Dylan Thomas
The birds of the winged trees flying my name Above the farms and the white horses I rose in rainy autumn And walked abroad in a shower of all my days. – Dylan Thomas
July 17, 2009
Breaking News: Friday, July 17 – Walter Cronkite Has Died
Former long-serving CBS anchor, and longtime seasonal Martha’s Vineyard resident Walter Cronkite has died, aged 92.
The New York Times reported Mr, Cronkite’s son’s announcement of his death, shortly before 8 p.m. Friday. The network for which he anchored the evening news from 1962 to 1981, immediately interrupted its prime time programming to show an…
News Update: Friday, July 17 – White House Confirms First Family Vineyard Vacation
The White House added confirmation of an Obama family via an email sent to the Vineyard Gazette Friday afternoon.
As previously reported in the Gazette, the First Family will spend the last week of August vacationing on the Island.
The email from a White House spokesperson added: “They’ve spent vacation time there before…
The Wire
The Wire
Steve Lohman will unveil a new series of large scale wire sculptures this Sunday at the Old Sculpin Gallery on Dock street in Edgartown. Mr. Lohman is known locally and internationally for his playful steel and wire sculptures. Graceful and whimsical, his lyrical creations capture the subtleties of life and form…
Puppets to Take Over Island In Wild Weekend Festivities
On Sunday, July 19, a giant Mother Earth puppet together with accompany the Green Man — a 12-foot-tall spirit of vegetation — lead a wild menagerie of puppets down Main street in Vineyard Haven.
The parade marks the middle of the third annual Martha’s Vineyard Puppet Festival. Troupes from Rhode Island, New Hampshire…
Tacking Tips: Sailing In and Out Of Edgartown’s Tidal Currents
The Norton Point Beach opening has created river-like currents in Edgartown harbor, and with the 86th annual Edgartown Yacht Club regatta on this weekend, there will be plenty of sailors trying to negotiate the narrow opening between the Chappaquiddick ferry dock and Memorial Wharf which can challenge even the most experienced of sailors.
…
Water Tasting
Water Tasting
The annual Water Tasting to benefit Vineyard House will be tonight, Friday, July 17, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Captain Flanders house on North Road in Chilmark.
All are welcome at this ever-popular fundraiser. For a suggested donation of $50 at the door, patrons will enjoy hors d’oeurve…
Chilmark Party
Chilmark Party
For the second year in a row, the Walsh family is opening their home on Middle Road in Chilmark for a fundraiser, on Thursday, July 23, to benefit Compassionate Care ALS, a nonprofit organization that helps ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) patients and their families.
There will be live and…
Author Roger Yepsen Will Serve Up Slow Food Storytelling on Tuesday
People who merely have heard about Slow Food — the “eco-gastronomic” movement aimed at counteracting the effects of fast food on American diet, farming and lifestyle — might associate it with the rarified, elite world of famous chefs, expensive foods and politically correct eating that tends to be too dear for regular folk.
Friday Conversation
Friday Conversation
Tom Degnan, superintendent of the Oak Bluffs water department, will be today’s guest speaker at the Friday Conversations group at the Oak Bluffs Senior Center, from 10 am to 11:30 a.m. He will discuss the issues involved in delivering water to us from our sole-source acquifer and guaranteeing its purity, issues…
Busy Weekend Regatta in Tisbury Benefits Sail Martha’s Vineyard
As many as 90 sailboats are expected to race this weekend in the fourth annual Vineyard Cup. Last night Vineyard Haven harbor was full of visiting boats for the three days of racing.
This is the biggest summer event for Sail Martha’s Vineyard and the number of boats scheduled is up from last…
His Rare Touch Will Transform Piano Playing
David Stanwood, piano player, piano lover, technician and innovator, recalls being “spoiled” at an early age, by an accidental encounter with a single instrument.
