Aquinnah

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It’s three weeks after Christmas. Why do I still have Christmas music running through my mind and why is my Christmas tree still up?

The former may have something to do with my son’s fondness for the song “Jingle Bells,” and the latter may have something to do with the fact that I have no idea how we are supposed to dispose of Christmas trees here in Aquinnah. Obviously no one is going to drive to my house and pick it up, right? That’s way too much to hope for. Someone told me take it to the dump, but that doesn’t sound ecologically helpful, and many people have told me to set it on fire, which doesn’t sound legal, and I think they were kidding anyway. Any suggestions?

Does it make good mulch if you chip it? Should I just throw it on that pile of brush that we’ll deal with someday but not right now? All I know is that our tree is going to self-destruct if we don’t take it down now and also it just gets a little embarrassing the longer you leave it up. People will think I’m a total Christmas freak or just really, really lazy (the latter is more likely to be true in this case). If you have any suggestions please send them along.

There is a vacancy on the Planning Board. Camille Rose has retired and her unexpired term (until May 2011) is open. Carlos Montoya is filling in temporarily, but he swears he’s not in it for the long haul. Interested planners should submit a letter of interest to the Selectmen’s Office, 65 State Rd., Aquinnah, MA 02535 or email aqbos@comcast.net. You can also call Jeff Burgoyne at 508-645-2300 with any questions you might have. The deadline for submission is Monday, Jan. 18, by 4 pm.

ACE MV classes have started up again and on January 19, Paul Pimentel and the Vineyard Energy Project will be giving a seminar on Energy and the Island, at 6:30 pm. They have some good ideas about making the Island more self-sufficient energy-wise.

On January 21, Saskia Vanderhoop will start up her salsa for beginners class, from 7 to 8:30. Call 508-693-1033 to register or go to acemv.org.

If you haven’t seen it yet, stop by the Chilmark Bank of Martha’s Vineyard to check out John Wightman’s Island Images exhibit. I know we see a lot of pictures of the lighthouse and the cliffs, but his are really lovely.

Jeff Burgoyne and Betty Joslow threw a great pancake breakfast this past Sunday at the Old Town Hall. For $5 you could have all the pancakes, bacon, French toast, and home fries you wanted. The food and company were both excellent. While there I learned that Nancy Benoit’s New Year’s started off with a bang. On New Year’s Day she got appendicitis and had her appendix removed. A few days later, needing to get out of the house, she hit a deer while driving her car. Nancy is doing much better. The car is hopefully on the road to recovery and the fate of the deer is uncertain (it hobbled away).

Giles Welch sat down at our table. He has been having a fine winter, and he will be traveling to Arizona at the end of the month with his father, Vern. Giles’s sister, Sophia, will be heading back to Bard around the 20th, after being home for winter break. Berta will probably just stay home and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Happy Birthday to Priscilla Belaine, who turned 67 on Tuesday.

I will be playing Olivia in “Twelfth Night” at the Vineyard Playhouse this weekend as part of their Shakespeare For the Masses series. Shows are Friday and Saturday nights at 7 pm, and there is a suggested $5 donation.

For the record, I did not have to resort to stalking anyone on Facebook to glean information this week.