Chilmark is Santa ready! The snow came and went and came again . . . as I write on Wednesday the first snow is gone and there are flurries around town but they are not of any intensity. Therefore, the sleigh and reindeer, the visiting grandparents, the arriving families and all those in motion heading for Chilmark should make it safely!
Chilmark is getting strangely quiet. It will soon be routine, but the first few weeks of silence take some getting used to! We will still have the banks, the post office, the Menemsha Café and the fish markets in which to meet and greet each other but not much else will be open after this weekend. However, be sure and call your favorite store just in case the weather remains mild and business is still being conducted.
Did Chilmark fall into the deep freeze this week? Just 18 degrees this morning (Wednesday) and we all know it isn’t officially winter yet! We feel very lucky to have clear skies and roads when we hear how many other parts of the country are faring.
Chilmark welcomes the flowering trees of spring. A ride around town includes views of pink, red and white flowering trees and shrubs . . . all a joy to the winter eye, used to seeing only gray and brown. It is a great way to wake up the spirit and prepare for the excitements of the coming season. And we’d better wake up or we will be losing ground in our gardening and outdoor chores. The warm temperatures and the recent rains have moved spring along quickly.
Chilmark is thawing in spots, but winter lingers with lots of snow in some places. The bright sunshine makes the winter landscape picture-perfect and I can now see the tips of my daffodils poking through the ground, always a hopeful sight.
The indignity of fire — it struck on a sunny , hot and cheery summer Monday at about 3 p.m. The first warnings were muffled explosions and the sound of running feet on the sandy pavement in front of the shop. I was soon closed up and had joined the runners. We, typical humans, were running toward the fire, not away from it. Fire trucks from all over the Island were arriving one after the other, all so carefully driven and parked in the available spaces in that crowded end of Menemsha near the Home Port.
Chilmark is enduring a spring northeaster as I write, and the clouds have obscured the full moon ... and the wind still blows!
The community center was the meeting place for the annual town meeting that took place on Monday last. Approximately 200 voters turned out and resolved the year’s budget and bylaw problems. The election of town officials took place on Wednesday as I wrote this, so look for results on the front page.
Chilmark is enduring yet another northeaster as I write tonight. The wind is howling and snow is blowing and the power went off for an hour and a half this evening. We enjoyed a dark and mysterious dinner as we tried to find our mouths in the dark . . . the batteries are always dead when you need them. Tomorrow will be white but light! I am sure others besides my guests had to adjust travel plans. They are happy to be extending their midwinter vacation for a few days.
