Hello, yellow! Boy, are we glad to see you. 

The Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society joins thousands of musicians and hundreds of concert presenters across the country for National Chamber Music Month. For information on chamber music performances taking place across the country during the month, visit chamber-music.org.

Closer to home, the MVCMS will perform their annual spring concert on Sunday, May 26 at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown beginning at 4 p.m. and will feature musicians from the Boston Symphony Orchestra performing the music of Beethoven, Franck and Piazzolla.

It was still daylight on Thursday evening, April 25, about an hour before the full moon was to rise in the eastern sky. The parking lot at the frisbee golf course in the state forest had about 10 cars in it, but the golfers were finishing up for the day. My guided birding tour was there for a different reason.

The all-Island Instrumental Band Spring Concert begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8, at the Performing Arts Center at the regional high school, 100 Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs.

The concert begins with the jazz band and also features a showcase of fourth-graders, as well as the more seasoned middle school performers. The band is comprised of more than 200 students. The concert is free.

Thomas Dresser discusses his latest book Women of Martha’s Vineyard at 7 p.m. at the Vineyard Haven Public Library on Main street in Vineyard Haven on Wednesday, May 8. Mr. Dresser’s book digs into the lives of 15 women from Vineyard history, including West Tisbury’s hen-loving poet Nancy Luce and Harlem Renaissance writer Dorothy West. The common denominator was their love of the Island.

The month of May has to get the Academy Award in the garden year. I try to notice particularly nice displays as I drive around and make weekly written comments. At the moment everything is simply lovely.

Cynthia Shilling has a magnolia soulangeana easily as big as her house. Nestled in with azaleas and forsythia, it screams May.

Rainy Day has some great window boxes with deep pink English daisies and lime green lettuce. Check it out.

It may not be a rocket launch but the countdown to the Martha’s Vineyard Wine Festival has begun. The festival is underway in less than a week, and where else can you enjoy two types of bouquets: the subtle aroma of a cabernet and a bunch of fresh spring flowers. Homes and businesses on the Island will host everything from an oyster and wine bar to a bottomless Bloody Mary brunch. The festivities begin with a rose reception at Atria on Main street in Edgartown at 2 p.m.

In a recent publication by UNICEF, the U.S. ranked number 24 overall out of the 29 countries for the Child Well-Being in Rich Countries survey. The bottom four places in UNICEF’s rankings are occupied by three of the poorest countries in the survey —
Latvia, Lithuania and Romania — and by one of the richest, the U.S.

Venus has staged a comeback. The brightest planet in our night skies appears low in the southwestern sky, close to the horizon, just after sunset. Last year Venus was mostly a morning planet.

Jupiter is higher in the western sky, visible at twilight and easier to see. But soon the two planets will change places.

In the weeks ahead Jupiter and Venus will appear closer together in the western sky. By the end of May they will be side by side. Since they are the brightest visible planets, the changing positions will be hard to miss.

If you want the greenest, healthiest lawn in the neighborhood this summer, catch the May lecture series at Vineyard Gardens, 484 State road in West Tisbury. The series kicks off this Saturday, May 4, from 11 a.m. to noon, and highlights lawn care and maintenance with tips on mowing, fertilizing and watering.