Monday morning, and the temperature is now up to 4 degrees, and what a surprise I woke up to this morning. Only 52 degrees inside my house, because sometime during the night my heater broke. But the sun came out, and when I got home from work, the heater was working again, so Molly the lab and I are starting to get warm.
In the midst of all this snow this month, I was thinking Sunday that we here on the Island have much to be thankful for. In spite of the cold and ice, the highway department personnel have tirelessly kept plowing, digging, and sanding the roads to make them safe for us and travel possible. Delivery people are still managing to bring us our packages, and everyone is struggling to make sure we have what we need. Thank you to all of you who do this for all of us.
Like so many other events that had to be postponed because of the snow, the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse production, “Wicked Good Winter Cabaret,” has been rescheduled for Saturday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available online at mvplayhouse.org.
A Fit in ’15 program, Guided Visualization, will be held at our Oak Bluffs library on Saturday, Feb. 21, from 1 pm to 2 pm. Learn the basics of this technique for help with anxiety and more. Dress comfortably. This a program for adults and older teens.
Wow: 1,414! That is the number of food items the Oak Bluffs School second grade collected and delivered to the Island Food Pantry. This would not have been possible without the generosity and work of many students and their families.
The school wants parents to be aware that in the event of a local outbreak of any vaccine-preventable illness, students who are not completely immunized — meaning they have received all required doses — will be excluded from school for a period of time. The duration of school exclusion varies with each vaccine-preventable illness, but in the case of measles, nonimmunized students will be excluded for a minimum of 21 days. If your child is missing doses of required vaccines, or if you are unsure if your child is up to date, please contact your child’s health care provider. For more of the most current and accurate measles information, please check the Centers for Disease Control web site: cdc.gov/measles.
Susan Von Steiger has recently retired from her position as outreach coordinator for the Oak Bluffs senior center. Last week a group of 19 women from the senior center honored Susan by taking her to lunch at the Martha’s Vineyard Chowder Co. What a great way to show their appreciation to Susan for her years of hard work and devotion.
Congratulations to Richard and Lorraine Mavro, who celebrate 66 years of marriage today, Feb. 19. Hope you celebrate in style.
We send birthday smiles to Brenda Lehman and Linda Scott on the 21st, and Katy Marchand and Rita Jeffers on the 22nd. Melanie Marchand, Kristen MacLean, and Paul Buckley Jr. share the 23rd, and Benjamin Peters, Wendy Macey and Linda Rice celebrate on the 25th.
Enjoy your week, and remember that next week is school-vacation week on the Island, so many kids will be about — and it looks like they will be sledding a lot! Peace.
