It is sap-running time on the Vineyard, and Simon J. Athearn of Edgartown already is in the thick of making maple syrup.

His own topping for home-cooked waffles and pancakes can’t be found in any store. But there is an ample supply for those lucky enough to join him and his wife, Catherine, for breakfast.

Mr. Athearn, 31, said he usually makes close to a gallon of maple syrup and gives it out to family and friends. None of it is for sale.

It seemed an unlikely coincidence that on the very day the community consultation process on the Cape Wind project began, another wind project should suddenly pop into the world, one conveniently out of sight of land, and apparently on the best of terms with the opponents of Cape Wind.

And indeed, it proved not to be a coincidence, as the general manager of the proponent company made clear on Monday.

This past Sunday saw the earliest recorded spring appearance of an osprey on the Vineyard, fishing Brine’s Pond on Chappaquiddick. The prior record was set on March 14, 2002.

In a markedly short meeting by Oak Bluffs standards, selectmen on Tuesday breezed through a wide variety of hot topics including the growing likelihood of an override for next year’s budget — the first in six years — and plans for emergency repairs to a 30-ton retaining wall that collapsed along Sea View avenue last month.

Plans for the collapsed retaining wall drew darts from Nancy Phillips, who complained that officials had focused their efforts on a plan that would negate another proposal for the revitalization of the town waterfront.

Corrections

A news article that ran in the Feb. 29 edition of the Gazette and an editorial in last Friday’s edition inaccurately described services at the Aquinnah Public Library. The hours of operation have not been scaled back. The Gazette regrets the errors.

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Edgartown selectmen approved a series of parking reforms Monday that included additional time allowances at parking spaces, increased fines for violations, and a name change for the Dark Woods Trolley Lot, the sinisterly monikered park-and-ride at the entrance to Edgartown.

The rulings follow the recommendations of the Edgartown planning board and a voluntary parking committee, who have met for the past five months to come up with ways to alleviate parking pressure in downtown Edgartown.

A former secretary at the Oak Bluffs School was sentenced in Edgartown District Court to three years probation as part of a plea bargain on Friday. She admitted to embezzling more than $15,000 from a school account by forging the principal’s name on several checks and keeping the money.

The Hon. John Julian agreed to continue the case against Susan T. Peters, 60, of Oak Bluffs, for three years on the condition that she perform 100 hours of community service, pay related court fees and comply with the terms of her probation.

For the second time in five months, the Dukes County commission has named finalists in the ongoing search for county manager. They are F. Tenney Lantz of South Dartmouth and Russell H. Smith of Aquinnah.

After ticking off minor business items in a meeting Thursday afternoon, the commission went into executive session to discuss applicants for county manager.

The options for getting to the Vineyard, particularly at times other than the summer high season, continue to diminish.

Following the recent cutbacks in off-season high-speed services to the Island from New Bedford by the New England Fast Ferry, two more boat lines have flagged their intention to reduce the number of runs they do to the Island.

Hy-Line Cruises has notified the Steamship Authority, which licenses ferry service to the Island, that it intends to shorten by two months its operating season between the Vineyard and Hyannis.

Oded Na’Aman, a bespectacled 26-year-old in a brown corduroy blazer with the collar turned up towards a dark brown quiff, is telling an audience at Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Centre about scaring people half to death.

“I told bad jokes and good jokes and they laughed just the same,” he says, “or they stood there shivering. Sometimes they would spontaneously apologize, just because they thought I might be displeased about something.”