“How about a coin?,” we used to entreat passengers aboard the ferries while visitors from America embarked and disembarked at the dock in Oak Bluffs on the way to Nantucket. The bigger kids — and faster swimmers — were able to get closest and catch the best booty of half dollars and quarters while the slower, smaller kids dove for nickels, dimes and pennies further away. The smaller kids saved coins to buy flippers to increase speed, and masks to see those missed that sank to the bottom.

I know some of you don’t believe in it, but East Chop has a telltale sign of global warming. Crystal Lake has not been covered in thick ice in several years. Emma Carmichael remembers as a little girl the ice for her refrigerator came from Crystal Lake. All you had to do was put a sign in your window, and the iceman came.

The gossip columnist is the last to know. What’s going on with my favorite clock, It’s Time to Read, now stuck in the 2:15 position in front of the old Bunch of Grapes building? Will it be moved across the street? Will it be reset in it’s current position? Inquiring minds want to know.

The weekend weather was delightful and summer-like. A lot of backyard barbecuing was held all around town and it was wonderful. Business people report that there have been a lot of people around and the traffic is nearly impossible at times; it has definitely been busier than last year. The beaches have been packed each day with the hot weather making this Island a vacation paradise. The weatherman tells us that we are on pace to be one of the warmest Julys on record. We had a lot of thunder and some much-needed rain Monday morning. Traffic came to a standstill last Saturday afternoon around 5 p.m. as two baby deer leisurely crossed Music street and walked casually into the field.

Chilmark is steamy tonight as I sit down to write on Wednesday night. The threatened thunderstorm of an hour or so ago has gone up the Sound without leaving us a single drop of much-needed rain. We are hoping there may be some more storms in the neighborhood. The week of really hot weather has created crispy lawns and parched gardens. Somebody please do the rain dance!

Bruce Eckman and yours truly are presently serving on the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services board of directors — the first from Aquinnah to serve since Rick Lee represented our community. And definitely the first time two Aquinnah members have served at the same time. You are cordially invited to a pre-Posssible Dreams Auction party on Wednesday, August 1 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Aquinnah town hall.

Atlantic bonito are here. After rumblings over the last two weeks, reports are coming in that the summer’s fastest swimmers have entered Island waters. We’ve heard that Atlantic bonito, which usually reside in warmer waters, have been taken at The Hooter, a buoy that marks Muskeget Channel.

Capt. Porky Francis of Edgartown said he also is hearing reports that bonito are being taken at Hedge Fence, a shoal that is off Oak Bluffs.

Ronan Murphy stood by the boathouse and posed the question: “Where do a bunch of college students from a small island west of Europe go for the summer?”

The answer — “An even smaller Island!”

The assembly of sailing instructors let out a chorus of booming laughs, a nearly constant sound track for the group, it seemed.

Please Adopt Us

The Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard is featuring a special cat named Deacon. He is a beautiful loving ginger tiger cat who needs a home desperately.

Armed with cameras, plans and ideas, prospective contractors for a new U.S. Coast Guard boathouse in Menemsha toured the historic fishing village last week to visit the site of what will be, once built, the largest structure in the harbor.

The project went out to bid this spring. Four prequalified contractors responded to the Coast Guard’s request for proposals, and last Wednesday those contractors, along with nearly 20 of their subcontractors, walked the property in Menemsha with the agency’s design team.