Town Column : Chilmark
As we contemplate the power struggles and the carnage erupting all over the world and the Byzantine complexities of our own economic turmoil, we can marvel at the orderliness and predictability in the natural world. Temperatures from 20 to 50 degrees, flooding rains, and fitful sun seem to be exactly what the snowdrops, the daffodils and the forsythia need, and they're blooming right on schedule, in time for early Easter. Parents will be dyeing and hiding Easter eggs for children to find on Sunday. The springtime rite goes imperturbably on.
Churchgoers are hoping for a look at an unfamiliar phenomenon - the sun - at the Easter sunrise service next Sunday at 6 am at Bend in the Road Beach in Edgartown. Breakfast follows at the Old Whaling Church. Easter worship will take place in Chilmark at 11 am, with the Easter egg hunt at 10:30 am. Report to the fellowship room.
Congratulations to Emerson Mahoney, the fourth-grader who won the school spelling contest with the words protagonist and thesaurus. He will represent the school in the Island-wide spelling bee.
The Fabulists, the performers who put on productions for children of all ages, will present "The Call of the Cuckoo," an Afghanistan folk tale, this Saturday, March 22 at 11 am at the Vineyard Playhouse on Church Street in Vineyard Haven.
Gina Hayes, former Vineyard Haven resident and therapy dog trainer, is back on-Island for a two-day workshop at the community center on Saturday and Sunday, April 5 and 6. Therapy Dogs trains volunteers to train their own dogs for visits to nursing homes, schools, and libraries. Gina Hayes has been a Therapy Dog evaluator and handler for many years, working with Therapy Dogs International. Pre-registration is necessary. For more information, go to justdogstrainingcenter.com.
The Menemsha Fisheries Development Fund will present the award-winning documentary "Fisheries - Beyond the Crisis" at the library next Wednesday, March 26, at 5:30 pm. The film, by Canadian environmental activist David Suzuki, is the second in a series of eight films that will be shown at the library through September dealing with commercial fishing and aquaculture on the Vineyard. It is about two successful community-based and controlled fisheries. Discussion of how best to implement and run such a program will follow the film.
Sponsored by the Friends of the library, the event is free and open to everyone.
Remember to turn off all non-essential lights for one hour next Saturday, March 29, from 8 to 9 pm as part of Vineyard participation in the national lights out campaign to promote energy saving.
I can't resist reporting that, according to a story in The New Yorker (March 17, "The Iron Lady," by Ryan Lizza), two Chilmark residents were part of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's motorcade when it stopped at a Latino school in Houston. They were Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, husband and wife, long-time friends and supporters of Ms. Clinton. Mr. Danson wore "an Irish tweed hat." The couple were married in Chilmark and have spent many summers with their children at their South Road home.
