PETER WELLS
508-627-4216
Anybody who knows Nelson Jones knows what a stickler for details he is. But you have to ask yourself what he was thinking about while cutting hay in the roadside field at Pimpneymouse Farm. He left that uncut half standing intentionally to provide habitat for bobolinks and grasshopper sparrows. During mating season the male bobolink has a white back and a black underside which is unique in the American bird world. He also wears a fuzzy yellow hat. I guess the bobolink ladies like goofy-looking guys. Google bobolink and see for yourself. The grasshopper sparrow is equally interesting. This bird is so secretive that its migratory patterns are not thoroughly understood and its song is so shrill that humans often miss hearing it during bird counts.
If you see Bonnie and Clyde, call Edo Potter at 508-627-4667. They are her recently acquired and recently escaped peahen and peacock from up-state New York. Because they are not quite mature, they do not use their very distinctive call yet. Finding them would be easy if they would speak up.
The Chappy Community Center has many activities and events planned. I’m going to point out the ones that involve food, since those are of the greatest importance to me. The Farmers’ Market is every Wednesday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. This includes crafts as well. Lobster Rolls are on July 18, also a Wednesday. Pre-order by noon by calling 508-627-8222. Pick up between 5:30 and 7 p.m. You can eat them there or take out. The ice cream social is on July 25, again a Wednesday, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Make your own sundaes.
It’s not hard to keep track of these events. Just ask your stomach to remind you to get to the CCC on Wednesdays. Look at the CCC calendar online. It is a very busy place.
To help you work up an appetite for that lobster roll or ice cream sundae, volunteer at Mytoi Garden from 9 a.m. to noon every Wednesday all summer. No skills are needed. Lindsey Allison assures me that you will have fun as you help to maintain the “Jewel of Chappy.”
If you missed last Saturday’s CIA meeting, fear not, there’s another one coming up on August 4. Coffee and donuts are at 8 a.m.; the meeting convenes at 9 a.m.. In the meantime you can come to the Transportation Committee public input meetings on July 14 and 28. Both meetings are on Saturdays and start at 8 a.m. The committee has developed some intriguing concepts for the ferry point. They want to hear from you and they are very good listeners. Further transportation meetings are planned for August 11 and 25. I’ll remind you.
Instead of hiding that container of waste oil in your trash, bring it to the Hazardous Waste Pickup at the CCC on Saturday, July 21. Volunteers will be there from 7 to 8:30 a.m. to collect household chemicals, small quantities of bad gasoline and used motor oil (the recycling center charges $1 a gallon for used motor oil). They can’t take tires or water-based paint. Thanks to Pimpneymouse Farm for the use of their truck to haul the stuff to the Edgartown collection site.
After you get washed up, head back to the CCC for the Annual Fair. Starting at 11:30 a.m., there will be food, lots of games, a dog show, a book sale and lots of fun for everyone. Let’s get more specific about the food: cookies, brownies, hotdogs, hamburgers, soda pop, juice, potato chips, just to name my favorites. And remember, calories do not count when you are on vacation. So reserve Saturday, July 21. Volunteers are needed. Call 508-627-8222.
Each year, Ann Brine and Dot Dropick revise the Chappy Insider’s Guide. As a Chappy EMT and fire captain, I would like folks to take note of this addition to the emergency section: “a person with a possible head, neck or back injury should not be moved. If you put the victim into an automobile, the EMTs will have to spend valuable time extricating the patient from the vehicle just as if it was a car crash.” You can get a copy of the Insider’s Guide at the CCC or ask for one at the ferry.
How does a celebrated barbecue chef go from cookbooks to a romance novel? Chappy’s own Steven Raichlen has done it in his recently published book, Island Apart. Check out his website at stevenraichlen.com. To quote one reviewer, “Think Bridges of Madison County with better food.” On the cover is a sunrise photo by Captain Bob Gilkes. Book signings are scheduled for July 19 at the Chilmark Library from 5 to 6 p.m. and at the Bunch of Grapes bookstore in Vineyard Haven on August 12 from 4 to 6 p.m. I hope that Clint and Meryl will be available when Island Apart is made into a movie.
If you start reading now, by August 1 you’ll be ready to join the Chappy Book Club for a discussion of The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. From 10:30 to noon at the CCC you will be sharing your insights into the lives of Hadley and Ernest Hemingway during the tumultuous 1920s. I’m guessing there will be a lot of sympathizing with Hadley. She was Ernest’s first of four wives.
The Martha’s Vineyard Tick Borne Disease Initiative and Tufts University are conducting telephone surveys during the month of July. The calls will be focused on the 627 exchange. This important phone survey will administer a CDC questionnaire on knowledge, attitudes and behavior about Lyme disease, the answers for which may help determine methods of intervention against Lyme disease that are most acceptable to the community.
A few years back, just as I was about to depart from the Chappy slip, a car pulled into the parking lot at the point. I figured I would wait. Out of the car hopped two young ladies and close behind came a then-still fairly spry Kappi Getsinger. Kappi was clearly making an effort to move along quickly and I jokingly called out, “Come on, Kappi, let’s show some hustle.” Kappi knew it was a joke and smiled back at me, but the two young ladies were both wide-eyed in disbelief at my blatant display of disrespect for their regal matriarch. As the trio approached I had a feeling that I was in for a good talking to by all three. But Kappi saved me and put the issue to rest with a simple, “You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you?”
Kappi died just three months ago. Come to a celebration of her life at the Edgartown Federated Church on the corner of Cooke and South Summer streets on Sunday, July 15 at 1 p.m. A reception will follow at the reading room located at the foot of Cooke street right out on the harbor. It will be a nice two-block walk for all of us down to the water. Kappi would have enjoyed that.
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