Town Column : Tisbury
By Kay Mayhew
Published: March 18, 2010
It must be spring. Town meetings and elections are in the news. Start marking your calendar now. Special town meeting is April 6 at 7 pm. Then the annual town meeting, where we spend all the money, is scheduled for April 13. Don't forget the election on April 27, when we will be choosing various town officers, as well as making yet another decision about beer and wine.
I used to love to read the summary listing of the current news on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Now I just look at page two of our own Times to see what is happening.
Want to eat out this weekend? There is hot soup, salad, rolls, and dessert at the Tisbury Senior Center on Saturday at noon. That's a choice of four different soups. Tickets are $5 and on sale at the center. Call 696 4205 to reserve your seat.
After lunch you can shop at the monthly book sale at our library from 1 to 3 on Saturday. Get bargain books and support the children's programs.
If you're still hungry, Lorraine St. Pierre says the Third Celebrity Waiters Pasta Dinner will support the Haiti Peace Quilt Project. Adults $7, children $5, with a max for parents with children of $25, at the Federated Church, from 5 to 7:30 pm on Saturday.
Next Sunday at 1 pm, the Friends of the Library invite you to a program on Alaska and the Bering Strait. Joe Doebler will share his recent trip to Alaska with a slide show. He is an experienced photographer who will delight you with his pictures. Light refreshments follow.
I love mysteries and prefer fiction. But I can highly recommend the selection by the Martha's Vineyard Sustainability Book Club. The book is Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. He writes about the lost cultures in our world and tries to explain what happened. Are you fascinated by the Maya or Anasazi? Recent scientific advances and a historical perspective are put into a narrative that is impossible to put down. This is an early notice so you will have time to read the book. Copies are on reserve at the library circulation desk. Discussion is scheduled for April 21 at 5:30 pm.
When Betty Burton said there was a program at the library called Connecting with Fossils, I thought she was being fresh. But hey, these are real fossils, not just us older folks. At 7 pm on Tuesday, Fred Hotchkiss will bring an assortment of fossils he usually takes to Vineyard classrooms. The only fossils in my early classrooms were those we thought should have stopped teaching years before. Bring fossils of your own for identification. Mr. Hotchkiss is director of the Marine and Paleobiological Research Institute.
Then on Thursday enjoy the Winter Reading Series at 7 pm. This features readings with Poetry Fellows from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown: Rebecca Lindenberg and Sara Elizabeth Johnson. Both authors have work published in several publications and have received many honors and awards. Rebecca Lindenberg is completing a doctorate in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Utah. Sara Elizabeth Johnson is a graduate of Cornell University and the master of fine arts program at the University of Oregon. There will be a short question and answer period following the readings. Refreshments will be provided.
Adult tennis players will have a special opportunity the weekend of March 27. You can play tennis with the high school tennis players in the Vineyard Youth Tennis bubble. This is a benefit for the tennis teams and gives you a special treat. Call 693-7762 to sign up.
I've just heard from yet another Islander who wants some special recognition for our wonderful nurses at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital. She asked if I could mention this: They are special, and we are so fortunate. Speaking of the hospital, the new building opens on April 11. Volunteers are needed to help and to staff the reception area seven days a week. Call Sue Mill at 693-0410 ext. 218.
Big bunches of birthday balloon wishes go out today to Matthew Barton. Tomorrow belongs to Susan Weyl, Sondra Gonsalves, Lois Kavanagh, and Susan Mone. Wish the best on Saturday to Phoenix Russell. Happy birthday on Sunday to Barbara Dacey and Skip Bailey. Skip will be celebrating half a century. Rosemary Milewski shares a special day on Monday with the Rev. Rob Hensley.
Heard on Main Street: May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go.
