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West Tisbury
September 1, 2005
Hermine Hull - 508-693-2525 - hrmhull@gis.net
I can’t believe that it is the first of September, although every day there are signs of fall approaching. Because of the drought, trees are already turning color and losing their leaves. I notice, when I bring my paintings back to the studio, that they are changing color too. College kids and summer friends are packing up and heading off-Island.
We had a moment of rain last week. Mike reported that our rain gauge held “about one-tenth of an inch and a spider.” The spider was relieved to be dumped out. I happened to speak with Ellen Weiss during the event; she was happily “counting the raindrops.” I hope by the time this is printed, we will have had the two days of rain predicted for this week.
John Early was at Fenway Park last week, attending the Rolling Stones concert. He had seen the Stones in their first United States tour and continues to follow the group. He said, “It’s great to see a bunch of guys older than I am up there still doing it.” Chris Chandler, his son Cody, and daughter Jessie, made up the rest of the party. Everybody loved it.
Marilyn and Warren Hollinshead spent some time in Minnesota visiting family and friends and boating on three lakes, Gull, Vermilion, and Kabetogama. Warren returned to the Vineyard, while Marilyn went on to Cambridge to attend a Children’s Literature Conference, then off to a family wedding in Colorado. She left Warren home “cooking for himself.” Marilyn is home again, happily weeding her garden and glad to be back, presumably cooking for Warren as well. He is happy to “have a wife at home again.”
Laronn Massey was here for a weekend at the Fair and a visit with Cecily and Jim Thornley. He enjoyed the Woodsman Contest and, especially, riding the Gravitron. The weekend also included plenty of play- time and beach walks with Max, Cec and Jim’s Brittany spaniel, a special friend of Laronn’s.
The Friends of the West Tisbury Library held their Annual Meeting last Friday afternoon at the library. President Susan Wasserman gave her report, highlighted by the success of this summer’s book sale and an overview of the projects and programs funded by the Friends. Betty Franklin, longtime chair or co-chair (depending on the year) of the book sale, was honored for her many years of service with the gift of a book, Linsey Lee’s newest volume, “More Vineyard Voices.” Betty allowed as she might do “one more year” next summer. Having worked on the book sale, I know how much fun it is along with the work. We all agreed that we were already eager for next year. Suzi’s grandson, Henry, served as host for the gathering, passing around cups of lemonade and plates of cookies, including the ginger cookies he baked himself.
Happy birthday to my sister-in-law, BZ, tomorrow, September 2. She and Jared will celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary on Saturday.
Lanny McDowell will be showing his paintings and Sam Low’s photographs this Saturday, September 3, at the Grange. The Labor Day Artisan’s Festival will be held at the Ag Hall on Saturday and Sunday.
A story for your amusement, or for shaking your heads, is as follows: last week I went for a beach walk with some friends and Tallulah down at Hancock Beach. We had returned to my Jeep and begun to drive off, when Brooks realized that she didn’t have her shoes. She remembered leaving them in the car. We went back to check the parking lot and the beginning of the path where she might have left them. No shoes. Not merely “no shoes” but no favorite, broken-in, expensive pair of Birkenstocks. Later, Ellen returned to the beach and left a sign with Brooks’ phone number should the shoes appear. Someone did call to report that she had wanted to walk up the dune to the beach and, not wanting to walk on the hot sand, had looked in my car, taken the shoes out, worn them up the path, then left them there. And there they were still. Fortunately, my friend got her favorite pair of shoes back, but can you imagine? We don’t know who this woman is, so she didn’t know us either. Can you imagine going into a car, taking something because you wanted to use it, not bothering to return it, and not thinking you did anything wrong or inconvenient? No apology. Just did it.
As I was driving home from Cronig’s, turning onto the Edgartown Road, a flash of bright red caught my eye. Looking to the left in the marsh just before the Mill Pond is a stand of brilliantly blooming cardinal flowers. Take a look next time you are driving that way.
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