Maria Arrives

Ariana and Hugo Leoncio of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a daughter, Maria Eduardo Ferreira Leoncio, born on Sept. 9 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Maria weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces at birth.

When anesthesiologist Stephen London first arrived at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital in the early 1990s as a summer fill-in, he was stunned by the technology. The machine, used by Dr. Malcolm Dunkley, the first anesthesiologist on the Vineyard, was all manual. There was nothing automatic on it. The outdated version would not be found in most hospitals nationwide, he said. But, Dr. London rolled up his sleeves and went to work. He is a man who makes the most of the materials in front of him.

The playwright steals — lines, plots, anything that works. The playwright uses historical events, fashioning his own take on the characters within those happenings. He finds whole scenes come to him in his dreams. He writes fluidly in iambic pentameter. He doesn’t mind getting bawdy. The playwright is?

William Shakespeare, sure. But there is another correct answer: Robert Brustein.

Masters of the Celtic harp Gráinne Hambly and William Jackson will play a concert — and offer a music therapy workshop centered on the small harp — next weekend at the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Spring street in Vineyard Haven.

Both events are on Saturday, Sept. 29 — the concert is at 8 p.m. and Mr. Jackson’s workshop is at 4 p.m.

The popular IMP after-school classes are back, on stage at the Oak Bluffs and Edgartown schools.

On Tuesdays, grades six through eight meet at the Oak Bluffs School 4:45 to 6:30 p.m. On Thursdays, grades two to five meet at Edgartown School from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

The Insight Meditation Community of Martha’s Vineyard, which has been meeting in the Unitarian-Universalist Chapel for the past 27 years, is entering a new phase in its growth as it becomes a recognized teacher-led Sangha (a Sanskrit word roughly translated as community), thanks to Chas Di Capua, teacher in residence at the Insight Meditation Society located in Barre, Mass.

COMSOG, the Community Solar Greenhouse of Martha’s Vineyard, is continuing a 21-year tradition of celebrating the arrival of the fall season by welcoming Island residents and their families to its Fall Harvest Festival on Sunday, Sept. 30, from noon to 3 p.m. at the greenhouse off of New York avenue in Oak Bluffs.

Charter School

Monday, Sept. 24: Macaroni and cheese, ratatouille, pears and milk.

Tuesday, Sept. 25: Corn chowder, grilled cheese sandwich, fruit smoothie and milk.

Wednesday, Sept. 26: Sandwiches (ham and cheese, tuna salad or veggie and cheese), lettuce, tomato and sprouts, Moroccan salad, pineapple and milk.

Thursday, Sept. 27: Pizza (plain cheese, pepperoni or pesto and artichoke), tossed salad, fresh fruit and milk.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. This old truism is making things difficult for the recently discovered native populations of Phragmites, also known as common reed or phrag.

The phrag we all love to hate is an invasive tall grass that is becoming the dominant plant along the upper edges of our salt marshes, growing so thickly that it crowds out any other plants, including cattails, sedges, wild flowers, and woody shrubs.

By LYNNE IRONS

Last Saturday’s rain made me so happy. There is nothing quite like waking up to that soft patter. It sure makes one’s bed enjoyable. I love the smell of rain especially on hot pavement. We are in desperate need of a slow, steady soaking.