Last fall you published a letter from me thanking our Island community for their support of the American Heroes Fishing Challenge. Now in its fifth year and organized by the Nixon family and Beach Plum Inn, the heroes challenge is a tournament within the Annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.

Martha’s Vineyard Community Services’ Chicken Alley Thrift Shop would like to thank the Troy Neuenburg and the Sand Bar in Oak Bluffs, Deejay Ricky Prime and Dukes County Love Affair (DCLA) for the very successful and fabulous good time had by all at the Mad Men party to benefit Community Services last Friday night.

Platters of gratitude and bowlfuls of appreciation should be served up to the town of Edgartown police department for the delicious and entertaining lunch its members provided at the Edgartown firehouse last Friday afternoon. Delicious lobster rolls, stuffed quahaug, chowder and chicken salad were on the menu together with introductions to, and presentations from the men and women who serve.

From the May 22, 1992 Just a Thought column by Arthur Railton: I watch birds. But I’m not a bird watcher. Bird watchers don’t watch birds, they go birding, looking for rare birds. They don’t mess with backyard birds that I watch. Most keep a record of every species they’ve seen. It’s their Life List. They travel miles, sit motionless for hours, staring through binoculars, to get a glimpse of a rare species, a bird they can add to their list. Once they’ve spotted a bird, they lose interest in it.

The halo over the sun this past weekend was meteorological, more associated with our atmosphere than astronomical. The halo was caused by high altitude ice crystals which reside from three to six miles in the air. When there is an over abundance of ice crystals in the atmosphere, a halo forms over the sun.

These ice crystals can also create a sun dog, an event very similar to a halo.

Extreme Tides

Chappaquiddick was well represented at the Lesley University Graduate School commencement last Saturday in Boston. Both Jenna Zadeh and Katherine Villard-Howe received master’s degrees.

Jenna studied for a dual master’s degree in special education and elementary education while interning at the Maria L. Baldwin School in Cambridge. Her parents, Harold and Patty, her brother, Lari, and her fiancé, Matthew, were there to share in her delight.

Happiness is sun and warm weather, which we have had, as well as the ocean breeze along with it. Some people complained about the breeze because it brought the temperature down. I reminded them that we will love that ocean breeze in July and August when the cities are 90 degrees and we hold at 80 degrees.

Here comes a weekend full of memories and celebration for all the service people committed to our country who helped keep us free. Now you can do something for me, please. I am in New York after a whirlwind few weeks attending Chris Clark’s college graduation in Iowa, then stopping to help Nonna celebrate her 96th birthday in White Plains last weekend. I shall miss the annual occasions that make our town so great. Please attend for me with all your enthusiasm and love.

Monday is Memorial Day and there will be a parade and traditional observances in Vineyard Haven. All town buildings and the post office will be closed. The swans and baby cygnets on the Mill Pond surely make it feel like summer is on its way. The VTA bus schedule is now providing expanded coverage on the weekend evenings. The late bus to Aquinnah departs from the Grange Hall at 11:38 p.m. The everyday schedule goes into effect on June 23.

It is astonishing that it took only 15 years (1867-1882) for Erastus P. Carpenter and his crew — Captains Shubael Lyman Norton, Ira Darrow, Grafton Norton Collins, William Bradley and William S. Hills — the members of the Oak Bluffs Land and Wharf Company, to build Cottage City. Promoted as a ‘Summer Residence by the Sea,” sales literature extolled its virtues as “The healthiest and pleasantest watering-place of the country