For a few evenings this week, time was suspended when I got to hang out with the newborn lambs in the barn at Beetlebung Farm on Peaked Hill, and learn more about the birthing process and how farmers Josh and Lindsey Scott work to create bonds and help the mothers identify their babies when 19 lambs are springing around testing out their muscles. Speaking of animals, well really a robot, have you seen the new robotic cat at the Chilmark library? If not, you may want to stop by and help them pick a name for the new library cat. Also be sure to see the portrait exhibit created by the Chilmark School students, which has been extended, as has my video installation, through the end of April.
Happy belated birthday wishes go out to Zee Gamson, who celebrated her 80th birthday and is now home, enjoying the many wonderful offerings at Pathways and elsewhere. We wish Brooks Carroll a happy 13th birthday on April 16, and hope the entire family will enjoy a super weekend in Boston, where Bradley will be volunteering for her second time at the Boston Marathon and where they will meet up with their “summer kids,” Sawyer Rothman (sophomore at Northeastern) and Katie Loveluck (who will graduate along with my son at Northeastern next month), plus Hartley Sierputoski (sophomore at Wheelock).
Congratulations to the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank on moving into their new home across from the Community Center. The hours and phone remain the same. And Chilmark Chocolates will reopen on Thursday, April 21, at 11:30 am.
I heard from our Chilmark board of health chair, Katie Carroll, who wanted to remind folks to make sure their use of lawn fertilizers is in compliance with regulations adopted in 2015: “It matters because lawn fertilizers are one of the contributors to our Island ponds’ bad report card. If you apply fertilizer yourself, you can find the regulations for each town by going to the Martha’s Vineyard Boards of Health website at mvboh.org. Once there, click on lawn fertilizer initiative, and choose your town. If you use a landscaping service, they are required to have taken the fertilizer course and obtained a license to apply from the town they do business in. It is in your best interest as a homeowner to ask the person in charge questions like, ‘What are your plans for fertilizer use on my property? How much do you plan to apply, and how often?’ If they don’t know the answer to those questions, they likely have not been trained, and shouldn’t be doing the work. For more information, reach out to the board of health at 508-645-2105.”
When I was walking my dogs the other evening, I ran into Todd Christy on his bike, not that I immediately recognized him in his helmet, safety goggles, spandex suit, and purple shoes, but then there was Chilmark Coffee printed on his cyclo-cross racing outfit. I wish him well in his future races; I understand the sport was created to keep road racers fit during the fall and winter.
This week at the Chilmark Public Library, it’s time for the monthly Free Walk-In Blood Pressure Clinic on Wednesday, April 20, from 12:30 to 1:30 pm. And come and meet the candidates for election and ask your questions on Saturday, April 16, at 7 pm.
It is the final week for Pathways Projects season, with a site-specific happening visible from Beach Road looking toward the old Marine Hospital in Vineyard Haven on Tuesday, April 19, at 7:30 pm, and their last program at the Chilmark Tavern will be on Saturday, April 23.
If you happen to be near Los Angeles at the end of this month, you can catch Thomas Bena’s documentary “One Big Home” at the Newport Beach Film Festival on April 24. It was made with the help of many Islanders, including some from Chilmark like Clarissa Allen and Mitchell Posin, Aretha Brown, Emma and Mollie Doyle, Lenny Jason, Doug Liman, Susan Puciul and Mark Hurwitz, Judy and Frank LoRusso, the Roddy family, and Rick Schweder, among others.
Chilmark town meeting will be held at the Chilmark Community Center on Monday, April 25, beginning at 7:30 pm. Voting will take place on Wednesday, April 27, from noon to 8 pm. If you are not in town or cannot get to the CCC to vote, you can get an absentee ballot. Here is a link to inform you how to proceed: sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleifv/howabs.htm. Friday, April 15, is the last day to post or publish a warrant for the annual town meeting and town election.
Enjoy the daffodils and have a good week.