For 30 years it has been the Island’s best-kept secret.

And today Island Elderly Housing (IEH) also remains one of the Island’s best success stories, thanks in part to the original founders, Margaret Love, Marguerite Bergstrom and Carol Lashnits, who had a strong and far-sighted vision of what was needed for not only the elder citizens of the Vineyard, but for its disabled population as well.

Small Business Loans

The Southeastern Economic Development (SEED) Corporation has closed on five small business loans in the Cape and Islands totaling $750,000. The loans enabled the business to expand and create new jobs. Twin Oaks Inn received a loan of $75,000 under SEED’s Revolving Loan Fund for working capital for their bed and breakfast business in Vineyard Haven. Alison Shaw Photography received a loan of $50,000 under the same fund for working capital to prepare her fine art gallery in Oak Bluffs for the upcoming tourist season.

Katherine Graduates

Katherine Campbell of Vineyard Haven graduated from Emmanuel College, cum laude, with a degree in psychology, counseling and health on May 10.

Bird watchers the world over experience the frustration of “the one that got away.” It isn’t that we don’t spot the bird, it is that we did not see enough of it or have the bird in sight long enough to make a final call (identify it).

Friday, June 25: Summer has a foothold on the Vineyard. Bright sunshine, warm with temperature rising to the 80s in the sun. A stiff breeze on the water.

The 21-foot wooden catboat Vanity has been crisscrossing the Edgartown Harbor in the last several weeks, the start of what will be a busy summer. Vanity is one of the most storied catboats on the Atlantic seaboard, and one of the last of the working wooden catboats to have survived changing times.

And she was built in Edgartown.

At 81, Vanity is a living story of the region’s connection to fishing and maritime commerce.

I am fond of weeding. Not just any weeding, mind you. My vegetable garden has raised beds to accommodate poor drainage and less than perfect soil.

Though I would never admit to being a cheerleader, I somehow find myself surrounded by pom-poms. 

These pom-poms won’t cheer for the team (although they may cheer you), and they come in many colors besides Vineyardpurple. Look for pink, white or blue pom-pom-like poufs all around town: after all, summer in Edgartown means hydrangeas.

Three plays in development will debut with pay-what-you-can performances this weekend at the Vineyard Arts Project in Edgartown. Each play runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday, in a rotating schedule so viewers can see three different plays in one day, or one each day, or any other combination.

Road Work

A 100-foot section of North Road in Chilmark will be under construction beginning at 8 a.m. tomorrow, leaving only one lane open to traffic.

The roadwork is expected to take about three hours to complete, and motorists should expect some delays. The section in need of repair is located across from Carroll Lane.