TOM DRESSER

508-693-1050

(tomdresser@aol.com)

I’m back! Once again, Holly Nadler has skedaddled off to sunny California with her new bridegroom, Jack Shea, in tow, and yours truly will fill in her weekly column, to the best of my ability, for the next four weeks.

It really does take its sweet time.

There is no rushing maple syrup. Like time and tides, this special nectar waits for no one. Only temperature and trees can decide when it’s time to tap.

And I think that they have decided that the time is right. In late February and early March, an agricultural revival comes to Massachusetts and New England. The maple trees awaken and become ripe and ready to be tapped for sap.

JOHN S. ALLEY

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

It’s been a ghost town all week, largely because of school winter vacation. Many people left Dodge for a warmer climate, while others have gone up north to ski. Even the usually busy Bob over at Reliable Market in Oak Bluffs reports a slow-down from their normally brisk pace.

Nancy Gardella>

508-693-3308

(vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)

Welcome to the world, Thomas Dommerich Dunn! Thomas was born on Monday, Feb. 22 at 2:30 p.m. He weighed in at 6 pounds, 9.5 ounces, and is 19.5 inches long. Thomas is the son of longtime seasonal Islander Jessie Slocum and her husband Brett Dunn. Both — or I should now say all three — reside in Boston. His Island grandparents are Scott and Carol Slocum. Everyone is healthy, happy and beaming!

The full moon, the Mud Moon, appears next to the bright planet Saturn on Monday night. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Virgo, and there could not be a better pair to open a new month and herald the approach of spring.

KATHIE CASE

508-627-5349

(kathleencase@comcast.net)

As I sit here the rain is coming down sideways and it has not stopped in a while. The forecast is that tomorrow is going to be even harder falling rain and wind. So the best outlook is it could be snow but instead the rain that is falling is getting rid of the big piles of snow left over from the last snowstorm.

It is that time of year again — a season when I truly become a bird-watcher with disambiguation (split personality). One of my alter egos is excited by the return of red-winged blackbirds, common grackles, and to a considerably lesser degree brown-headed cowbirds, to the Vineyard. The red-winged blackbird males are perched on high grasses in the fields and marshes of the Island singing their hearts out, waiting for the females to return and hopefully choose them as a mate. Waterfowl are beginning to pair off and build nests.

JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Congratulations to Eric and Marguerite Cottle, who celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on Feb. 25. They are Chilmarkers with deep roots in Chilmark history. For years they were active in the community and they have many friends who send them many happy wishes.

MARGARET KNIGHT

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

Welcome Molly

Nicole Carey and Benjamin Knight of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a daughter, Molly Juniper Carey-Knight, born on Feb. 17 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Molly weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces at birth.