Greetings to all of our readers. It’s spring and we are thinking about sport and politics and how sometimes both of these overlap. We hope you enjoy reading about our ideas, and look forward to being in touch again after April vacation. Enjoy.

— Troy (85) Small, Editor

Short Wednesdays?

By Vikki Segal>

Northern bobwhites are about as tall as robins, but are considerably chunkier. They are also called quail, and they prefer a combination of shrubs and grass, especially hedgerows in agricultural fields. These ground-nesting birds are now scarce, although they were abundant year-round residents as recently as the 1980s. Numerous reasons may explain the current scarcity of these birds.

By LYNNE IRONS

The other day on the radio, they were discussing the rising cost of rice and how it is affecting a great deal of the world’s people. In fact, many cultures eat rice at every meal. They blamed part of the problem, of course, on the price of oil needed to haul that rice around.

There are many wonderful sayings regarding the first blooms of spring.

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Another one gone:

Driving down the California coastline on a farewell tour of the state she called home, former CBS news producer Susan Gibbs pulled off the highway. She had quit her job; the contents of her Los Angeles home were packed into boxes. She was about to move across the country to New York city, and Ms. Gibbs wanted to say one last goodbye to the Pacific Ocean.

She wandered along the streets of a small waterfront tourist town and ducked into a bookstore. From the shelves she plucked a book, Barnyard in Your Backyard. In that instant, her life changed.

In Mystery on the Vineyard, author Tom Dresser delves into a grisly unsolved murder. Here is an extract from the new book. It was pre-World War II and a dapper off-Islander arrived, impressing the locals. Drawn to the prettiest girl, he was upset when an elderly woman tried to break up the romance.

This story happened on East Chop in Oak Bluffs nearly 70 years ago. The Red Sox led the American League in early June and John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath had recently been released as a movie, starring Henry Fonda.

The Sweet Life Cafe is collaborating with The Yard to support their artists-in-the-schools program. In the past decade, the program has allowed thousands of Island children to explore dance and music from many cultures with premiere talents in dance education and performance.

On Friday, May 2, Sweet Life owners Pierre and Susan Guerin will host a wine dinner featuring the wines of the acclaimed Mas de Daumas Gassac Vineyard in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France.

Earth Day Clean Up

Vineyard Conservation Society’s annual Earth Day Beach Clean Up tomorrow, Saturday, April 19, from 10 to noon, so bring your family and friends to your favorite beach.

Volunteers will meet you and show you what to do. Volunteers will receive all the materials needed for the cleanup, plus a conservation society reusable shopping bag made from recycled bottles.

Like it or not, we all are a part of globalization. The source of our consumer products, the workers growing or assembling them, and the means of getting them to us, all affect how we live and work — even here on Martha’s Vineyard.

Globalization: Its Impact on Our Lives is a course to be offered on Island by the Schools of Christian Mission, promising to expand the concept of mission in today’s world.