JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Someone told me that Tuesday night it was 36 degrees in Chilmark and the weathermen had to look as far away as Alaska to find another 36-degree location. Wednesday was warm and sunny, just the way June is supposed to be, so maybe that cold night was a bad dream. However, the rainy days are real and still with us.

The Tuesday night lobster roll supper at the Chilmark Community Church was a most successful event and will continue on Tuesday evenings from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the church throughout the summer. Judy Mayhew wants all to know that many volunteers are responsible for the preparation of the good food.

The Children’s Fair will be Saturday, June 20, at the church from 10 a.m. to noon with pony rides, games and food. All are welcome.

Lia Kahler is the guest speaker at the Chilmark Church on Sunday, June 21. She will speak about the travels of the patriarchs of the Bible throughout the Holy Land beginning at Ur and ending in Babylon. Services begin at 9 a.m.

Jarvis Kellogg and Betsy Munnell enjoyed a June visit at their Chilmark home this year. They came to help celebrate with their friend, Bob Luskin, in West Tisbury. The Kellogg girls, Annie, Molly and Catherine, accompanied them. Hopefully, they will return for their annual August vacation.

Conrad and Jane Neumann of Durham, N.C., have returned to their Larsen Lane home for the summer months. Their granddaughter, Christina Cowick, of Hammonton, N.J., accompanied them and will work at the Galley in Menemsha for the summer.

Bill and Rainey Kirkland of Panama have arrived for their Chilmark summer.

Bob and Katherine Barrett visited their Chilmark home and, regretfully, their return to their home in Rochester was delayed because of Katherine’s illness that required a few days at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

Jack and Nina Huberman of Santa Fe and their son, Daniel, are at their Menemsha home for a few weeks vacation.

Thomas Huberman and Lia Kahler of New York city are happy to tell folks that, after 21 months, they are back in residence at their newly renovated house on Molly’s Way. They will be here now for the summer months.

Everett Poole was happy to have John and Dottie Farrar visit him in Quitsa last weekend. They are sailing a yacht from the Bahamas to Maine. The Farrars, former Edgartown residents, now live in Brookline, Maine.

Mandy Adams of Boston will marry Jonathan Wolf on the Vineyard on June 27. The bride is the daughter of Geoffrey Cowan and Aileen Adams of Los Angeles. She is the granddaughter of the late Leo and Polly Cowen who first came to Menemsha in 1954 and bought their home here in 1960. The wedding will take place at Camp Jabberwocky where the couple met five years ago as counselors. Ms. Adams runs a camp for disabled children in Greenville, Miss., based on Camp Jabberwocky principles. Cheers from us all!

Skunks will be the subject at the Chilmark library’s Wednesday evening lecture series. Luanne Johnson will speak at 5 p.m. about Skunks Without Borders: the Movements and Behavior of Coastal Skunks on Martha’s Vineyard. She is a wildlife biologist and will share the results of her doctoral research on the skunks of the Vineyard.

The teen program at the Chilmark library will be a pizza party with Nora Laudani leading improv theatre games. All this will happen on Saturday, June 20, from 3 to 5 p.m. and all teens are welcome, ages 12 thru 16.

Kristin Maloney, children’s librarian, has worked with the children of the Chilmark School to create Quests. These are treasure hunts designed to connect people with a place and its details, stories and history. The Chilmark library will sponsor a Quest Launching Party on Saturday, June 27, from noon to 5 p.m. There will be two quests, the Chilmark Library Quest and the Chilmark Village Quest. Come and enjoy the hunt and refreshments that will be offered. There will also be a stamp-making workshop on that afternoon. It will be another busy and fun-filled day at the library for all ages.

And a reminder to all Menemsha residents, there will be no mail delivered to the Menemsha Market this summer. All mail will be at the Chilmark Post Office.

A few weeks ago I asked if anyone saw bats anymore in Chilmark and several folks were quick to tell me that bats are alive and well and still living in Chilmark. Most are seen in the woods in and around the Middle Road and Tea Lane areas of town. One resident told me an astonishing account of an aerial battle between a hummingbird and a bat. He lives in a wooded area that seems to be home to many nesting hummingbirds as well as bats. He watched a bat and a hummingbird actually fight with each other for some minutes before the hummingbird moved on. Bats feed on insects but this one seemed to have a hankering for a hummingbird lunch. Allan Keith tells us that there are five resident species of bats in town with two migrant species sighted on occasion. Allan and Steve Spongberg, both of Chilmark, have co-written a book called Island Life: A Catalog of the Biodiversity On and Around Martha’s Vineyard and it can tell us more about bats. It is currently for sale at books stores on the Island and can be found at Fielder and Fielder in Chilmark.