West Tisbury

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Quiet, gray sky and heavy air. Still, all the activities that make up a usual Labor Day weekend. I found myself being surprisingly social.

I finally made it to Vineyard Gardens Friday evening for their final Gallery in the Garden of this year. Next year, I intend to go early on. Chuck and Chris Wiley had a lovely idea of artists setting up throughout the nursery and display gardens. There is music playing, hors d’oeuvres, art, plants, lots of people you know — all the ingredients for a pleasant August evening.

Then the opening of the Artisan’s Fair at the Ag Hall, an always wonderful assortment of artists, craftspeople, and appreciators.

Saturday afternoon was the annual pig roast at Run Amok Farm. Hosts Debby, Harry, Brian, and Kate Athearn provided a beautiful spot and the most delicious pork, lamb, and chicken — home-grown and roasted perfectly. Kids were everywhere, a year older or new babies in arms. The weather held, so everyone got to enjoy the meal, the conversation, the farm, games, and a special concert. Nice to catch up after a long summer.

Mike didn’t go with me. Saturday morning, he appeared with a horse trailer behind his truck. I looked out the window when I heard him drive in. Why couldn’t he bring home a Harley or a sports car if he was having a mid-life crisis? “Please tell me you haven’t come home with a horse,” I said. He hadn’t. Elise Green’s horse had gone through the rotted ramp of her trailer, so Mike brought it home to repair. And that’s what he spent the day doing. Luckily, Brian packed up a plate for him, so he got a good dinner that night.

I was interested to receive an email from Mary Ellen Hill, Vice Regent of Martha’s Vineyard SeaCoast Defense Chapter, regarding the Place by the Wayside monument on the Edgartown-West Tisbury Road. I have driven past it, even stopped to read the plaque commemorating Rev. Thomas Mayhew’s farewell to his congregation before leaving for England and being lost at sea. Small white pebbles were left in his memory by the Wampanoags and their descendants. The local DAR owns the memorial and wants to thank Matt Tobin and Tea Lane Nursery for landscaping and maintaining the site as a gift to the Island.

What was particularly interesting about all this was the mention of placing stones in memory of someone. It was something we always did when visiting the cemetery, leaving a stone for my grandparents, then my parents. Our cemeteries here in West Tisbury have gravestones and benches decorated with stones and seashells, small sculptures, memorials of all kinds. So it must be a somewhat universal practice.

The Hebrew Center sent an email announcement of a granite sculpture by Ben Cabot that will be on a table in front of the altar for Yom Kippur services next week. Members are requested to bring a small white stone, write one word on it the “conveys either a hope for the New Year, or a connection to past loved ones — their name or a value they taught,” to become part of Ben’s sculpture. Ben and his wife, Nicole, and Rabbi Broitman came up with the idea.

Rosh Hashanah, the New Year 5774, begins at sundown Wednesday evening, September 4. My wishes to all for a happy, healthy New Year.

Happy, healthy wishes for my mother-in-law, Bobby Hull’s, new year, too. She will celebrate her 90th birthday this weekend.

Beth Kramer is looking for two people interested in learning to play the guitar. There are two empty spots remaining for Steve Maxner’s free ten-week guitar class that begins Monday, September 16. Instruments will be provided. Please call or stop by the library for an application, and/or call 508-693-3366.

The library’s Mother Goose on the Loose programs are scheduled for Thursday, September 5 and 19 at the Oak Bluffs Library. It will meet at the Vineyard Haven Library on September 12. All begin at 10:30 am.

Heather Thurber has just graduated from American College of Healthcare Sciences. She received Certifications for Natural Product Manufacturing and Botanical Aromatology, earning a 99.7 grade point average. Heather will continue her studies at Cape Cod Community College this fall, where she will study holistic massage. She plans to graduate in spring of 2015. Anyone who knows Heather’s Breezy Point Farm knows what a creative and capable woman she is and what great products she makes. Congratulations, Heather.

The later mornings and earlier evenings feel like a gift slowly unfolding. It’s still warm enough to sit on the porch in darkness, enjoying the fragrance of phlox in the garden, but not seeing the mildew or the weeds.