It was a seven-foot Bösendorfer, in a show room, and when he played it, he said: “I felt as if I’d put on magic gloves.”
It wasn’t just…
Private Beach Association Offers Town a Million Dollars for Sand
Continued erosion around the Island — a phenomenon perhaps exacerbated by global warming and a rise in sea levels — has created a booming new industry on the Vineyard, as towns and private groups compete for the suddenly hot commodity of sand to use as ammunition in their battle against the sea.
Statistics Trace Boost in Summer Rentals
After a sluggish off-season tied to the sustained national recession and an abysmal June blamed on terrible weather, several real estate professionals this week reported a dramatic spike in weekly rentals just as the weather improved and reports of an August visit from President Obama were revealed.
African American Community Blasts Magazine Article
In a perverse way, the article in a recent edition of New York magazine suggesting the African American community on Martha’s Vineyard was segregationist, elitist and even perhaps racist, was testament to black achievement.
After all, the young African American author of the article, who goes by the single name Touré, was airing…
Vineyard Security Plans Taking Shape for Obamas
The massive security effort required to accommodate a Vineyard vacation for President Obama and the First Family next month is now under way, as recession-stricken Island businesspeople fix their sights, with broadening smiles, on August.
Local and state officials relevant to security and law enforcement on land, sea and air have been contacted…
Sheriff’s Meadow Celebrates 50th Anniversary
From little things, big things grow.
A little over 50 years ago, Henry Beetle Hough became concerned that a little parcel of land in Edgartown, where he and his wife Elizabeth liked to walk, might fall prey to land developers.
Mr. Hough, then owner and editor of this paper and an…
Please Adopt Us
Please Adopt Us
The Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard has a few nice animals who need good homes.
There’s Sophie, a Springer Spaniel cross, 5-year-old, neutered male, very well house-trained but needs to be in a home without cats.
The cats available are:
Itty Bitty, a spayed…
An Appeal: From Death Camp to Hope
They began as strangers on a train. On a trip from New York to Boston last summer, Sasha Chanoff took the seat next to Kristi Maynard. They struck up a conversation, and Mr. Chanoff shared the story of Mapendo International, the humanitarian organization he founded four years ago to aid rescue efforts for African refugees.…
Woods Tea Company
Woods Tea Company
Acoustic folk group the Woods Tea Company presents a concert in the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs on Saturday, July 18, at 8 p.m. The Woods Tea Company performs Celtic tunes, bluegrass, sea shanties and American folk songs on instruments including banjos and bouzoukis, guitars and bodhrans, and traditional whistles. Tickets…
New York Ferry Service Offered Every Weekend
New weekend service on a fast ferry will bring passengers from New York city and New Jersey to Martha’s Vineyard beginning today and continuing through Labor Day.
The five-hour connection is new from Seastreak, part of the New England Fast Ferry Company that also operates daily service between the Island and New Bedford.…
Consumer Price Watch
Gas
Quick, fill your car, fill your lawnmower, fill your boat, fill your weed whacker — the price of gas is coming down. Prices for regular unleaded gas as of July 15:
Edgartown
Airport Mobil $3.169 Depot Corner $3.199
Edgartown Mobil $3.259
Oak Bluffs
…
Martha’s Vineyard Museum Appoints a New Director
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum has named David Nathans, of Princeton, N.J., as its new director. He will take over from Keith Gorman in late August.
Mr. Nathans, the founder and director of the Sydney Company, a marketing and business development firm with a focus on museums and cultural arts organization, will relocate to…
Oak Bluffs Okays Entertainment At Deon’s Despite Noise Concerns
Oak Bluffs selectmen tackled a wide range of issues during a busy and lengthy meeting on Tuesday, granting an entertainment license for a downtown restaurant, denying a license for a contractor’s yard at a private residence off Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road and making dozens of appointments to various town boards and committees.
