Happy New Year. What will 2018 bring to all of us in West Tisbury?
There will be new babies. We will watch the children we know take their first steps, have their first days at school, watch their soccer games and musical recitals, watch their graduations into adulthood and careers and families of their own.
Genevieve St. Onge Hammond recently graduated from University of Massachusetts, Boston, School of Nursing with a B.S.N. degree. She had received her B.S. in Public Health from UMass Amherst.
Sadly, there will be losses, like Micky Barnes, who died on Dec. 9. She was our town librarian when I moved to West Tisbury. The library was still on Music Street, with very limited hours and limited resources, but Micky had something to recommend for everyone who came in, and she was unfailingly professional and welcoming in equal measure. She and her late husband Hap moved off-Island some years ago, and we lost touch. I remember that library with nostalgia for our very different world. Do you remember when our library had no computers?
Anita Hotchkiss died, too, on Dec. 23. She was the wife of Fred Hotchkiss. Anita was an amazing woman who sparkled with life, wit, humor, brilliance, and kindness. She studied far-ranging world issues and the esoteric fossils that captivated Fred with equal passion.
When I ran into Kate and Rachel Salop last week, they were aglow with news of their new puppy, Levi, a 4-month-old border collie. Levi joined them, Alex, and Josh, and was already wrapping everyone around his little paw, as new puppies do.
There were ice skaters on the Mill Pond last week. It’s finally gotten wintry cold. Saturday’s daylong snow fell quietly, carried by the wind, and has remained a coating on the ground still. Temperatures are predicted to remain frigid through the next days, with another possibility of snow on Thursday. I have already heard about frozen pipes at some of our neighbors’ places.
The West Tisbury library has the following programs planned for the coming week:
Friday, Jan. 5, 3:30 pm, tweens and teens, wizards and muggles of Dumbledore’s Army are invited to meet to create, discuss, and enjoy all things Harry Potter.
Saturday, Jan. 6, 4 to 5 pm, a reception for photographer Bob Kimberly, who will exhibit his photographs in the Program Room through the month. At 7 pm, Basia Jaworska will talk about her parents’ experiences as teenagers in Poland during the Nazi and Soviet invasions in 1939. “Surviving the Madmen’s War” is her search for answers to their physical, emotional, and psychological survival during and after the war.
Monday, Jan. 8, 11:30 am, Kanta Lipsky’s Balance Workshop continues. The Martha’s Vineyard Community Seed Library Seed Saving Club will meet at 6 pm. At 7 pm, the monthly Writers Read group will meet. Sign up for a spot to read your original fiction or nonfiction at 508-693-4307, or just come and listen.
Wednesday, Jan. 10, 4 pm, One Love Yoga’s Emily LaPierre will lead a Glow Yoga workshop for kids ages 4 to 8. Sign up at the library is required. Also at 4 pm, Lynn Thorp will lead a Sign Language Learning and Practice Circle. Episodes of “Martha’s Vineyard Signs Then and Now” will be shown, followed by practice and discussion. Both adults and children are welcome.
The above is a typical week’s West Tisbury column. We will see what comes along as we go through this new year, the week-to-week descriptions of the rhythms of the seasons, the weather, days in the lives of all of us, our friends, our pets, our schools, our town, our Island. I hope I will continue to report what we share and remember.
Happy New Year.
