Town Column : Edgartown
Okay. I don't mind holiday spirit and I enjoy Christmas as much as the next guy. But I'm already hearing Christmas music on the radio and I'm just not ready for that, especially given the fact that we spent much of the weekend running around in short-sleeve shirts. Isn't Thanksgiving still an official holiday? It seems to get totally missed between the seemingly month-long Halloween celebration and the jump right into Christmas.
The Edgartown School Canned Food Drive, implemented and managed by Principal Stevens and the Student Council in honor of United Nations Day, was a great success. Bridget Mello's fourth-grade class edged out Gary Smith's fifth-grade class on the last day of collection, contributing a total of 196 cans while Mr. Smith's students collected 167. A school wide total of 1,284 canned goods were delivered to the Island Food Pantry on Friday by Ms. Mello's winning class. The breakdown of contributions by class can be seen on a graph in the cafeteria. Thank you and congratulations to all the students and staff for the contributions to the Island Food Pantry and caring for the needy on the Island.
I realized too late that I had forgotten to send any food into my kids' classrooms and I felt terrible until I realized a great solution - and a lesson for the kids. We can actually bring up our own canned and dry goods to the Island Food Pantry, which will give my kids the opportunity to learn more about the Food Pantry directly and provide us the opportunity to contribute to such an important cause. The economy being what it is, I'm sure the need is up considerably this year.
In other school news, the volleyball team and girls' soccer team both won their championship games last week. I was unable to attend the soccer game, but the volleyball victory was a hard-fought battle. We came back from a two-game deficit to take the final three games for the title. Congratulations to both squads.
A very special but belated happy birthday wish goes out to Bob Kelley, of the Edgartown National Bank, who turned 90 on November 6. Quite a milestone.
Happy birthday wishes also go out to Meaghan Morris, who continues to age with a birthday tomorrow, Bridget Mello, who celebrates on Monday, Rob Morgan and Conrad Kurth who both celebrate on November 18, and Maureen Hill who celebrates on November 19. Lots of November birthdays.
We had a great non-celebration for Pop's birthday last weekend. Most of my cousins on the Gardner side of the family, along with my sister and her family and my brother and his girlfriend, ventured over to the Island for an afternoon lunch and gathering on Saturday. Due to Pop's desire to largely ignore his birthday, we didn't refer to it as a party, nor were we going to sing Happy Birthday or celebrate in any other way until Amelia insisted that we sing to him. Luckily, we were also taking the opportunity to celebrate my niece Evie's birthday as well, so it gave us another excuse to sing. Since it seems like we get together most often these days for sad occasions, it was nice to be able to gather for fun for a change. There was much laughter, lots of stories, and a great deal of fun. Thanks to all of you who made the trip over to share the day. I'll share the casserole recipe soon.
If you're looking for something to do during the "slow" season, Island Alpaca will be open every day from now until December 23, offering up various open house events, baby alpaca viewing, hot cider, and a multitude of classes. For the current list offerings and hours of operation, call 508-693-5554 or visit their website at islandalpaca.com.
I feel like I'm leaving something out here but am under the gun to get this done, as I'm already a day late due to a corrupted email file. So that's it for now. Have a great week and be sure to get me your news.
