My dear friends on the Island and off the Island who came to honor my incredibly wonderful husband Luther who lost his battle with cancer, I thank you for walking and driving the last miles with our good friend.

They called themselves the Pink Squid Yacht Club. They were a fun group of hardworking Vineyarders who liked to party and raise money for one worthy cause or another, but the PSYC has disbanded. Call it a sign of hard times. Call it a group of anglers and golf enthusiasts who have shifted their interests. The club is done.

The commodore, Glen Searle, of Edgartown, said: “I got tired. Everybody got tired.” Mr. Searle, 52, is an assistant manager at Your Market.

HEALTHY FOR VNA

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I have been reading about the VNA’s efforts to start a hospice and thought my experience with their agency might be instructive.

Man Bites Cow

From Gazette editions of March, 1934:

Almost everyone is familiar with the famed definition of news, that it isn’t news if a dog bites a man, but it is if a man bites a dog. But right here on the Island there is a new definition. A story has broken that should flash over all wires: a man has bitten a cow!

Thoughtful Disposal

Moore’s Law states that “the number of transistors and resistors on a microchip doubles every 18 months.” It’s technobabble to most of us, but its effect is real enough: our gizmos go obsolete every one and one-half years.

With the rise in popularity of gadgets like iPods and high-definition televisions, even the most frugal Island residents may find a growing cache of old technology collecting dust in the basement.

Seasonal Shuffle Again

Now begins a yearly ritual: the search for affordable summer rentals. College students from around the world are already searching for arrangements. Those attempting to work the Island tourist season for the first time are often unaware of how daunting this can be, and they leave it for after the spring semester, or, worse for them, until they arrive on Island.

Beach Renourishment Stimulus

Vineyarders got their own shovels ready and recently delivered their own stimulus package to the area’s most critical infrastructure: the beach. Over a hundred volunteers planted beach grass on Joseph Sylvia State Beach, and crews followed them with dibbles at Bend in the Road beach in the days following. The community turnout showed a devotion to these sandy places that so enhance our lives, livelihoods and pursuit of happiness.

Welcome, Emma

Elizabeth Salvo and Jason Sullivan of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a daughter, Emma Joyce Salvo, born on March 18, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Emma weighed 9 pounds, 9.6 ounces at birth.

In warmer weather, construction begins to pick up speed, and Habitat for Humanity is certainly not slacking. On Friday, April 3, Habitat for Humanity of Martha’s Vineyard will hold two important ceremonies, a testament to the fine progress that organization has been making in putting roofs over Island heads. First, a Dedication Ceremony, wherein the keys to a new home are presented to the new homeowners; and then, a Groundbreaking Ceremony, to inaugurate the launch of a new green construction project.

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

The Vineyard’s four popular freshwater ponds were stocked with more than 1,100 trout on Wednesday. Officials from the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife came over with a special truck filled with bubbling water, loaded with rainbow, brown and tiger trout.

Steven Hurley, fisheries manager for the state, said the fish were delivered to Duarte’s Pond, Old Mill Pond and Uncle Seth’s Pond in West Tisbury, and Upper Lagoon Pond which is shared by the towns of Tisbury and Oak Bluffs.