Performer Will Sing, Tell Of Nantucket Whaling

Storyteller and sea shanty singer David Coffin (of the Nantucket Coffin clan) will present his concert program Life at Sea: A Voyage in Song, on Saturday, March 29, at 1 p.m. at the West Tisbury School.

Spring Full Moon

Tonight’s full moon is the first full moon of spring. The moon is right on the celestial equator.

Charlie’s Island

Land Ho! Island Forms in Wake of Storms

First there was one opening and now there are two at Norton Point Beach.

The second, closer to the Chappaquiddick side, occurred on the weekend of March 8 and 9 during the height of a windy storm.

Between the two openings, there is a 150-yard little island. It already has the name Charlie’s Island.

“You’ve heard of Gilligan’s Island. This is Charlie’s Island,” said Chris Kennedy of The Trustees of Reservations.

Men: Casting Call

Men: Casting Call

Island Theatre Workshop has an urgent casting call for two men, needed immediately for May/June production of I Sent a Letter to My Love.

First, a man with stage experience who can play as a 30 to 40-year-old, sings baritone or tenor and has comic timing.

Second, a man who can play between 22 to 30 years old, sings tenor or baritone and is larger than life.

Please call 508-627-2456 or 508-627-3166 and leave a message.

An Admirable Tree

This tree will give you shakes and shingles.

Building materials aside, many of us agree that the Eastern red cedar is a terrific tree.

Arthur Barlowe and Phillip Amadus, who arrived at Roanoke Island in 1564, noticed these beautiful trees, effusing that they were “the tallest and reddest cedars in the world.” After so many days at sea, idola-tree can be tolerated.

hawk

Bird Feeders

Birds that come to bird feeders change over the seasons. Sure, that sounds obvious, but this point was driven home by recent observations at my feeder. There were six to eight American goldfinches that were regulars at my thistle feeder from October through January, but I have not seen them in the past month or so. Also, three tufted titmice and two red-breasted nuthatches used to be present daily, gorging on sunflower seed, but now are only here about once per week. This reduced number of birds is consistent with my need to fill the bird feeder about half as frequently as before.

factories

The Vineyard Gardener

Prudy Burt sent me this little poem. She said it came on a mug that Heidi Schmidt brought her from England.

Let the wealthy and great

Roll in splendour and state

I envy them not. I declare it

I eat my own lamb

My own chicken and ham

I shear my own fleece and I wear it

I have lawns I have bowers

I have fruits I have flowers

The lark is my morning alarmer

So jolly boys now

Organization Will Offer Children’s Sailing Lessons

Sail Martha’s Vineyard, the Island’s community sailing program, will offer beginner through advanced sailing lessons to Island children again this summer at the Sailing Camp Park on Barnes Road in Oak Bluffs.

singing

Songwriters Tap Spring of Inspiration in Winter Recording Sessions

Looking out on a grey Aquinnah woodland, the sprawling front room of singer Lexie Roth’s family house, with its vintage guitar and miniature car collections, has been converted into a live studio for a loose collective of musicians wintering on the Island.

This Monday afternoon it is dotted with microphone stands, a drum kit which sits obtrusively in the sitting area, and a group of twenty-something musicians — Willy Mason, Colin Ruel, Sofi Thanhauser and Miss Roth — who are preparing to record.

screen

Was Your Vote Counted? Film Examines Foul-Ups; Foul Play

After the polling irregularities in Florida in the 2000 Presidential election, which saw George W. Bush come to office, David Earnhart did nothing. But when it was repeated in 2004, he could not let it pass again.

“A lot of people were angry in 2004,” Mr. Earnhart said this week from his office in Nashville. “But where most everybody else moved on, I didn’t.”

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