Brad Woodger>

508-627-4216

(ibwsgolf@aol.com)

This is my inaugural summer column as the Chappy correspondent. I follow a long line of accomplished ladies: Varian Cassat, Margaret Knight and Jo-Ann Tilghman, to name a few. Some pretty big shoes to fill, I might add. Not that any of those ladies had large feet. Not that there’s anything wrong with big feet. Or small feet.

John S. Alley>

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

Well, it was a warm weekend that included a virtual monsoon Saturday morning. Lots of folks worked outdoors and held backyard barbecues. It is getting busier by the day, and if you drove down to Vineyard Haven last weekend you experienced your first traffic jam of the season. Monday is Flag Day. Jose Vilaca, who is the expert on floor sanding work, reports that the first Brazilian soccer match of the season will take place at the school on Sunday.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

June 4 69 62 Trace

June 5 77 59 .00

June 6 71 63 1.14

June 7 75 56 .04

June 8 73 51 .00

June 9 72 47 Trace

June 10 72 53 .46

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 65º F.

Next week the crescent moon passes three planets in its trek across the night sky. If you’ve ever sought to find the planets, use the moon as a guide next week.

The Vineyard Playhouse opens its popular summer series of new work — the Monday Night Special — with the reading of a new play by actor, director and playwright Thomas Kee, Inside My Hidden Room, on Monday, June 14 At 7:30 p.m. at the playhouse, 24 Church street in downtown Vineyard Haven.

Go Ahead, Laugh at Your Parents

You know the kind of mom. You may be the kind of mom, or you may have one.

A bird species that normally visits the Vineyard in the fall surprised Vineyard birders by appearing on Island on May 29. Jenifer Strachan feeds birds at her Waldron’s Bottom home and has a keen ear for bird songs and calls, thanks to her grandfather’s training. On May 29 she was inside and heard a one-note call that she was not familiar with. Slowly she ventured out on her deck and looked around. In an oak tree about 20 feet away a bird was perched, all fluffed up and looking, in Jenifer’s eyes, very confused. Jenifer knew she had not seen this bird before. She was able to return into the house and fetch her binoculars and study all the field marks of the mystery bird. Hitting the field guides and the Internet, she determined the bird in the oak tree was a western kingbird.

Roberta Gross will host an opening reception today, Friday, June 11 from 4 to 6 p.m. for an exhibit of her abstract paintings at the Chilmark branch of the Bank of Martha’s Vineyard on South Road. The exhibit will run through June 18.

In her art, Ms. Gross plays with colors, textures, shapes and lines, arranging and rearranging fragments of paper she has created by stamping, burning, splattering, embossing and texturing with gels and acrylic pastes.

Willy and Renée

Dropping two octaves, world class opera singer Renée Fleming sings Oxygen, the anthem of Island troubadour Willy Mason, on a new album that is a collection of popular songs sung in a range that she describes as that of her talking voice.

Bake Sale

The Vineyard Committee on Hunger’s Bread and Bake Sale is Saturday, June 12 from 9 a.m.. to 2 p.m. They will have all kinds of baked goods, brownies, cookies and bread available. Come eat, take home and support VCOH designated charities under the linden tree, next to the Capawock Theatre in Vineyard Haven.