JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Happy May Day to all! This date used to be a fun holiday in town when folks hung May baskets on each other’s doors in the hopes of surprising them and then getting invited in for food and fun. Maybe someone will hang a May basket on you today.

MARGARET KNIGHT

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

JOHN S. ALLEY

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

NANCY GARDELLA

508-693-3308

(vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)

It is always a pleasure to hear from my dear friend, Anna Duarte. Anna wants you all to know she has returned from successful eye surgery, she is recuperating nicely from her accident, and, no surprise here, she will be Poppy Chair again for the American Legion. Anna and her Poppy Girls will be at strategic locations to hand you a poppy and gratefully accept your donations on Memorial Day weekend.

Welcome, Kylie

Ashley Hersman and John Gibson 2nd of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a daughter, Kylie Marie Gibson, born on April 22, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Kylie weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces at birth.

Welcome Neve

Holly and William Jackson of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a daughter, Neve Theresa Jackson, on April 25 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Neve weighed 9 pounds, 10 ounces at birth. She joins big sister McKensi.

The Center for Creative Expression opens its fourth annual student photography exhibit with a reception at Featherstone Center for the Arts on Barnes Road in Oak Bluffs on Saturday, May 2, from 4 to 6 p.m.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

April 24 57 42

April 25 61 44 Trace

April 26 80 48

April 27 86 50

April 28 64 51

April 29 70 50 Trace

April 30 58 33

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 56º F.

In this year-long serialized novel set on the Vineyard in real time, a native Islander (“Call me Becca”) returns home after two decades to help her eccentric Uncle Abe keep his landscaping business, Pequot, afloat. Abe fears and detests Richard Moby, the CEO of an off-Island wholesale nursery, Broadway. Convinced that Moby wants to destroy Abe personally, and all Island-based landscaping/nursery businesses generally, Abe is obsessed with “taking down” Moby.

How many women live in New Jersey, perform at Mikhail Baryshnikov’s gala in New York city one week, then in the next travel to the Vineyard to lead school kids in movement and the art of the spoken word?

It’s Claire Porter — here under the auspices of The Yard and its artistic director, Wendy Taucher — who is ratcheting up excitement this week in all the Island schools.