But the…
Schooner Shenandoah to Move, Ending Long Dispute With SSA
After more than a decade of wrangling which threatened to see the historic tall ship the Shenandoah removed from Vineyard Haven harbor, the ship’s owners and the Steamship Authority have reached an agreement which will allow the vessel to stay.
In deference to concerns held by SSA captains that the old ship presented…
Battling Against Nitrogen for Healthy Ponds
Edmund Stevens’ letter in the Friday, July 10 Gazette, Great Pond Under Pressure from Pollution, demands a thoughtful response which I’ll try to provide. Yes, the Vineyard’s coastal ponds and estuaries are deteriorating, and they need our help, now. They are suffering, primarily from nitrogen enrichment, and it will be a long, costly and politically-charged…
The Foundation of a Dream
Monday morning, just after dawn at Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary. The dense forest canopy refracts the early morning sun into a thousand butter yellow shafts of light. The shards fall randomly and at odd angles in the hushed woodland, illuminating the gnarled ancient trunk of an elephant gray beech tree here, a patch of soft…
Vineyard Bookshelf
Lady Idina Sackville was born in the 1890s to parents who had married for convenience: he for money and she for his title of Earl De La Warr, one of the oldest families in Britain with few achievements to their 800 year-old name but the gift of it to the state of Delaware. The marriage…
Boston Post Canes Are Rediscovered, Headed to the Hands of Island’s Eldest
One hundred years ago, when newspapers dominated the communication world, an enterprising journalist named Edwin Grozier sought to make the Boston Post one of the great newspapers in New England.
To draw attention to the newspaper, he decided to hand out 700 canes, one to nearly every New England town. The cane would…
Hunger Takes No Vacations, Not Even on the Vineyard
Summertime. It’s easy to forget in this lovely, windblown spot that even here, even now, children go hungry. In a startling story earlier this month, the Gazette reported that food-stamp use at Cronig’s Market increased by 500 per cent this year.
Reality is hard to escape. Out here in the cool Atlantic or…
Moon and Planets
A thin crescent moon appears close to the red planet Mars tomorrow morning. Look east more than an hour before sunrise. The two celestial objects are in the zodiacal constellation Taurus. Mars is just to the west of the Moon and looks a dull red. Beneath the Moon and a short distance away you’ll find…
Letters to the Editor
CONFESSION
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
I am writing to confess a sin of omission. Last week we distributed our summer newsletter in your paper. The newsletter described the effects of the recession on the Vineyard and highlighted nonprofits that have gone the extra mile to help the community get through this crisis.…
Remembering Gretchen Feldman
There was barely an empty seat in the Old Whaling Church Monday night. As the hour neared eight o’clock, a crowd of spectators began a game of musical chairs as they attempted to find an unfilled space close to friends or family. But in the end, finding a seat didn’t much matter — not with…
Gazette Chronicle: The Purloined Pastry
Tom Rush, a folk musician whom Vineyarders have watched grow up, used to visit when he was just a teenage troubadour.
Mr. President: Welcome to Summer
Mr. President: Welcome to Summer
Correction
Correction
An article that appeared in the July 14 edition of the Gazette about an accident along Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road last Saturday morning involving a 1929 Ford Model A Woodie and a Toyota Camry contained inaccuracies. It was the driver of the Ford, Vernon Oliver, who was seriously injured and airlifted to a…
Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation: 1959-2009
Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation: 1959-2009
Half a Century of Island Conservation
Temperatures
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
July 10 68 55 .00
July 11 72 51 .00
July 12 73 62 .44
July 13 75 55 .00
July 14 77 59 .00
July 15 78 55 .00
July 16 77 63 Trace
…
Aquinnah
JUNE MANNING
508-645-2574
(lthslnks@gis.net)
The Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribal Youth Council returned on July 8 after spending the week in Albuquerque, N.M., for a United National Indian Tribal Youth Conference. Those attending included Jeffrey Duarte, Elsie Fantasia, Adahy Gonsalves, Kayla Manning, Michael Sellitti and Zachary Smalley. They were accompanied by…
East Chop
RICK HERRICK
508-693-8065
(herricklr@verizon.net)
This is a tale of three professors, two of whom recently retired and one who has begun a new career in college teaching. Jim Richardson received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. He came to teach at the University of Pittsburgh in 1967, and…
Edgartown
KATHIE CASE
508-627-5349
(kathleencase@comcast.net)
We had another great week on the Vineyard. Yes, there was some rain but the sun was shining more than not.
