Executive chef James McDonough of the Beach Plum Inn will demonstrate how to prepare salmon cakes with Frangelico cream sauce on Wednesday, April 16, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library, as part of the library’s chef series.

In the middle of a neighborhood of strangers sat an empty lot filled with garbage. The lot looked like no place for a garden. But one day, a young girl with a handful of bean seeds and nowhere to plant them took a chance and cleared a small space among the garbage. She dug into the soil and dropped in her seeds.

Teen Girls Group

The Adolescent Balance Living Experience (ABLE) program — offered through the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard for girls ages 11 to 14 — is seeking referrals for the spring session which begins Monday, April 14. This group is free of charge and meets twice a week for eight weeks. ABLE focuses on healthy nutrition and exercise, as well as how to stand up to bullies and be a good friend. Please call Nisa Kontje at 508-566-0464 to register.

Like any wedding, the ceremony forever joining the letters Q and U — actually, two Qs and two Us, for it was a double-wedding — involved meticulous planning and a certain amount of chaos anyway.

Twelve kindergarten students had invitations to consider, the music, proper attire, and most importantly, the cake. It took some time to pull it together.

Announcing William

Tara and Jeffrey Simmons of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a son, William Topley Simmons, born on March 24 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Will is welcomed by brother Hudson and sister Amelia. He weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces at birth.

It seemed like a harmless sort: a symbol of purity and hope, a cancer crusader and fundraiser, and beautiful harbinger of spring; but, if the truth be told, the daffodil has a dark and sinister side.

Many herbalists of yore thought the world of the daffodil, which is in the plant genus Narcissus and is known to some by that name. The daffodil’s healing powers were widely admired and recommended. One of this flower’s proponents, a healer named Culpepper, gave his opinion:

By LYNNE IRONS

Nothing can revive a guy

Quite like a piece of rhubarb pie

Serve it up

Nice and hot

maybe things

aren’t as bad as you thought

— Garrison Keiler

Those in the know hear this little song every week on the Prairie Home Companion (Saturday at 6 p.m. or Sunday at 1 p.m.) on National Public Radio.

Mid-April this year looks even less like spring than it usually does on the Vineyard. Although conditions were looking up a bit during the middle of this week, the last few weeks have averaged cloudy and cool. Accordingly, there appears to have been little activity among Island birders, and the migration appears to be running slightly behind schedule. But all this is poised to change.

It took three tries, but at their annual town meeting this week West Tisbury voters finally found a plan they could agree on to renovate their old town hall. On Tuesday night voters said yes to spending $5.2 million to restore the building.

A corresponding ballot question to exempt $4.8 million in bond debt from the provisions of Proposition 2 1/2 was approved at the annual town election yesterday.

The remainder of the funding will come from free cash and town Community Preservation Act funds, which will contribute $500,000 over five years.

The annual town meeting in Oak Bluffs this week was at times testy and decidedly prolonged — so much so that two nights and seven hours of spirited debate were not nearly enough, forcing the meeting to spill into next week.

After a grueling second night that focused almost entirely on the town budget and finances, voters agreed to adjourn until Monday at 7 p.m. at the Oak Bluffs School.