By HARRIET POTTER

Buried Treasure

From a 1967 article by Joseph Chase Allen:

The wild duck and goose on passage may well look down in surprise to see this pond. An acre, perhaps an acre and a half in area, it is so close to the waters of Vineyard Sound that hurricanes have always driven the sea through gaps in the sand dunes to flood the narrow deep valley beyond and to swell this pond to unusual proportions.

HOLLY NADLER

508-274-2329

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

I’m not joking, so please track with me: We’ve got a problem right here in Oak Bluffs and, indeed, all around the Island. The problem is called January.

The Christmas decorations are stowed back in their boxes, along with the few new ornaments that those of us who are great planners (aka cheapskates) bought for half-price in the last week of December.

JOHN S. ALLEY

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

Well, it is clearly evident that the winter blahs have set in. The weekend weather was cold with an occasional dusting of snow. However, on the brighter side we are less than two short months away from the start of daylight saving time and spring. Seed catalogs have started to arrive in the daily mail and we can study them in front of the fireplace and dream.

NANCY GARDELLA

508-693-3308

(vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)

One of the saddest notes I ever had to read was posted on the door of the Ocean View and in the bar when I went for lunch last Monday. It reads: “Due to the recent demise of the New England Patriots, the Ocean View will be closed on Sunday nights.” Bad enough that Deb Little and I watched the game together and were anticipating a different outcome. It certainly threw us into a tailspin. Well, as we say in baseball, wait ’til next year.

JUNE D. MANNING

508-645-2574

(lthslnks@gis.net)

The Martha’s Vineyard Youth Task Force sponsored an evening with Katie LeClerc Greer on Wednesday, Jan. 19, at the Martha’s Vineyard YMCA. Thank you to youth task force coordinators Theresa Manning and Jamie Vanderhoop and the task force for their presentation, the first in a series of the 2011 parent lecture series. Miss Greer’s talk was titled How Can We Keep Our Kids Safe in This Technology-Driven World?

JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Chilmark is snowless as I write midweek. We are eyeing the next storm coming along and hoping it also brings us rain.

Mya Arrives

Julia and Ryan Smith of Edgartown announce the birth of a daughter, Mya Wild Smith, born on Jan. 13, 2011, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Mya weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces at birth. She is welcomed by two-year-old sister Hailey Elizabeth Smith, too.

Hello, Hailey

Ashley and Michael Waters of Edgartown announce the birth of a daughter, Hailey Joan Waters, born on Jan. 14, 2011, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Hailey weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce at birth. She joined older sister Danielle Ponte and brother Michael H. Waters.

An Edgartown woman was sentenced to two years in state prison this week after pleading guilty to a series of home break-ins in the downtown village of Edgartown.

Christine Houston, 58, a resident of Norton street and familiar figure in town, where she had previously worked at the council on aging, was ordered to pay more than $60,000 in restitution to the owners of the homes where she stole jewelry, silver and prescription drugs over a period of time dating back to 2009.