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Friday, May 24, 2013

By Hermine Hull
Published: April 30, 2009

Abigail Higgins' April 23 garden column was titled "March, March, March, June," an apt description of last week's weather. Early cold rain gave way to sunshine and a preview of hot humid days to come. Convertibles with their tops down were in evidence. Town seems to have greened overnight. Lawns, flowers, trees - color everywhere. I can't wait to go outside in the morning, indeed several times during the day, to see what's new to discover. A couple of good-sized garter snakes startled me yesterday as they raced across the back path into the rhododendron hedge.

And what a weekend for baseball as the Red Sox swept the Yankees at Fenway Park in three of the most exciting ballgames ever.

West Tisbury firemen spent part of Sunday afternoon providing mutual aid to Edgartown at a brush fire in Bold Meadow. Fortunately, it was extinguished in a few hours.

Four indigo buntings, a scarlet tanager, and a rose breasted grosbeak were spotted at Peter and Pat Hawkes' bird feeder in Vineyard Meadow Farms. We had a rose breasted grosbeak here, too. A pair of tufted titmice are building their nest in a corner of our porch, a less than ideal spot, but I am happy to encourage these memorable creatures so prevalent in my Connecticut childhood and newly arrived here.

Welcome back to Spencer Booker behind the counter at Alley's once again.

A long-awaited new grandson has come for Cristina and Rick Reinhardsen. Their daughter and son-in-law, Cynthia and Frank Marullo of Jackson, N.J., are the parents of Frank Salvatore Marullo III. Frankie was born on April 10 at Monmouth Hospital. We'll all get to see him this summer when he and his big sister, Gracia, come to visit. Welcome, Frankie.

Jo and Chet Kosack and their daughter, Lee Hammet, spent this lovely weekend here as guests of Florence and Ben Paul (Jo and Fudge are sisters). Everyone enjoyed the time together. Diane and Howard Wall got to show off their beautiful garden to their relatives.

Sarah Wasserman was at the library Saturday. In her arms was her four-month old son, Hugh Bassett. Sarah and Hugh came to spend the weekend here with Suzi while Brian and Henry had a "guy's weekend" in Washington, D.C.

Congratulations to Fanny Howe, this year's winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Fanny was at the library Saturday and seemed surprised at all the attention; she hadn't seen the article in Friday's Gazette. Unfortunately, she was not at Sunday's poetry reading when Poet Laureate Fan Ogilvie read several poems in her honor.

Fanny has just returned from San Francisco where she visited her son, Maceo Senna, his wife, Jennifer Tseng, and their daughter, Xing. The young Senna family moved to San Francisco from West Tisbury last year. We all miss them terribly and were happy to hear they will be here visiting Fanny this summer.

Beth Kramer read a memorial poem written by Dan Waters in honor of Shelton Bank. Dan will read it himself at Shelton's memorial this summer.

Talking to Fan earlier, I was very excited to hear the plans she and Justen Ahren have made for a series of programs scheduled for this summer at Featherstone. There will be a program of readings by two poets every third Thursday of the month. John Maloney, Fanny Howe, Billy Collins, and Naomi Nye will be among the poets featured. I can hardly wait. The programs will be held in an outdoor pavilion newly built by Mr. Ahren.

I can't believe I'm beginning to write and think about events in May. There will be a Spring Garden Party at the West Tisbury School on May 3 from 1 to 4 pm. Teacher Appreciation Week begins May 4. There will be a special luncheon at the school on Friday.

Sam Hiser just dropped by with a piece of birthday cake from his mother's party. Margie and Hal Hiser arrived at their home in Edgartown for the summer and celebrated Margie's April 19 birthday with a dinner at Sam, Enid, and Bean's. A highlight of the evening was the retelling of Bean's school vacation trip to New York City, where she and Maisie Jarrell and their parents shot some segments of their MVTV show, "The Kids' Travel Show," featuring kid-friendly hotels and cool things to do. You can see the Mansion House segment on YouTube.

I was laughing earlier with Fan about our first springs on Martha's Vineyard. Fan's description of Vineyard weather is year-long winter with an occasional mild day. It reminded me of the year I moved here, 1982. After a few warm days in April I put away the winter blankets and brought out light clothes. Everyone laughed at me. That was the year it snowed in May.