JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Chilmark is enjoying spring! There are crocuses in full bloom at Abel’s Hill Cemetery and lots of green in swamps and on sunny hillsides. I am sure we all enjoyed the milder temperatures and got some outside work done.

The Menemsha Café reopened, serving lunches, this week. They will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the time being. We are happy to have a place to eat out in Chilmark again!

Menemsha Fish Market will continue to be open weekends and occasionally on nice weekdays. Stanley says he has some local shellfish and more to offer.

This weekend the community center will be the place to be as the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival offers a weekend of short films for the whole family. They transform the center into a most comfortable place to watch films, eat good food offered for sale there, and to socialize after a long winter. Films will be shown tonight, all day Saturday and Sunday. Please call 508-645-9599 for more information.

Bob Vincent of Schenectady is at his South Road home for a long spring visit.

We send our condolences to the family and many friends of Edith Sarah Fischgrund Plakins of New Hope, Pa., and Chilmark. She and her late husband, Harold Gregory Plakins, made Chilmark their summer home for many years. Their many friends here will miss the family’s annual visits and their interesting company. Edith was known to all for her charm, warmth and wit. The many events of her early life in Europe, retold in her official obituary, must have been a surprise to some as she lived so much in the present and never dwelt publicly on the events of those years. I am honored to have known her, happy that she had such a long life, and will always remember her strength and graciousness.

We are all invited to a coffee hour at the community center on March 17 at 7 p.m., followed by a brainstorming session to gather ideas for the future use of the Silva Farm on Middle Road. I am hoping that anyone with any history of the farm or pictures or stories, will call town hall or me at 508-645-3378. We hope to put together a history of the old Chilmark farm.

Let’s remember that Susan Larsen is out there walking, getting herself in shape for the 39-mile Avon walk for Cancer taking place on May 15 and 16. She is a survivor of breast cancer and is walking to remind all of us that the cure is needed and the walk will raise money for research. Her website isavonwalk.org/goto/SusanLarsen. This cancer kills someone every 13 minutes in the U.S. Please sponsor her walk and help find the cure.

Congratulations to the Glasgows, Eric and Molly, on the birth of their first calf, born Tuesday. The family recently acquired the former Douglas farm on South Road and it is now called the Grey Barn and Farm. They are beginning their herd of cattle, the pretty kind with the white stripe, and the first of the calves is here! Good luck to all.

We send condolences to the family and friends of Grambs Miller Aronson, who died on March 2 in New York city. She and her late husband, Jim Aronson, were our Menemsha neighbors for many years, on Chowder Kettle Lane. Grambs was an accomplished artist and had a successful career in New York city. Among other projects, she illustrated many cook-books, some written by her Vineyard friends. Grambs and Jim bought the Willie Mayhew house many years ago and it become known as the Blue Dolphin, where she and Jim pursued their careers and enjoyed the Chilmark summers, first coming in the early 1950s. Grambs’ visits here continued until recently when health issues prevented the travel. The family is planning a memorial service at Abel’s Hill Cemetery and the date will be announced. Her many Chilmark friends will miss her and value their pleasant memories.