I’m writing this column on Saturday morning, and although Thursday is the official first day of spring, today feels like it has already arrived. The temperature is almost 50°. The sun is shining and warm, making golden patterns on the tree branches in our woods. There is a light breeze, just enough to cool me off when I go outside to work in the garden. The soil is still cool, but unfrozen, perfect for raking, pruning, exploring everything.
This week has been an interesting experiment in being completely untethered to the computer. It started doing odd things last weekend, and the Internet has been totally inaccessible since then. I have spent more time outside, have actually accomplished some things around the house and the property, have played with Nanuk in the yard. I felt free in a lot of ways.
It must be impossible for young people to imagine that we older folks actually had lives before computers. I will admit to being a less than enthusiastic and proud technological Luddite. I will also admit to liking emails from friends and family who are far away, although my brothers and I are still more likely to call one another; we like hearing our voices and having conversations that ramble unexpectedly. But my niece, who lives in California, is in a different time zone, and has a busy life. Her emails are treasured. Same with others with whom a correspondence is made easy by typing a message and pressing “send.” I knew I would miss that. I would miss messages from people who wanted to send information for this column, and miss looking up art exhibitions that piqued my interest. I would miss easily communicating with the Times office about my column.
That said, I had a lot more time to do other things, some already described in the second paragraph above. I have often said that if I didn’t write this column, I would happily get rid of my computer. This week showed me the pluses and minuses of a computer-free lifestyle. It was perfectly acceptable.
It was so weird to try one last time to start it this morning and find that it had magically corrected whatever glitch had shut it down. Educomp’s Mac fixer has left, and they are looking for a new one, so Mac users must go off-Island to get their computers fixed. I won’t do that. So I had better write this column while I still have a working computer.
My apologies to anyone whose emails went astray, and to anyone whose emails I may not receive in the future. It’s the computer and Wi-Fi.
It’s almost annual town meeting time, almost April 9, with our town elections on April 11. Town clerk Tara Whiting-Wells has posted the warrant and ballot on the town website: westtisbury-ma.gov. She also wants everyone to know there will be two public meetings at the West Tisbury library on April 3. At 11 am, Northeastern students will present a demonstration project for bike and pedestrian safety along State Road between Old Stage Road and the North Tisbury bridge. A second meeting at 5 pm will give voters a chance to hear our selectmen speak and answer questions about the short-term rental tax, articles 20 through 23, and petition article 25 on the annual town meeting warrant.
At the library this week:
Friday, March 22, 7 pm, Bodhi Path Dharma teacher Khaydroup Zangmo will present Meditation: Making Friends With Your Mind.
Saturday, March 23, 10:30 am, Laura Jordan will host Little Bird Music Class, a program of music and movement for children. At 2:30 pm, the Lego Club will hold its monthly meeting for Lego enthusiasts of all ages.
Sunday, March 24, 2 to 4 pm, “b l u e,” a group art show featuring 16 Island artists, will open. Art will remain on view on both floors of the library through mid-April. While you are there, make sure you see Albert Fischer’s photography exhibition as well. At 3:30 pm, author Jacquie Renear and illustrator Emily Keith will present their newly released children’s book, “My Sister and I: A Story of Two Sisters Growing Up on Martha’s Vineyard.” Books will be available for sale.
Monday, March 25, 11:30 am, Kanta Lipsky will lead a balance workshop. At 7 pm, the first event of a new series, Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary People, will begin with a conversation between Dan Waters and Geoff Currier of The Martha’s Vineyard Times. The series is co-sponsored by the library and the Times.
Tuesday, March 26, 10:30 am, the last Classical Music Is for You program of this season will be led by Wendy Taucher.
Wednesday, May 27, 4 pm, Lynn Thorp will lead a sign language learning and practice circle.
Sue Hruby has just returned from a cousins’ reunion in Sioux Falls, S.D.. The cousins were able to visit with their remaining aunt from their parents’ generation. Another highlight of the trip was the discovery of a treasure trove of family photographs that one of Sue’s aunts had packed away in her attic. The cousins all had stories to share, and everyone was able to choose some of the photographs to take home. Sue said, “The temperature was up to 16° by the time we arrived.”
And here we are enjoying temperatures in the 40s.
Joanne Scott just dropped by. We sat out on my porch and enjoyed the warm air. I saw a Baltimore oriole this morning, and Joanne had seen cedar waxwings and a flock of red-winged blackbirds at her house. Lots of things are coming up at both our houses. I have already walked barefoot around my yard. Life doesn’t get any better.