Happy birthday to all who celebrated their day this past week. Big balloons go out to Gabriella Hoxsie who celebrated her day…
Rose Louise Arrives
Rose Louise Arrives
Jeanne and Doug Dowling of Vineyard Haven are pleased to announce the births of their newest grandchildren.
Their daughter Kate and her husband, David Bragg, of Jamaica Plain, became parents for the first time on February 20 when Rose Louise Bragg was born at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital…
Hello, Rhys
Hello, Rhys
Tina Floyd and Colin Floyd of Edgartown announce the birth of a daughter, Rhys Eleanore Floyd, born on June 8, 2009, at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Rhys is welcomed by brother Drew and sisters Matti and Isabelle.
Hello, Emma
Hello, Emma
Carrie Blair Waltersdorf and Kurt Waltersdorf of West Tisbury announce the birth of a daughter, Emma Blair Waltersdorf, born on June 30, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Emma weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces at birth.
Salutations, Schnyeder
Salutations, Schnyeder
Erica Oliveira and Geraldo Oliveira of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a son, Schnyeder Klaydson Assis deOliveira, born on July 7, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Schnyeder weighed nine pounds, seven ounces at birth.
Here Comes The Walrus: The Art of John Lennon
J ohn Lennon’s legacy has spread far and wide, mostly through his music. But this weekend, the Island will receive the late Beatle’s legendary wit, candor and artistry in another form: his drawings.
The Vineyard Gardener
By LYNNE IRONS
I was humbled this week. I took an assessment of my vegetable garden. It is remarkable that I have been able to produce so much food. There is hunger in so many places in the world — famine, war, poverty and drought. We truly do live in a land of…
Earth Scientist Talks Deforestation at Library
Consequences of Deforestation on the Amazon Rainforest with Michael T. Coe, associate scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center, is at the Vineyard Haven library at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21. The event is free.
Arrivals from the Breeding Grounds
The boys are back in town, or are they the girls? A much awaited event for bird watchers has begun. The shorebirds have started migrating from their nesting sites in the tundra. On Friday, July 10, a group of birders were scoping the sand flats of Chilmark and Tisbury Great Ponds and were delighted to…
The Fishermen
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
Locally caught striped bass arrived in local fish markets and restaurants Sunday. It is now the “catch of the day.”
“On Sunday morning we sold maybe 20 pounds,” said Sandra Healy of John’s Fish Market in Vineyard Haven. “I like it, because the customers like it. They’ve been…
A Singular Sensation
A Singular Sensation
Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m., campers and counselors from the Martha’s Vineyard Cerebral Palsy Camp, also known as Camp Jabberwocky, are offering a free performance of A Chorus Line on the camp’s studio stage on Greenwood avenue in Vineyard Haven.While Jabberwocky’s plays do not always stick to the…
July 10: Clear, Sunny
Friday, July 10: Clear, sunny. A light southwest wind in the afternoon. High speed boats round East Chop and head toward Oak Bluffs. Excellent visibility. The wind lightens. Calm before sunset. Not a puff of air after sunset. Lagoon Pond is flat calm and reflects the warm colorful tapestry of the setting sun.
