Pearl Buck Returns

Once the weather turns warmer and the grey, spring skies blow blue and clear the Vineyard beckons to one and all. Time and the grave cannot even thwart the faithful. Pearl Buck is headed our way.

That’s right, on June 1 at 7 p.m. Ms. Buck will be reading from her short story collection East and West at the Vineyard Haven Public Library. Okay, the legendary author of The Good Earth may bear a resemblance to the actress Diane Quaid, but the words will be her own.

Is there a better place for a garden party on the Island — or anywhere for that matter — than the Old Mill in West Tisbury? Ponder the question while perusing plants you can buy for your own garden, sipping lemonade and nibbling a cookie when the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club hosts its annual plant sale and open house at the Old Mill on Memorial Day weekend, Saturday and Sunday, May 28 and 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Oak Bluffs residents rejected both proposition 2 and 1/2 override questions on Thursday’s special election ballot.

A total of 559 residents turned out to reject one override that would have restored $230,000 in cuts to the town’s road paving program, and another that would have to restored $254,000 in cuts to hire a town finance director, two teaching aides at the Oak Bluffs school, an animal control officer and an assistant for the shellfish department.

The first ballot question was defeated 376-182 and the second was defeated 387-170.

For spring taste buds craving something new, there are a slew of options across the Vineyard. Jerk chicken from a food truck near the airport, artisanal cheese and smoked meats in Edgartown and healthy smoothies in Vineyard Haven are just a few of the choices that weren’t here last summer.

Irie Bites, a food truck operated by Melody Cunningham and Peter Simon, will be parked at every Nectar’s show this summer, so concert-goers can cap off their night with savory Jamaican jerk chicken.

By NICK MOORHEAD

Imagine Tom Petty crossed with Carly Simon and a dash of Jack Johnson and you have Erich Luening, rock artist and well-known Islander. And this weekend he will release Red Flags, his debut solo album. A decade in the making, the CD has a stellar guest list that includes Evan Dando of the Lemonheads, who is also Mr. Luening’s childhood Island friend.

By NICK MOORHEAD

Originally designed to be accommodated in a palace chamber, music under the heading of chamber music has over the years moved out of the palaces and into the hearts and minds of the masses. Well, masses may be a slight exaggeration when comparing chamber music lovers to the throngs flocking to Lady Gaga. But gather all the fans and all the audiences of the past few hundred years or so and this specialized art form rises to the top of the music charts.

There’s been a lot of talk about breaches on the Island: in the great ponds, at Norton Point, and at the Cape Pogue gut, for example. But this column is about a different kind: Dutchman’s breeches.

It is awfully early in the gardening year to be facing discouragement. I leave flats of perfectly beautiful seedlings sitting here and there.

It was twilight as the deck crew dropped the lines onto the wharf at Tauranga, New Zealand. We had stowed our bags in our cabins, cleared customs and had a lifeboat drill. The 46 bird-watching passengers were chomping at the bit, anxious to get out on deck to see what birds were about. The only species we saw with the fading light were pied shag (cormorant) and white-fronted terns. On the other hand, we were delighted to watch a full moon rise out of the sea and beam a path over the waters.

Oak Bluffs voters go to the polls on Thursday for special override election that will decide whether the cash-strapped town can afford to pave streets, hire a finance director, keep teaching aides at the town school and hire an animal control officer.

Voters will be asked to approve two Proposition 2 1/2 override questions, one to restore $230,000 in cuts to the highway department budget, and a second to restore $254,000 in cuts to a variety of other departments.

Polling hours are from noon to 7 p.m. at the Oak Bluffs Library.