Town Column : Tisbury
By Kay Mayhew
Published: December 24, 2009
Here comes Santa Claus! He and his reindeer will find sleigh riding much easier on all this snow. Look for their tracks on your roof tomorrow.
Well, they said it would snow and it did. It dropped with a vengeance, thrilling little ones and creating a glorious snow-scape. Plans for sledding filled the air as the wonderful hill overlooking Tashmoo was even mowed in preparation.
My husband and I waded through over a foot of the stuff and cleared out the end of the driveway just in time for the snowplow to come by and fill it in again. I am not complaining. Our road has not been plowed often in the past few years.
My husband surely proved that his new hip works well. He can still shovel snow like a youngster.
Our best wishes for a rapid recovery go to John Chapman. We hope you are now home and feeling much better.
Many thanks to Kevin Ryan and his crew of volunteers who made the annual Hospice benefit a real holiday treat last Thursday. The Reflections of Peace concert was packed with a very appreciative audience. Our Lady Star of the Sea Church was beautifully decorated, creating the perfect stage for performances by some of our most talented Islanders. Rebecca Barca-Tinus and her violin enthralled us as did Sandra Bitterman, whose harp let us hear bagpipe music in her Scottish folk tune. We enjoyed every minute, especially the exquisite a cappella voices and soloists.
Grace Church is serving a Christmas dinner open to the community. Dinner is served tomorrow at 12 noon, following the morning service with carols at 10 am.
Want to start the New Year with a treat? Grace Church will offer winter lobster rolls once a month on the first Sunday of the month. Mark your new calendars: it starts January 3, following the 11 am service. This streamlined version will be only lobster rolls, chips and dessert, eat in or carry out (no containers), from 12:30 to 2 pm in the Parish Hall.
I'm not sure who brought in the colored lights to trim the town lanterns. Some are blinking and some are not. I am one of those who believe that our downtown looked better without the colored lights.
It took years to encourage all the businesses to decorate with white lights, creating our own winter fairyland. The sparkling white lights and red bows were so festive that it truly seemed we had a festival of lights in our town each December.
Mary Edwards should be proud of her daughter. And she is. Lizzie Edwards is a Peace Corps Volunteer in western Kenya, doing HIV/AIDS education until July 2011.
Lizzie is a graduate of MVRHS and Skidmore College. She is working with the Imani Rural Women's Action Group. Lizzie sent her mother some beaded necklaces from these Kenyan women to sell on the Island. The colorful beads are made from magazine pictures. The money goes to the group, improving the lives of Kenyan women, their families, as well as the orphans and vulnerable children under their care. They learn a valuable trade, generating income and getting some training in business practices.
The necklaces can be found in the Hospital Gift Shop (Monday through Friday, 10 am to 2 pm) and the Peacecraft Holiday Store at Pyewacket's (daily 10 am to 5 pm). Lizzie is trying to find a permanent American market for the group's crafts. You can read about Lizzie's Kenyan experiences at Lizzieskenyablog. blogspot.com.
And Jani Gardner of the Fourway Carriage House wants all to know that although there is no official Last Day, First Night celebration, they will continue their Christmas tree and trains tradition. See the huge 18-foot tree on Thursday, Dec. 31, from 3 to 8 pm at the inn, located at 95 Franklin Street.
Big bunches of birthday balloon wishes go out on Tuesday to Peter VanTassel, Toby Riseborough, and Denise Dorsey Cafarelli. Ron Druett will be partying in New Zealand on the 30th.
Heard on Main Street: Are those hooves we hear on the rooftop?
