I have some good news this week: March is over. Since we have been at home way, way more than usual lately, my family and I have gotten some projects done. The first weekend of the quarantine we reorganized our son’s room and gave it a deep clean, next we tackled our bedroom, and currently I can say that there is very little dust in it. My husband (who is very handy) has been industrious by building a rack for his truck, organizing drawers, fixing things around the house and is currently working on our outdoor shower. We are getting our spring clean up done way earlier than usual. We have also been trying to get out for walks as much as we can, sometimes we see others and wave from a safe distance, other times we just look around and notice the birds and the sound of the water.
What have you all been up to? Anyone watching that “Tiger King” documentary people keep raving about? Most importantly, is everyone in our town okay? Do you need food or other help right now? If you do, you can contact the Aquinnah CERT team at aquinnahcert@gmail.com. Please feel free to contact me as well and I can connect you to the appropriate services, my contact information is mlpurves@yahoo.com and 508-939-1258.
If you need a furry companion right now, the Smiths still have two kittens out of a batch of six left. Call Noni at 508-939-9272 if you are interested, the kitties are free, no charge.
With all the work that has been cancelled or suspended on the Island right now, many people are experiencing food insecurity right now, even more so than usual. For a list of resources, I encourage you to go to mvcommunityservices.org, click on the red banner at the top and then scroll down the page, there is a link for food resources. While the Wampanoag Tribal Food Pantry is temporarily closed there are many other places that are open and doing what they can so no one will go hungry. Schools are offering lunches Monday through Friday; the West Tisbury Congregational Church is offering pick up on Wednesdays of their traditional community suppers and other organizations are stepping up as well. If you are a tribal member experiencing a food emergency, the above resources are available, and you can also email Jennifer Randolph at wcm@wampanoagtribe-nsn.gov or call the 24-hour line 508-955-9164.
Since the libraries have closed for the foreseeable future and we are all home and need reading material, I highly recommend getting the Overdrive and Libby apps that offer material to download. At this point, the libraries are not offering curbside pick up, so downloading material is the way to go. If you need assistance you can email our library director, Rosa Parker at rparker@clamsnet.org. If downloading is not your thing and you need the actual book, you can order books through Bunch of Grapes’ website, bunchofgrapes.indielite.org. You can order what you like, and they will ship it to your home.
Some things to do online while at home: Jan Buhrman is offering cooking classes on Kitchenporch.com, Nancy Aronie is organizing some virtual writing workshops, go to chilmarkwritingworkshop.com for details. Pathways has moved their events online, Tuesdays are still “Writing and Poetry” nights and on Fridays they will post past events in keeping with the themes they were focused on this month. For a complete listing of what they are doing and/or to get involved go to pathwaysmv.org or call 508-645-9098. The MV Museum is posting many interesting things on their website at mvmuseum.org.
Please stay safe everyone and by that, I mean stay home unless you absolutely need to go out. A big thank you to our health care workers, grocery store clerks, gas station attendants, volunteers delivering food and making masks, and everyone else working to make sure we are fed and healthy.