Six girls from Brownie Troop No. 66207 helped to make wontons and eggrolls to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The girls, Madison, Nova, Kayla, Lyla, Elaina, and Sylvia, used the kitchen at the American Legion Hall. They worked with Gloria Wong and Amanda, one of the moms, and their troop leader, Marcy Holmes. Four of the girls returned to serve at the Grace Church Community Supper. These girls and their leader took part in dancing as part of the tail. The horsehead used in the dance was made by the late Mark Martin. The horsehead will be on display at the memorial service for Mark this Saturday at 11 am at Grace Church.
Last Friday the radio station WCAI had a special and personal Valentine program: Third-grade students from the Tisbury School read their Valentine’s Day greetings. This is a sweet idea.
I understand I missed a good program on Friday with the news director of WCAI. Our own Nelson Sigelman took part, discussing the top local news stories of the week with people from newspapers on the Cape, Nantucket, and New Bedford. A friend said both the program and Nelson were well worth listening to.
A good crowd turned out to hear Patricia Williams speak on voting and race at the Black History program held by the League of Women Voters. Some of you may remember that Ms. Williams and her son lived on the Island for several years.
I had forgotten that last year we got snow the morning after the Super Bowl, too. We seem to be in a weather rut. My son has a new snowblower several miles away, but we seem to have all the snow. My daughter says it was sunny and bright in Colorado. The downside is that the high temperature was 14°.
Most of the Massachusetts schools are on vacation this week, so Islanders should have good opportunities to shop or ski off-Island next week. This past week you could have been cross-country skiing on-Island. The snow used to melt so quickly it was said that you should plan to be home by noon.
Some things never change. I don’t like catalog shopping, but I have to admit: LLBean is such good quality and arrives so quickly that I just am happy to see the parcel. Of course, I’d like it better if I could find what I want on-Island. A number of the shops in Tisbury have abbreviated hours, but also offer some very good buys here in town right now.
You can enjoy Henry Stephenson’s photographs at the Vineyard Haven library through February. The images are mostly of familiar sights in town — the Black Dog, Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway, and the Packer Co. There are multiple closeups of ordinary objects, such as boats under repair. Some photos are overlapping layers, creating asymmetrical images. Art in the Stacks is on the lower level and open during regular library hours. If you are an Island artist interested in showing your work, call 508-696-4210.
As a taxpayer, I don’t know whether to be happy about this or not. Our old Tisbury School is on the list for some grant money, either to improve the old one or build a new one. That means some of my tax money is coming back to town. But it will also mean a push for us to pay higher taxes at a time when taxes are going up. The old rule applies: it will cost more next year.
Big bunches of birthday balloon wishes go out to Carrie Tankard and Rebecca Perkalis today. Peter Palches parties tomorrow, so we wish him the best. Happy birthday to
Tom Robinson and Benjamin Davey on Saturday. Big parties for Anne Sylvester and Wendy Brophy on Tuesday.
Heard on Main Street: Washington said it first — “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”