Chilmark: Native Earth Teaching Farm, local farmstands, author talks, and Children’s Fair
Summer has begun. People are coming. Friends are gathering. I welcome the upcoming season of vacation, connection, and conversations.
Every June, I revisit the following quotes, pasted years ago in a notebook.
“Conflict is the gadfly...
Chilmark: Neighborhood Convention, Kate Feiffer talk, and Beach Befriender kits
Human connection, a sense of belonging, and a community of support create resilience.
The Chilmark Community Church hosts the Neighborhood Convention on Tuesday, June 6, at 11 am. The guest presentation is "From Restriction to...
Chilmark: M.V. Garden Club, Land Bank trails, Historic Commission, and Blessing of the Fleet
Turtles are out. After a decent rainfall, a puddle forms in the driveway where it crosses the brook. Flies skim over the surface of the warming water, and some turtles take advantage.
The apple trees...
Chilmark: Beach cleanup, book suggestions, Tea Club, and Italian feast
The steady procession of blooms has started, and hummingbirds have arrived to enjoy the feast. They particularly love the beauty bush in front of Mum’s house, and she is delighted when she sees them...
Chilmark: Stillpoint Meadows, Seán McMahon, Ayurveda, and Hildegard of Bingen
Nurturing the gardenia. The fat buds look like they will open in time for Mother’s Day. It was Dad’s gift to her years ago. He’d recently lost his sight. I drove the car. His...
Chilmark: Seaweed art, Holly Nadler’s book talk, Virginia Stone exhibit, and community meals
What can we do with perfectly good, no longer needed medical supplies? I thought this would be easy, but the rules make it impossible for organizations on the Island to accept them, and there...
Chilmark: Retreat on grief, night of jazz and songs, seaweed collages, and poetry workshops
Losing your father is hard, even when his death was peaceful and after a long life. Dad left a large library. I love to read, and thumbing through “The Letters of Samuel Beckett, Volume...
Chilmark: Robert Frost poem, ocean films, dance class, jazz concert, and Chilmark Church
My father was a friend of Robert Frost. This time of year, when the daffodils are peaking, Pat and Joan Jenkinson’s retired red gas pump on North Road pops brilliantly against the backdrop of...
Chilmark: Sculpture Trail, Native Earth Teaching Farm, Milokan Center, and Pathways concerts
Sunday was gloriously beautiful, and in the afternoon, my father peacefully died. As a family we are figuring out the many details that need to be attended to, including remembrances, services, and his obituary....
Chilmark: Elder care, Potluck Jam, radio, Easter activities, library, and Imagined Gardens
The daffodils are bursting, the ospreys have returned and are busy fortifying the nest, and the garlic my father and I planted in the fall is growing. I need to check on the peas....
Chilmark: Toxic waste disposal, candidate forum, pointillism, memoirs, and Daffodil Time
Last week we picked our first fat bouquets of yellow daffodils. The deer don’t eat them, and they grow well in the sandy soil. Many of the now large patches were started more than...
Chilmark: Pizza night, female farmers, ocean film, concert, gardening, antiques, and Community Center
As I write, it is the last day of winter, pea seeds are soaking in bowls, bluebells, crocuses, and squill brighten the lawn, birds are singing, and laundry is drying on the line. I’m...
Chilmark: Grant for farms, spring wellness, Augusta Savage, salsa dancing, and Lorna Andrade
The birds are singing, blue myrtle blossoms are open near my front doorstep, and Albert Fischer noted, “The daffies have started blooming in Chilmark.”
And yet as I write, the weather folks are predicting “damaging...
Chilmark: Women Live and Imagined Gardens at Pathways, ‘Infinity’ film, and Chilmark Church
“Let me keep company always with those who say
"Look!" and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.” –Mary Oliver
There is a lot going on in our home right now. Flats holding six packs of soil...
Chilmark: In remembrance, drum museum, birdfeeders, songwriting, and Peaked Hill Studio
Snowdrops and witch hazels are blooming. I am delighted by the longer days and the northern shift of the sun. We live in a ravine where in deep winter, shadows form early and the...
Chilmark: Elder care, Ocean Film Series, poetry with music, and Community Church
Our family is still paying attention, working together and doing what we can to support our father, Robert Ganz, while he is a patient at MGH. I’m ensconced at the Wyndham Beacon Hill and...
Chilmark: Susan Markwica, Leo the dog, knitting, collage, music, and Potluck Jam
What a week it’s been. The super-cold, windy weather was followed by almost record highs and glorious blue skies, and then more rain.
Prayers, please, for my 97-year-old father, Robert Ganz, and our family. He...
Chilmark: Music at Pathways, collage workshop, mending clothes, and Hopscotch Hootenanny
We three made it through two super-hard weeks, thanks to many, including Brian Welsh, who took time out of his always busy schedule and built us a wheelchair ramp. He also brought extra insulation...
Chilmark: Shirley Mayhew celebration, library events, Gray Matters, jazz concert, and leaf collage
After years of careful isolation and after two nights in Boston around a medical test, my elderly parents and I came down with COVID. We went a day early because high winds were predicted....
Chilmark: Leaf art workshop, Island Eats new program, and Art Talk with Janet Mandel
This week I’m writing from a Boston hotel — doing the MGH shuffle — and so very grateful to friends who stepped in to help keep the home base going. It is a good...