Ball Fore

One sport begets another, at least this Saturday, Oct. 22, that is.

It’s the seventh annual Birdies for Baseball charity golf tournament. That’s right, you won’t be just swinging a golf club for fun, you’ll be helping out by adding to the coffers of the baseball scholarship and field improvement funds.

In a way, golf will actually fit on the honey-do list, rather than be a sneaky aside to all those home improvement projects left hanging.

Flowers come in all different shapes and sizes, but rarely do they come in the form of small children.

“Today you’re an apple flower,” Melinda Rabbit DeFeo, of Island Grown Schools, said as her student petals stood around her in Chilmark earlier this week. The Edgartown fourth grade had traveled to the home of Peter Norris to pick apples and learn how they grow.

Remember to bring a little music and art into your life. In recognition of Alzheimer’s awareness month, on Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m., the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital will offer a one-hour presentation followed by open discussion on care giving for all stages of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

The session will include a special focus on music and art therapy as tools for increasing the quality of life for both caregivers and patients. It will be held in the hospital community room in the main lobby.

Whippoorwill Farm, home of the first Community Supported Agriculture program on the Vineyard, is moving its operation back to Old County Road.

In a newsletter from the farm that went out to CSA members on Tuesday, farm owner Andrew Woodruff said his decision was driven by impending new ownership for Thimble Farm, where he has operated for the past five years. A group called the Martha’s Vineyard Farm Project formed this summer to raise money and develop a plan to buy Thimble Farm.

Steve Morris of Oak Bluffs became a three-time derby winner on Sunday when he went home with a brand new 22-foot Eastern with an outboard an trailer for catching the largest bluefish from the shore, a 14.86-pounder.

Richard Penney, who caught a 46.15-pound striped bass from a boat, got the keys to a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck.

The two grand prize winners were among more than 100 fishermen who won prizes in the 66th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish derby this year.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

Oct. 7 61 49 Trace

Oct. 8 65 45 .00

Oct. 9 76 52 .00

Oct. 10 84 56 .00

Oct. 11 82 60 .00

Oct. 12 70 56 .00

Oct. 13 65 58 1.07

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 67º F.

RETHINKING THE BOATHOUSE

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The following letter was sent to the Chilmark selectmen:

I keep reading over the articles in the Gazette and the Times and wondering if everyone involved with the Coast Guard boathouse is missing the point altogether. We the citizens, the selectmen, the Coast Guard, and the people in Washington who control the flow of our tax dollars, should be asking what is best for the harbor.

Appalling Decision

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Despite widespread grass roots opposition, on Oct. 6, at two minutes to eleven p.m., after three hours of often appalling discussion, a bare majority of one vote on the Martha’s Vineyard Commission approved the flawed and unneeded roundabout project for the intersection of the Vineyard Haven/Edgartown Road with Barnes and Airport Roads. The 13 commissioners present (out of 17) voted in a tie, which was broken by commission chairman Chris Murphy voting in favor.

Leading Lights

From Gazette editions of October, 1961:

Ernest E. Duarte of Makonikey has taken the contract to repair the lighthouse tower at Tarpaulin Cove and to make a general clean-up of the government reservation there. The work will begin as soon as settled weather allows the necessary crossing of the Sound with equipment and material. A building mover among other accomplishments, he anticipates unusual activity in this department during the coming months.