Shaw Cramer Lights Up
Shaw Cramer Lights Up
Luminous defines the fourth spotlight 2009 show at Shaw Cramer Gallery from July 17 to 30. Ten artists, including Island artists Eva Gallant and Andrea Hartman, present artwork with luster and light. Collages of iridescent glass with stone, knitted wire, miniature sculptures of luminous bead-covered vessels, silk appliqued pillows,…
Summer Institute Reveals A Secret at Hebrew Center
“The day after I turned fifteen, I finally discovered what I’d always known . . . .”
So begins Philippe Grimbert’s novella of family secrets in World War II-era Europe. Now French director Claude Miller has adapted A Secret for the screen. It will be screened at the Summer Institute this Sunday at…
Dragonfly Gallery Turns Up the Heat at Art Stroll
Dragonfly Gallery’s Summer Heat show will offer a wide variety of artwork, photography and sculpture from the 30 artists who are currently represented by the Gallery. Refreshments, beverages, and fine art will be served during the ever-popular arts district stroll on Saturday, July 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. The show will hang until July…
Caravan of Thieves Steals Into Nectar’s
Caravan of Thieves Steals Into Nectar’s
Vineyard House Benefit Set to Slake
Vineyard House Benefit Set to Slake
Vineyard House will be holding their 12th annual Water Tasting event on Friday, July 17 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Captain Flanders house on North Road in Chilmark.
The Hungry Ghost
The Hungry Ghost
This weekend, the Portuguese American Club on Vineyard avenue in Oak Bluffs hosts the annual Feast of the Holy Ghost. An old Azorean tradition of sharing food, music and games, the feast is celebrated throughout New England. The Holy Ghost Club of Martha’s Vineyard has hosted one of the finest…
A Cappella Anyone?
A Cappella Anyone?
Tonight is the annual Tabernacle concert from the Vineyard Sound, the Island’s summer a cappella men’s chorus since 1992. Showtime is 8 p.m.
Drawing members from colleges and universities across the Northeast, the Vineyard Sound present superb singing, inventive arrangements, and engaging humor. The group’s repertoire ranges from…
Evolving Into an Artist for All Seasons
Michael Zide grew up without seasons. He remembers being transfixed as a child by a snowfall in his hometown of Los Angeles, a magical moment that made a deep impact on his life. When he began to pursue an interest in photography at age 22, he found himself drawn to the changing seasons and their…
The Harlem String Quartet To Make Vineyard Debut
The Harlem String Quartet makes its Vineyard debut on Monday and Tuesday, July 20 and 21, as part of the summer concert series of the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society.
In 8 p.m. concerts Monday at the Old Whaling Church and Tuesday at the Chilmark Community Center, the quartet will perform music by…
Fish Story
Fish Story
Charles A. Bartholomy, a seasoned professional fishing captain and former syndicated outdoor columnist, presents Fish Story Extraordinary on Friday, July 17, at 4 p.m. at the Federated Church Parish House in Edgartown
Mr. Bartholomy combines corporate and political intrigue with an American CEO’s quest for success in Cuba’s annual…
Playing With Fiery Love on Stage
A man and a woman meet and sparks fly, but not necessarily sparks beneficial to the pair’s mental health; you might almost say the incendiary materials explode in a region of dry brush during a California August. We’ve all experienced volatile relationships, or have known people who’ve weathered them. When it’s someone else, we almost…
Beetle-Mania
West Chop has been invaded.
It is not the Harley Riders, the East Chop militia, or a plague of locusts that is shattering the peace on the Island’s northwest peninsula, but some residents there may have some big trouble.
Vineyard Landscapes
Vineyard Landscapes
A reception to mark the opening of an exhibition of oil paintings of Vineyard landscapes by Linda Thompson will be held today, Friday, July 17 from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibition is at the Chilmark branch of the Bank of Martha’s Vineyard (near Beetlebung Corner). It continues until July 23…
Addison Arrives
Addison Arrives
Brie Barstow and Marty Frederick of Edgartown announce the birth of a daughter, Addison Lee, born on July 10, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Addison weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces at birth.
