I was so happy with the good amount of rain we received on Saint Patrick’s Day.

Meanwhile, back here at the department of Life Goes On, where all of us work, it’s no longer business as usual.

The daffodils are up and budded, and crocuses are blooming in different parts of the garden.

The weather starts to get warmer, the sun shines a little brighter and life seems full of new beginnings.

Two, count ‘em two, West Tisbury authors have been blessed with recognition in this past Sunday’s New York Times Book Review.

An Oak Bluffs woman who allegedly left a young boy she was babysitting alone in an SUV for several hours is facing a manslaughter charge after the boy died. 

The Berklee Performance Center in Boston is an unlikely forum for a celebration of life for someone who has died. But Fletcher (Flash) Wiley, who lived between Boston and the Vineyard, lived a life that was punctuated with surprises, innovation, excitement and commitment .

The first potential project with a municipal employee preference will also head to town meeting floor this year, with Island Housing Trust asking if the towns are willing to help pay for a teacher housing project in West Tisbury.

Roughly 45 Vineyard workers gathered at the Edgartown School cafeteria over the weekend for the Martha’s Vineyard Builder’s Association’s first open safety training held in Portuguese. 

The Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association, which runs the FAIR plan for Bay Staters struggling to get insurance from other companies, is now allowing customers to get at least partial insurance with them for properties worth more than $1 million.