It’s good to be home, especially with gorgeous cool days, sunshine, and gardens at their peak. I arrived to find my rhododendron hedge making an abundant display. Orange poppies, dark purple Siberian iris, blue catmints, lavender alliums, and the first deep pink roses. It has never been prettier. The kousa dogwoods are making their annual show, none more spectacular than at the Polly Hill Arboretum. You can see it from State Road, but nothing beats approaching it on foot and being enveloped by those perfect trees as you walk through the pathway between them. If you go on Saturday, you can learn how to propagate your own. A workshop, “Propagating Trees and Shrubs From Cuttings” begins at 9 am. Cost is $45, $40 for Polly Hill members. Preregister at 508-693-9426.
I was sorry to come home to news that Dennis Alley had died and I missed his funeral service. He was a dear man. I still always called him Chief Alley when I saw him at Windemere, and it always made him smile. My condolences to Megan, Mary, Kati, and Dion, and to all their family and friends.
Our West Tisbury Fire Department is getting ready for their new Rescue Truck 721 to arrive, hopefully in time for the Fourth of July parade. “Keep your fingers crossed,” said Brynn Schaffner. He and fellow officers Kenny Mastromonaco, Louis deGeoffroy, and Greg Pachico went to Hopkinton last weekend to check on the truck’s progress at the Bull Dog Co., and to bring some of the equipment from 721 to be put on the new truck. It’s all very exciting and I can hardly wait to be taken for a ride in it. Hint, hint.
It was fun to see Barbara Courtney’s brother, John Mode, who is here visiting from Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia, for a sibling tour of the U.S. as he celebrates his 60th birthday. The official birthday dinner was held at the Port Hunter in Edgartown, owned by Barbara’s sons, John’s nephews. The highlight was chocolate ganache for dessert, with candles, of course. John will go on to visit their sister Maggie in Oakland, Calif., and brother Mitch in Rhinelander, Wis.
Several West Tisbury birthdays to note: Bill Haynes on June 14; Leslie Baker on June 17; Laura Kimball on June 20; and Soul Donnelly on June 24. Happy birthday wishes to you all.
Congratulations to all the 2016 graduates of the Regional High School and the Charter School, and to our own West Tisbury School eighth graders, who graduate tonight.
Tables and chairs will be set out on the lawn at the West Tisbury Church this Saturday, June 18, for their annual Strawberry Festival. From noon to 4 pm, a variety of delicious strawberry treats will be served. Strawberries with whipped cream or ice cream, strawberry shortcakes (the best) and smoothies, plus boxes of berries or jars of strawberry jam to take home. The event will be moved inside if it rains, but I predict a perfect day for a garden party. Come, enjoy, and support the lovely historic church building.
Monday, June 20, come to the library at 7 pm for “Monday Night and All That Jazz” with David Kish. There will be clips from a 1957 CBS broadcast, “Sounds of Jazz,” an interview with jazz great Miles Davis, and David will talk about Davis too.
“Islanders Read the Classics,” a discussion lead by John Hough, will be held at the library next Tuesday evening at 7 pm. Pick up your copy of “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens at the library and start reading right away. It’s almost 1,000 pages. Pure Dickens, with wonderfully quirky and nuanced characters, social satire, and glorious use of the English language.
The West Tisbury Foundation’s program, “Geoffrey Cowan: A Conversation with Tweed Roosevelt,” has been moved from the Ag Hall to the West Tisbury library. It’s still on Tuesday, June 28, at 7 pm. Mr. Cowan will speak about his new book, “Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary.” A conversation with TR’s great-grandson, Tweed Roosevelt, will follow. The event is free to the public.
A note from Elaine Eugster regarding the upcoming Vineyard Committee on Hunger’s Bread Sale. The date has been changed from this Saturday to next Saturday, June 25.
My thanks always to Beth Kramer for taking over the column while I was in Connecticut for my brother’s surgery. He is doing well, and it’s a great relief for me to leave knowing the column is in Beth’s capable hands.
