers in Paul Cook’s yard burst open in all of their glory last week, transforming his lawn into a sea of blue, and daffodils everywhere have opened up signaling spring is here.
Lesley Gray and her husband, Hunter Morman, of Alexandria, Va., and Panhandle Road arrived recently to open their house for the season. They attended town meeting on Tuesday.
Colleen Morris, over at the library, reports that this past week was national Library Week and they are forgiving book fines until tomorrow afternoon; next Saturday at 10:30 a.m. is their annual spring egg hunt; the Scrabble Club meets Monday night at 7 p.m.; on Tuesday at 5 p.m. Mal Jones will conduct a workshop called Lines and Circles, a hands-on workshop for your brain.
The Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club will hold its monthly meeting on Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the Wakeman Center located on Lambert’s Cove Road in Tisbury. The subject for this month’s program is Myths, Lies and All the Latest Dirt presented by C. L. Fornari. All are welcome.
Maria McFarland, over at the conservation commission, is seeking volunteers willing to adopt preselected routes in Massachusetts as part of a long-term amphibian monitoring program. The North American Amphibian Monitoring Program was created to coordinate national and local efforts to collect long-term data on amphibian populations across much of the United States. If you are interested or seek more information contact her at 508-696-6404.
Old friend Bunny Ravitch died near the end of last month. Bunny was a summer visitor here for many years and was a swell gal. She will be sorely missed by her family and friends.
“On April 20, 1942 a large wild fire started accidentally from a pile of burning brush in the field to the east of Mabel Johnson’s house. It was fanned by a brisk wind and easily jumped the Edgartown Road and spread rapidly over seven acres of dry grass and into the woods. Prompt arrival of fire trucks from Vineyard Haven and the State Forest along with a crew of men from Oak Bluffs and Edgartown who happened to be working on a road project nearby responded immediately and were able to get the fire under control in short order. Homes in the path of the fire were Laura Lee’s, Margaret Howland and Flora Jordan’s. The barn on the Cleaveland estate, now owned by Sidney Riggs, caught fire but was saved from serious damage by Antone Alley who noticed the smoke while working in his garden.”
Happy birthday to: Jonathan Revere, Mike Post, Deborah Magnuson and Ann Bresnick today; Janet Bank, Linda Vadasz, Nancy Clair, Michael Watson and John Burrows tomorrow; Maggie Schwartz, Anne Maley, Tom Wetherall and Britney Stone on Sunday; Norman Lobb, Lynne Whiting, Mary Fischer, Gretchen MacArthur and Marina Sharkovitz on Monday; Mary Dinitto, Diane and Lucas Emin, Lee Revere, Martha Flanders, Lorraine Eldridge, Todd Follansbee and Justin Kelleher on Tuesday; Ralph Jones, Kathleen Stevenson, Jeremy Berlin and Rebecca Ward on Wednesday, Joyce Maxner, Danny Segal, Elizabeth Greene and Robert Herman on Thursday. Belated birthday wishes to Diane Nolan.
Well, that is all of the social news for this week’s edition. If you have any news please call or e-mail me. Have a great week.
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