JOHN S. ALLEY
508-693-2950
The spring flowers are in bloom most everywhere, even though the weather, up until last weekend, was unseasonably cold. Last weekend the temperature reached nearly 70 degrees and it was delightful. It was a great weekend for outdoor activities, and a few grills were taken out of mothballs. The baseball field on Sunday hosted a youth baseball game and the tennis courts were also busy. Short-sleeved shirts and shorts were clothing of choice.
Over in North Tisbury Middletown Gardens opened last weekend, the new State Road restaurant is nearing completion and should be open around the Memorial Day weekend, and the new post and beam barn behind the restored Humphreys/Mayhew house is nearly completed.
We have had a fair number of visitors this week including college kids seeking jobs. A goodly amount of locals have taken advantage of school vacation week to make that last extended trip before the summer season. Cherrilla Brown noticed ducks and geese in the Mill Pond several mornings this week.
Last year at this time the price for gasoline was $3.85 per gallon. Last Sunday it is $1.25 cheaper even though the Sunday special price has ended for the season over at Up-Island Auto. Garden and hardware stores have seen a sharper than usual increase in the sale of garden seeds. The VTA summer bus schedule will start next Saturday. A new stop on Music street near the church and another in front of the Grange Hall will replace the town hall stop until construction is completed. The VTA carried a record number of passengers last year and there is no reason to believe it will not be about the same or even increase.
The Youth Hostel was a beehive of activity this week. Camp Safe Haven had their annual outing of campers, who unfortunately are HIV positive, and staff members who spent the week at the hostel for the 13th consecutive year. Tony Lombardi, camp director, reports that they all have had a wonderful time with many outdoor activities. The weather cooperated and it was great nearly every day until it was time to break camp and it was a huge community success. Volunteers Islandwide helped and made this a memorable occasion. All of the money to operate this camp is either raised or donated.
Linda Baughman, of Music street, has been in San Francisco, on a business and pleasure trip. She expects to be back next week.
Tom Hodgson sent out a press release about opening a rabbit farm with hybrid rabbits the size of small dogs two weeks ago. Tom admits it was an April Fools joke and he has no intention of doing so. So my column helped spread his practical joke around the Island.
Phyllis Meras, of Music street, reports that the Web site for the Animal Shelter Contest is animalrescue.com. Those interested in helping the Martha’s Vineyard Animal Shelter, which will replace the MSPCA shelter next month and is in desperate need of financial help, should click on the purple button that says Click Here. That will call up another Web page at the bottom of which is a $100,000 animal shelter challenge. If you click on that, it gets you to a site where you can vote for your favorite animal shelter. Click on MSPCA Shelter Edgartown, even though that shelter is going out of existence. Hits to it will be registered to the new Martha’s Vineyard Animal Shelter. The shelter getting the most hits each month will receive $1,000. The contest continues until July 29.
Stephanie Dreyer, librarian over at the school, reports that they will be hosting the annual spring Scholastic book fair beginning on Monday. All students will have a chance to view and select books. Community members are invited to visit the fair on the evening of April 30 in the school library media center from 6 to 8 p.m. and admission is free.
In conjunction with this event the PTO will be hosting a Sundae Festival in the cafeteria from 6 to 7 p.m. Proceeds from the fair will be used to support the school’s library and literacy programs. For details, call @508-696-7738, extension 242.
Colleen Morris, over at the library, reports that next week will be busy with a number of events. They will be having a farewell party for their 16mm projector; Monday night they will be showing the classic film Flying Down to Rio. The Practical Computing class with Stephen Klebs winds up tomorrow but will run again from May 2 to May 9, so sign up at the library. On Sunday there will be a community poetry reading; all are invited to come and read your favorite poem or listen to the others. And on Tuesday Nicole Barlett, community health nurse for VNA will give a Fibromyalgia talk from noon to 1 p.m. The lecture will be followed by a question and answer period. For more information on any of the scheduled events, please call the library staff at 508-693-3366.
On April 21, 1986 Bob Schwartz and his wife Maggie, of Greenwich, Conn., arrived to spend the long weekend at their house on Music street. Their guests were their daughter Ellen Tormey, her husband Mickey and their new baby Thomas. Also Pat Ziprodt, a costume designer from New York city, arrived at her home, God’s Pocket, on Edgartown Road. Her guests were her sister Constance Zonka and her son Milo, of Chicago, Ill., and Lord Hanover from Hanover, England. She returned to New York city on Sunday to attend the opening of Sweet Charity, a play for which she designed all of the costumes. Lord Hanover departed on Tuesday to address the closing session of the United Nations before returning to England.
Happy birthday to Pricilla Cote and Patrick Callahan today; Darah Schwartz, Susan Huntington and Shannon Lobdell tomorrow; Bob Yapp, Maratha Tack and Mike Goldsmith on Sunday; Shirley Mayhew, Sal Laterra, Nicole Cabot and Stephen Greenburg on Monday; Cecily Bryant, Colin Whyte and Emily Fischer on Tuesday; Cathy Campbell, Patrie Grace and Ken Edwards on Wednesday; Bob Schwartz, Tom Roan and Rafe Mazer on Thursday. Belated birthday wishes to Jackson Eno.
Well, that is all of the social news for this week’s edition. If you have any news please call or e-mail me. Have a great week.
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