The Mansion House is offering Vineyarders a $25 stay in the historic downtown hotel, to celebrate 25 years of ownership by Susan and Sherm Goldstein.

All guests enjoy free use of the health club, classes and pool, along with complimentary breakfast in Zephrus.

When Susan, then a teacher in the West Tisbury School, and Sherm, who worked for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, purchased the Tisbury Inn on Main street, they said: “We’re looking to be open year-round, to really bring the public into the hotel.”

Two years ago, as Brooke Hardman made the move to what she then saw as “a remote Island,” the actress whose career had taken her to Boston, New York and Chicago resigned herself to the fact that “I wouldn’t be acting anymore.”

By LYNNE IRONS

One after-Christmas holiday project I try to accomplish is a quick inspection of my pantry. I store potatoes, onions, garlic and winter squashes but there is always one rotten apple attempting to spoil the batch so to speak. Happily I only found a few soft onions and one bad spaghetti squash which was in the process of taking the finish off the floor. It is always a challenge to see if I can keep it intact until it reaches the compost bucket.

Curious, it is, that while some trees evoke only a shrug, others inspire speculation, and exploration, and great trans-Atlantic expeditions, and stir the very highest of hopes. Consider the sassafras.

Our Southern Ocean trip is still fresh in our minds. We have visited Chatham Island with you but we still had many miles of ocean to go. The islands we visited included: Mangere, Pitt, Bounty, Antipodes, Campbell, Enderby, The Snares, Ulva and Stewart. There were special sightings and views whenever we stopped, and to tell it all would require a tome!

After nearly two centuries, the Lambert’s Cove Church became but a memory last Sunday.

After a string of frustrating seasons, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls’ basketball team has jumped out to an impressive 5-2 record early this season, and could easily be 7-0 if not for a pair of tough overtime losses.

Meanwhile the boys’ basketball team continued to roll this week with an easy win over Minuteman Tech, while the boys’ hockey team lost to perennial powerhouse Framingham on Saturday and Bridgewater-Raynham on Wednesday.

The seven-part Ken Burns documentary The War is being broadcast in conjunction with the Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s new exhibit, Those Who Serve: Martha’s Vineyard and World War II.

The War, coproduced by Lynn Novick, screens on Rhode Island PBS station WSBE (channel 9) on Sundays at 2 p.m.

Stanton-Armstrong

Norma and Richard Stanton of Edgartown are pleased to announce the October 2009 marriage of their daughter, Julie Hart Stanton, of Norwell and Edgartown, to Jeffery Mark Armstrong, the son of Donald and Bonnie Armstrong of Duxbury. The couple will reside in Norwell.

Community Suppers

Members of the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury invite everyone to join the weekly community suppers, every Wednesday from now until the end of March. Dinner is provided by the church, and it is served promptly at 5:30 p.m.  Donations of side dishes are welcome.