West Tisbury

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Carpe Diem.

If one could design a perfect holiday weekend, this would be it. Warm days, cool nights, no humidity, a light breeze. Perfect. Plus having a Monday holiday feels like having two Sundays.

Mike and I took the dogs to the beach this morning. They met two other yellow dogs swimming and chasing tennis balls, so Talley and Nan jumped right in. Four yellow muzzles and tails sticking out of the water.

Tuiles are covered in a red-purple froth above their thin green stems and leaves. With the pale lavender flowering grasses and beginning-to-turn foliage of the shrubbery around the pond, it made the patterns of shapes and colors that always attract me. There will be lots of paintings there. I can’t wait to get out to paint this time of year. An email this morning from my friend and painting partner Leslie Baker said, “Let’s go out and paint.” I’m ready.

Yesterday Mike and I sat out on Betty and Bill Haynes’s porch, watching the sky fade into evening, the scent of our dinner on the grill. Bill made his famous pork, rubbed and seasoned, cooked slowly all day. Harry and Debby Athearn came, too, finally all of us getting together to catch up and mark the official end of summer. The Hayneses’ last house guests had just left. Betty’s brother and sister-in-law, Fred and Linda Lewis, came from Cornwall, New York, with their granddaughter, Marisa Lyle. Marisa spent most of her time with her cousin, Jessie, the result of a Super Bowl bet between Bruce Haynes and his cousin, Stacy Lyle. The winner got to send his/her teenage daughter to spend a week with the other family. You may remember that the Giants played the Patriots in this winter’s Super Bowl, and you may remember what happened. (The Giants won.)

Harry and Debby had to leave a little early to get home to the two baby ducks that their grandsons, Hunter and Emmett, are nursing in Debby’s kitchen. They had been rejected by their mom, and the boys brought them up from the pond at the bottom of their hill. Debby had them settled on an electric blanket in a cardboard box, where they are kept warm and fed.

We were unusually social this weekend. Dinner to celebrate Cathy Mann’s birthday Friday night was a wonderful surprise set up by her husband, Brian. Sandy Turner, Jayne Johnson, and I took Cathy to the Harbor View for a drink while the guys took care of dinner. We came home to a guitar concert on the Mann’s porch overlooking Edgartown harbor and dinner served at a beautiful table. Cathy was surprised and pleased. Many happy returns, dear one.

Saturday night we had Jared Hull and Sue Hruby at our house for dinner and to hear all about their trip to Peru. They have just returned from Cusco, Machu Picchu, and the Sacred Valley. Then they went to the Manu Cloud Forest to see butterflies and birds. Sue has always dreamed of visiting Machu Picchu. She and Jared had a fabulous time, as they always do.

Two West Tisbury artists, Julia Mitchell and Sandy Bernat, will open their studios on Saturday and Sunday, September 8 and 9, part of Featherstone’s Second Annual Artists’ Studio Tour. Studios are open from 10 am to 4 pm both days. Tickets are $50 and include 16 artists’ studios across the Island and a reception at Featherstone on Sunday afternoon from 4:30 to 7 pm. Call 508-693-1850 to reserve your ticket.

ACE MV and SCORE are partnering for a series of business and computer classes this fall. Catalogues and registration forms are available at all the island libraries and schools, also on their website: acemv.org. Call 774-310-1131 or email lynn@acemv.org for more information.

Mike is spending the rest of the day replacing and painting trim, a torn screen in our kitchen door, and another cat flap. All courtesy of his best friend. The house smells of Bondo. I have to laugh, as Leslie sent me the following quote: “Whoever said diamonds are a girl’s best friend never owned a dog.” I wouldn’t trade my Talley for all the diamonds in the world. Or Nanuk either, although she does keep us busy.