Oh September, I can feel you coming. The crowds are thinning, the nights are cooling, and even the mosquitoes seem to have lost interest a little. School starts in one week. There may or may not be a tropical storm this weekend (there has been one the past two years). Everything is right on schedule. I know there is a long list of things I’m supposed to do right now, because any time something came up over the summer, I just said, “I’ll deal with it in September” — but of course I can’t find that list. I’m too busy counting the days down to the first day of school. I know there is also a long list of people I need to call and visit and have over for dinner, but again the summer was such a blur, all I can think about is the fact that August is finally over.
The MV Yoga Festival is this weekend. It begins today and concludes on Monday. Most classes will be held at the Chilmark Community Center. There will also be a café set up there with food by Chris Fischer. You can go to mvyogafestival.com for the complete schedule and to buy tickets. It sounds like an amazing way to end a very hectic season.
If anyone has some free time and is looking to do some service, the Zoning Board of Aquinnah needs some help. Due to the unavailability of several current board members, the ZBA needs additional members (one full and one alternate), to sit for a hearing that will occur on Thursday, September 6, at 5 pm at the Old Town Hall. The hearing may take only one evening, but there is a possibility it could be continued for one or two additional meetings. Anyone interested or needing more information should contact Adam Wilson at the Town Hall.
Elise Lebovit will be showing her photographs of large flowers at the Duck Inn on September 8 and 9 from 12 noon to 8 pm. All are welcome.
The season at the Aquinnah Cultural Center is winding down, but you can still come by for a tour of the homestead and see exhibits featuring David Vanderhoop paintings, items from the Nottoway and Nestlé Nook Inns, and Gladys Widdiss’ pottery. It is open Friday, Saturday, and Wednesday from 11 am to 4 pm.
The next blood pressure clinic in Aquinnah will be held Thursday, September 13, from 2 to 3 pm in the town hall, free and open to all residents of Aquinnah. If there are any questions, please call the town nurse, Mary McLaughlin, at 781-534-2543.
On Thursday, September 13, from 5 to 6:30 pm at the Old Town Hall, seasonal Aquinnah resident Phil Weinstein will begin a new class titled, A Century of American Short Stories, open to all interested readers. The first class will focus on Ernest Hemingway’s “In Our Time” (1925). The rest of the dates/texts are as follows:
Chilmark Free Public Library, Sept. 26, 5 to 6:30 pm, Flannery O’Connor, “The Collected Stories” (selections).
Vineyard Haven Public Library, Nov. 20, 7 to 8:30 pm, Raymond Carver, “Cathedral.”
Edgartown Public Library, Dec. 5, 7 to 8:30 pm, Elizabeth Strout, “Olive Kittredge.”
This course explores a range of American short stories. The goal is not to sample the huge output in this genre, but to delve more deeply into these writers’ concerns and literary procedures and to identify the characteristic voice of each.
More up-Island yoga news. Adult and Community Education ACE MV has just announced a Yoga Teacher Training with the Yoga Barn. This will be a twenty-nine week comprehensive yoga-teacher training course geared especially towards Island pre K-12 educators with optional college credit from Fitchburg State University. The certificate course will be led by the former director of Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training, Martha Abbot, E-RYT 500, accompanied by Wendy Chabot, M.D., facilitating teaching yoga for children, and experienced Kripalu yoga instructor Scarlet Jarrell, RYT 200. Lynn Ditchfield, MA, Ed.M, will guide students seeking undergraduate and graduate college credit from Fitchburg State University for the course. Some scholarships are available. Go to acemv.org for all the details.In response to my tirade about mosquitoes last week Jack Posner of Clay Pit Way told me he used Cutters Backyard Bug Control and it has been most successful. The bottle gets attached to the hose and the application lasts 2-3 weeks. Hint: wear a hazmat suit to protect yourself from the mosquitoes while spraying. Thanks for the tip Jack.
Priscilla Belain recently attended two reunions in Ohio. The first was the Dupree family (her mother’s family) reunion, where she caught up with cousins not seen in ages, and the second was her 50th reunion at Glenville High School. It was held at the Independence Hotel over two and a half days, the highlight of which was a dinner/dance on Saturday evening where everyone got to dance to the hits of 1962. It concluded on Sunday with a brunch.
