The morning crescent moon appears amid constellations we normally associate with autumn like Aquarius and Capricornus. Hard to imagine that, while this is the first week of spring, the stars at dawn are so far ahead in the year. The moon is in Sagittarius, the southernmost zodiacal constellation this weekend. The moon appears farther eastward.
By Chance
From Art Railton’s Just a Thought of March, 1997:
Chance encounters — we’ve all had them. Meetings that are unplanned, occurring by surprise. You happen to be somewhere and suddenly find yourself talking to someone famous. The conversation is of no consequence, just grist for some name dropping. “When I was talking with Ted Kennedy about his Wianno....” That sort of thing.
JANE N. SLATER
508-645-3378
(slaterjn@comcast.net)
Chilmark is enduring the usual New England spring; cold and windy but with offerings of surprising green areas in the lee corners of yards and fields. Don’t you wonder why the same temperature in March seems so much colder than in January?
I forgot to tell you last week that we saw an osprey on the nest on Lobsterville Road on March 13! Now they are everywhere so it is not news but just a happy sign of the coming spring.
Correction
An item published last Friday indicated the wrong day for Linsey Lee’s oral history workshop. It is Saturday, March 26.
The Gazette regrets the error.
JUNE D. MANNING
508-645-2574
(lthslnks@gis.net)
The Aquinnah Public Library board of trustees would like to invite you to a retirement party for Natalie Francis on Thursday, March 31 from 2 to 7 p.m. at the library. There will be a ceremony to honor Natalie at 5 p.m. Natalie will be retiring after almost 15 years as a library assistant and the Aquinnah community is very proud of her accomplishments, her devotion and especially all of her hard work. She will be greatly missed at the library. Cake and other refreshments will be served.
KATHIE CASE
508-627-5349
(kathleencase@comcast.net)
Ah, the sounds of spring are around. The pinkletinks were chirping at Jan and Floyd Norton’s when I went up there. The sound of red-winged blackbirds, people raking and of course the sound of the sanding truck sanding the road the snow just fell on.
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
March 18 56 41 .00
March 19 57 40 .00
March 20 50 28 .00
March 21 47 28 .00
March 22 43 33 .31
March 23 47 34 .00
March 24 43 30 .21*
*Melted precipitation
MARGARET KNIGHT
508-627-8894
(margaret02539@yahoo.com)
When my mother was a child in the 1930s, she said you could see pretty much everywhere on Chappy from the high spots because the fields had not yet grown up all the way after being grazed by sheep. When I started my house in 1973, I could see Cape Pogue Pond from my second floor; now I can’t imagine being able to see the water — it’s more than a quarter-mile away through the woods.
