Thursday, March 28, 2024

Minding Your MV P's & Q's

Ps and Qs: But I don’t support your cause

Dear Nicole, I have a friend who gets fired up about certain causes and issues, and tends to take it personally if someone takes an opposing side. I’ve learned to couch my arguments with this...

MV Ps & Qs: Checkout line

Dear Nicole, We are formerly seasonal residents, now retired year-rounders who, for the first time in our lives, do our grocery shopping together. My husband thinks that I'm being inconsiderate of our fellow shoppers and...

MV Ps & Qs: May I have a ride?

Please enjoy this rerun of an older column. Nicole is on hiatus while she is finishing up a novel that is set, strangely enough, in a newspaper office on Martha’s Vineyard.   Dear Nicole, Recently I told...

MV Ps & Qs: Paying the late plumber

Dear Nicole, My plumber takes six months to send me a bill after the work is complete. Can I wait six months until I pay him?  What about a general contractor?  He has taken more than...

Minding your MV P’s & Q’s: Secret Santa

Dear Nicole, For as long as I can remember, my family has done Secret Santa. When we started we had a $10 limit, and now we're at $100. This year I proposed we pool all...

Minding your M.V. P’s & Q’s: Hydrangeas

Dear Nicole, Some homeowners with gorgeous hydrangea bushes have gone for the winter. Is it OK for me to pinch some of the remaining hydrangeas to dry for the enjoyment of all? Confidentially yours, Flower...

But what about cell phones on the beach?!

Please enjoy this rerun of an older column. Nicole is on hiatus while she is finishing up a novel that is set, strangely enough, in a newspaper office on Martha's Vineyard. Dear Nicole: I’m at the...

MV P’s & Q’s: Snubbed

Dear Nicole, There is someone I occasionally run into. We used to have nice chats, but now when I run into him, he all but ignores me. It seems to pain him to blurt out...

Minding Your MV P’s & Q’s: Year-round residents beaches

Dear Nicole, About those private beaches. I know there are town beaches for town residents, but don’t you think we should delegate one beach — take Lambert’s Cove or Lucy Vincent if you will —...

Minding Your MV P’s & Q’s: When a young lady isn’t young

Dear Nicole, I am a woman in my fifties. I suspect that most people who look at me think, "She looks like she's in her fifties." So when the man who is waving me onto...

Personal tour guide

Dear Nicole, I have an old friend who contacted me with the news that he and his family will be visiting the Vineyard, and they are excited for me to show them around the Island....

Germ warfare

Dear Nicole, The other day I heard someone on the radio talking about all the germs there were in supermarkets, especially in the produce section. And he said that most homes are not much better,...

Knit-fit

Dear Nicole, What is it with the knitting? Women take their knitting everywhere on this Island! I guess it's OK, but it seems kind of rude to be knitting at the movies, at town meeting,...

Livestock on the road

Dear Nicole: What do you do when you encounter loose livestock in the road and its owners are chasing it down? Do you get out of your car and help herd them? Do you stay...

Five Corners

Dear Nicole, Can we please have a moment, an hour, a day, without politics? I voted for Warren/Markey/Keating, who are ROCKING IT in D.C. That is their job. It’s not my job. My job is...

Dressing up and down

Dear Nicole, The Vineyard used to be known for how casually everyone dressed. It had a shoes-optional reputation. Hell, make that clothing-optional. Now it seems like people around here are dressing up more. Is it...

Trumpy daughter

Dear Nicole, I know people who voted for Donald Trump, but I admit I haven’t talked to them since the election. It’s easier for me to keep my distance rather than argue with them, or...

Thank-you gifts

Dear Nicole: 
I have a question about gift giving … for thank-you gifts, not Christmas. During a recent severe illness, I was helped out by multiple friends and neighbors who between them brought me food,...

Your smoke is in my car

Dear Nicole, It is early in the morning, and I am groggy and annoyed. I am sitting in my car in Vineyard Haven, waiting to board the 7 am ferry. The person in the car...

Can you be more sensitive?

Dear Nicole, Most Vineyarders voted for Clinton, which means that many of us are feeling resigned, sad, or on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Since the election, I have seen people crying in Cronig’s,...