Friday, August 31: Mostly sunny. High flying cirrus clouds. Ocean Park grass is green despite the recent drought. Waban Park grass is brown. Oak Bluffs beaches bustle with sunbathers. Sailboats move slowly across Nantucket Sound toward Edgartown. Starry night.

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

Thirty years ago, the invention of the electronic fish finder helped fishermen out in their boats find fish. Today’s great device, the computer hooked up to the Internet, helps the rest of us find fishermen who know where to find the fish.

The culture of the Internet has helped charter fishing captains just as it has helped a lot of other businesses.

Remember Venus hanging low in the southwestern sky after sunset during summer? Tomorrow morning you’ll find the same brilliant planet low in the eastern sky before sunrise. It is a dramatic shift. Tomorrow morning Venus is joined by the crescent moon. The two are close together. They both rise together as daylight approaches. Sunrise is after 6 a.m.; so the best view is probably around 5 a.m. and earlier.

Grant Will Help Train

Nurses for Windemere

The state has announced the award of a $104,974 workforce training fund grant to Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

The grant will fund a program to train 10 employees to become licensed practical nurses in 10 months. In addition to the grant, Windemere will fund $244,644 of the training program. 

The county parking clerk is currently making the rounds among Island selectmen with a pitch to increase the fees for parking violations. Clerk Carol Grant’s reasoning goes something like this: the minimum fee for overtime parking of ten dollars is too low and hardly a deterrent for a summer person who has another ten bucks in her pocket to throw down — it’s just the cost of being on vacation.

One local favorite capsized twice in his kayak. Of the fifteen windsurfers who entered a race around the Island, two finished. Sailboats called for a minimum of three hands: one on the tiller, one on the main sheet and one on the bilge pump.

All in all, there probably were easier ways to raise money for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services.

Trophy houses, as a group, are bad for the Vineyard. They are huge blots on our rural Island landscape. Summer people are overwhelmingly responsible for creating them. Do summer people create them out of ignorance? Or lack of taste? Or excessive pride? Or out of sheer, don’t-give-a-damn arrogance? In my opinion, all of the above. Many summer people believe that since a man’s home is his castle, why not build a castle?

At an age when most people her age are enjoying the beach or hanging out with their friends, 23-year-old Robyn Hanover of West Tisbury can usually be found in a horse barn. And while she spends much of that time doing what she loves — riding her horse and training for equestrian competitions with a hopeful eye toward Olympic competition — there is plenty of time spent doing less glamorous chores.

Things like brushing and cleaning the horses. Moving and dispersing bales of hay. Shoveling manure.

Charter School

Monday, Sept. 10: Baked Ham, pasta and vegetable salad, applesauce and milk.

Tuesday, Sept. 11: Tomato vegetable soup, hot dog or tofu dog on a roll, fruit smoothie and milk.

Wednesday, Sept. 12: Salad wraps (chicken Caesar salad or hummus and veggie), banana bread, raisins and milk.

Thursday, Sept. 13: Pizza (plain cheese, pepperoni or roasted veggie), tossed salad, fresh fruit and milk.

Friday, Sept. 14: Beef or bean burrito, lettuce and tomato, salsa, peaches and milk.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

August 31 86 63 .00

Sept. 1 82 64 .05

Sept. 2 77 54 .00

Sept. 3 78 56 .00

Sept. 4 80 63 .00

Sept. 5 80 54 .00

Sept. 6 77 57 .00

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 71º F.