Those mighty mites are back and a few days early at that. Ruby-throated hummingbirds have been reported in Chilmark and Ocean Heights so wash your feeders well, fill them with sugar water and hang them up! Don’t forget that the feeders should be cleaned frequently, especially in warm weather.

The weekend of May 16 is the annual birdathon, a competition that Massachusetts Audubon has been conducting for 25 years. Felix Neck will be involved this year for the second time and we need birders and sponsors to help out.

By LYNNE IRONS

How is it even possible that the weeds have already overtaken my gardens? You have to admire them. They get pulled, cut, cultivated and mulched and yet they persist. I wish I knew my weeds better. I need to give Abigail Higgins a ring and get some identifications. I have several with which I am learning to live. They bloom and provide living mulch, so to speak. One is jewelweed. The foliage is attractive as well as the yellow flowers. The orange juice from inside the stem somewhat relieves poison ivy itch.

Mytoi Cleanup

The Trustees of Reservations will sponsor a Mytoi spring planting and garden cleanup at Mytoi on Chappaquiddick from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 3. The Trustees will provide lunch as thanks for spending a spring morning caring for the Island’s only public Japanese-style garden.

Participants should bring their own work gloves, rakes, and shovels. They can join the effort anytime throughout the morning. Those who wish to participate are asked to call 508-693-7662.

I guess that it is true that you can’t have it all. Wood anemones should know this adage well since they lack much.

If you need a taxi in West Tisbury, first call the town selectmen.

That is exactly what Morgan Reitzas, the owner of MVY taxi, a new company, did and this week he emerged with a license to operate a cab service in town.

Tuesday was the last day to file nomination papers with local towns for candidates seeking a seat on the Dukes County Commission.

Three of the seven county commissioners are now serving out the last months of their four-year terms: John Alley of West Tisbury, Leonard Jason Jr. of Chilmark and Roger Wey of Oak Bluffs.

Mr. Alley and Mr. Jason are seeking reelection. Mr. Wey will not run.

A powerful fire swept through an Edgartown home on Fourth street early Wednesday morning, completely destroying the two-bedroom residence and leaving eight people homeless.

Edgartown fire chief Peter Shemeth said yesterday that a delay in the reporting of the fire caused firefighters to lose considerable time and may have contributed to the home’s total destruction. The home was reportedly occupied by eight Brazilian nationals, seven adults and one child.

Luiz Arrives

Camila Nascimento and Mauricio Brandao of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a son, Luiz Mauricio Nascimento Brandao, at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital on April 16. He weighed 6 pounds, 12.4 ounces.

Nine ecstatic Vineyarders won the right to buy affordable homes in the Edgartown’s Jenney Way project by lottery in an elaborate public ceremony at Edgartown town hall Monday.

The culmination of years of work by several Island housing organizations, the sophisticated design, energy-efficient homes were awarded to the winners from 26 applicants, at knock-down rates ranging from $160,000 to $330,000.

MARGARET KNIGHT

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

As the natural world comes to life, the plants’ new growth has the appeal of the young of any species — the delicate tree leaves with creases like newborns’ skin, the vibrancy of youth that appears in the radiant green of grass and leaves, before time turns them ordinary.