Clearly, this isn’t a book to curl up with at bedtime or for beach reading.

Spring, of course, arrived last week. In West Tisbury, daffodils heralded it by blooming in Ann Burt’s yard.

It was some years ago now, in 2012 after the outbreak of war in Syria, that a friend and I were in Gaziantep and Sanliurfa, Turkey.

Rushing to catch a boat the other day, I failed to stop to pick up a newspaper to read on the way to Woods Hole.

’Twas Christmas Eve and Santa Claus was readying for his trip around the world by reindeer sleigh — not elegant cruise ship.

I liked turning 90 a year and a half ago. I was given a party overlooking Chilmark Pond by friend Mary Jane Pease.

The death of former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev took me back to my travels to several Eastern European countries that he helped liberate from Communist rule.

Now is the time of year to be indulging in floral scents.

So it is April at last. The daffodils are up, but not all in bloom yet.

The driveways and barns and garages, the stairways and trees of the Whitney estate at West Chop have, for the past several years, been the scene of a new type of activity. A special project has been underway under the direction of Miss Kathleen Hinni of the Summer School of Creative Arts, and young people have been learning to grow through the arts.