NANCY GARDELLA

508-693-3308

(vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)

As usual, there is lots of news from Leda Giatti and Carolyn Walters at their Bernard Circle retreat. John Cooper, son of Leda’s best friend, Betty — a friend from high school! — spent last Saturday night there with his son, Seth, and Seth’s friend, Dylan. I well remember these young men who cut the meat on my plate for me at brunch last year when my hand was burned. The young men just graduated from Gorham High School in Maine and are headed to college. The boys slept in, but John, Carolyn, Leda, and Leanne and Amos Cooper congregated at Lola’s for brunch the next day in celebration of Carolyn’s birthday. I was also privileged to see a photo of Carolyn in full astronaut regalia that was taken at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral when she toured there earlier this year. Carolyn is always going somewhere; looks like outer space is her next frontier.

John and Pam Rancourt opened their new shop, in the former Louis’ Restaurant on State Road, last Wednesday, just in time for the motorcycle madness. The store is Offshore Cycle and, in addition to fixing motorcycles in back as has been done for years, they now present a full array of motorcycle clothing, helmets and assorted paraphernalia for the biker set and all wannabes. But the grand opening is tomorrow. I’ll see you there.

Jim Hart not only entertained his usual array of cycle aficionados, but had as his guests this past week Woody and Kathy Woodward of San Diego. Woody and Kathy make this an annual trek to spend Woody’s birthday on Island and catch up with East Coast folk.

Darling Kendra Frakes, the glorious telephone voice at the Vineyard Gazette for so many years, suffered some strokes a few months back. Although she is in rehabilitation off-Island, her friends made sure to bring her over to celebrate her birthday last weekend at a wonderful luncheon at Joe Pitt’s home. Happy birthday and our continued prayers for Kendra’s recovery.

Continuing with Katherine Hepburn month, our library features Desk Set with Kate and Spencer Tracy at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 24, in the program room. Admission and popcorn are free. Story hour that morning features the songs and music of Jeremy Berlin. On Thursday, August 26, four-year-olds and up can meet a recycled robot at a special movie presentation from 3 to 4:30 p.m. That very same night the teen movie/book club enjoys a free film at 6 p.m.

Our international film festival presents director Mike Nichols’ Carnal Knowledge at 8 p.m. on Saturday, August 21, with a question and answer period to follow featuring the scriptwriter, Jules Feiffer. I’ll see you there.

A new group on Island, Let’s Move, is interested in helping seniors stay fit. Their kickoff program will be Tuesday from 1 to 6 p.m. at the former Waban Park in Oak Bluffs, now Alley Park. Rain date is Wednesday, August 25.

The Farm Institute presents a lecture on making compost work for you on Wednesday, August 25 from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 508-627-7007 or visit farminstitute.org for information about this program and many other offerings.

Anniversary bouquets go out to Bob and Patsy Wheeler on August 27. Jim and Anne Haney share the same anniversary date.

Belated birthday greetings to Woody Woodward, who celebrated yesterday.

The birthday bandwagon pulls along Laurie Hatt and Ricky McElhinney today. Tomorrow is claimed by James Johnson. August 23 is a party for Jessica Brown, JoJo Wild and Deral Meadows. August 24 is for Hannah Epworth. And on August 25, Wendy Smith, Sherm Goldstein, Kathy Donnellan and Susie Goldman take the cake. Many happy returns.