Island Resident Participates

In UNICEF Fundraiser

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF recently presented the Children’s Champion Award to Red Sox star David Ortiz at the Four Seasons Hotel Boston.

Vineyard resident Nancy Thomas Caraboolad and her husband Geoffrey Caraboolad served on the event committee and were generous sponsors of this year’s event.

Laura Campbell of Rainbow Farm asked with concern about her barn swallows. For years they have had numerous pairs of barn swallows nesting in their big barn haymow. In recent years Laura said the population has dwindled — why? I checked with a few folks and found that several things might be involved.

First, house sparrows have competed for barn swallow nesting sites and won. An increase in house sparrows in the barn might be part of the problem.

Just because it can be pink and frilly, don’t assume that this animal is female.

Instead, you might want to inquire what the moon jellyfish, which can have hues of pink, purple, orange, or red, had for dinner. It seems that the light shade of color that these gelatinous bodies take on is a result of their meal choice. Carnivorous moon jellyfish that eat certain types of crustaceans show more orange, while those that prefer shrimp tend to have shades of pink or lavender.

Island artists Jenifer Strachan and Steve Lohman will open the doors to their West Tisbury studios Tuesday August 19, from 4 to 7 p.m. This couple’s artwork, created from the unusual mediums of wire and broken shards, has become instantly recognizable and much loved by residents and visitors alike.

Steve Lohman has been a local fixture in the Vineyard art scene for over 25 years. He is internationally known for his lyrical steel and wire sculptures and whimsical carved wooden furniture; with recent projects in Barcelona, New York and California.

“Newfoundland is a beautiful, dangerous place,” laughs Great Big Sea’s Sean McMann, about the locale that forged his band’s sound. Part shanty reel, part chiming pop, part sweeping folk, ten albums in, the little band from the island that was a shipping and fishing outpost between Mother England and Canada has let its isolation protect their individuality.

Tomorrow night’s full moon appears in the zodiacal constellation Aquarius. The moon is called the Sturgeon moon by the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Prior to rising tomorrow night, observers in the Middle and Far East will see a partial lunar eclipse. The partial eclipse will be best visible from the Eastern Atlantic Ocean to as far east as India.

Despite sky-high fuel prices and a slumping economy, early numbers released by the Martha’s Vineyard Airport this week show a summer season only slightly slower than last year. “We’re staying encouraged here,” said airport manager Sean Flynn this week.

Mr. Flynn reported a 6.4 per cent drop over last year in the number of commercial passengers leaving the Vineyard in May, June and July.

Is the Vineyard over-policed? The subject comes up frequently — in conversations at dinner parties and at annual town meeting time each year, when voters are asked to spend money on new cruisers and ever-expanding budgets for six town police departments.

The answer depends entirely on your point of view.

But here are the facts.

There are currently 109 full-time sworn officers in Dukes County, Martha’s Vineyard and the town of Gosnold.

One of the great public views on the Vineyard at the Tashmoo Overlook is disappearing behind a wall of willows, but instead of calling in tree surgeons to open the vista up, the trees’ owners have called in their lawyers.

The Tisbury selectmen complained on Tuesday night that despite more than a year of attempts to negotiate a solution, the owners of the trees, the Thomas and Ginny Payette family of Tashmoo Farm, remained intransigent and have now refused to talk further, except through their legal representative.

The music is over, the roadies have taken up the stage and the crowds are long gone, but the glow of Sunday’s Martha’s Vineyard Festival at Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs remains for many who saw or participated in the marathon 10-hour concert featuring acts including the Boston Pops and Gladys Knight.

“It was a howling success, truly a magical night on the Vineyard,” said Renee Balter, a board member for Friends of Oak Bluffs, one of several nonprofits that sold tickets to the event as part of a fund-raising agreement with concert organizers.