Pilates for Health

A pilates exercise class for for anyone interested in fitness runs every Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Tisbury Senior Center, 34 Pine Tree Road in Vineyard Haven.

Instructor Brenda Correa demonstrates how to develop core strength and improve balance, posture and flexibility. She also teaches breathing techniques. Participants should bring a mat. For details, call 508-696-4205.

Community Improvement

Markham Vineyards, a winery with a history of community involvement, is searching for leaders dedicated to improving their neighborhoods, cities or towns, to apply for a nationwide initiative awarding $25,000 grants to two individuals to help complete community projects. Enter online at MarkhamMarkofDistinction.com.

HOLLY NADLER

508-693-3880

(sunporch@vineyard.net)

You’ll recall last spring I alerted the citizenry of Oak Bluffs to the invasion of aliens operating out of the legion of Comcast trucks rolling over our roads. It seems the extraterrestrials were on to me because, a couple of months later, when I requested cable hookup for my tiny apartment over the bookstore, the mother ship sent an alien to take care of me.

NANCY GARDELLA

508-693-3308

(vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)

Island Grown Initiative has scheduled its first Summer Institute for Teachers, a three-day workshop for educators on the Vineyard interested in incorporating curriculum tied to farms and gardens into their classes.

The institute will run from August 11 to 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at a number of Island locations. Admission is free for Vineyard teachers, for whom professional development points will be available.

The Tisbury School is celebrating April as School Library Media Month. This year’s theme, shared with the public library, is Join the Circle of Knowledge at Your Library.

School reading specialist Natalie Krauthamer and librarian Patricia Ryan report that students from kindergarten through grade four have joined the circle of knowledge by participating (at home and in school) in a reading incentive inspired by author Toni Buzzeo’s Fire Up with Reading: A Mrs. Skorupski Story.

Hello, Esmé

Esmé Catherine Colon was born March 24 at Cambridge Hospital in Cambridge to Tricia Sirakovsky and Tim Colon. She weighed 10 pounds. She joins her brother Felix. Her grandparents are Katherine and Frazier Colon of Vineyard Haven and Patricia Sirakovsky of New City, N.Y., and Henry Sirakovsky of Nanuet , N.Y.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

April 11 62 42 .00

April 12 54 43 .24

April 13 59 45 .61

April 14 59 36 .03

April 15 52 35 .00

April 16 55 29 .00

April 17 61 31 .00

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 55º F.

Reed to Know

Greg Whitmore, the Islands’ regional ecologist for The Trustees of Reservations, will give a talk entitled All About Phragmites from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 20, at the Mary P. Wakeman Center, Shirley avenue, off Lambert’s Cove Road in Vineyard Haven.

Mr. Whitmore will discuss the natural history of the common reed, how it got to the Vineyard, why it is harmful, and what people can do to help control it. Admission is free. People can register by calling 508-693-7662.

On May 31, the Polly Hill Arboretum and the Vineyard Conservation Society will welcome Paul Tukey, founder of SafeLawns.org, an international coalition promoting environmentally friendly lawn care, for a lively discussion on lawns.