There was a light frost last Wednesday morning, not unusual most years at the end of March. I can remember snowfalls over a foot in years past. But coming in what is supposed to be spring after such a mild winter, it was quite a surprise. An earlier frost had touched the leaves of emerging daffodils and other bulbs, leaving gray-brown twisted tops that have no buds.
I am particularly disappointed not to see the Barrett Browning daffodils I planted last fall. I had to decide between Barrett Browning and Brooke Ager when I bought my bulbs. I have always loved Marian Irving’s planting of perhaps one of them along Old County Road, creamy-colored petals that gradually turn white, with a small coral-orange trumpet. The photographs of the two varieties look similar.
April Fool’s Day has come and gone, uneventfully as far as I know. Does anyone remember when George Manter used to “plant” yellow plastic daffodils across the front of the Howes House? Mike and I were talking about that and other stories of things that used to be. It makes me terribly nostalgic, filled with old memories.
Sue Hruby and I attended the Ferries Now program that Kate Warner, the new energy planner for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, put on at the Film Center last Friday. It was well-attended and a thoughtful, provocative look at electric or hybrid ferries in Denmark, Maine, and Washington State. There were, of course, both similar and clearly dissimilar requirements between the three systems discussed and what our Steamship Authority is envisioned to need. The cost of totally revamping our ferry system will be astronomical. The cost of doing nothing will be astronomical. I came away with more questions than answers.
I can’t help wondering about the possible unintended consequences of what feels like a total reliance on electricity to run everything: our homes and public buildings, our cars, our lifeline-to-the-mainland ferries. I’m too old to make a decision anymore; life seems infinitely filled with uncertainties.
At the West Tisbury library this week, the annual spring egg hunt will be held this Saturday, April 8, at 10:30 am sharp. Eager egg gatherers make the hunt go very quickly, so plan to come early, and meet in the library’s side yard outside the Children’s Room. Bring your own basket and be ready to run.
Later in the afternoon, at 3:30, pianist Judith Merion will play Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” and “Variations on a Theme by Handel” by Brahms.
The library will be open on Easter Sunday. The last Second Sunday jazz concert of the winter season will be held in the Program Room at 2:30 pm. Rose Guerin will sing with the jazz trio of Jeremy Berlin, Taurus Biskis, and Eric Johnson.
An Easter morning sunrise service will be held at 6 am at the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury. You may attend in person or by livestream. The 10 am service and egg hunt at the Ag Hall will be in person only.
Tom Dresser has been busy this year, with two new books ready for publication. May 1 is the release date for “The Ghostly Tales of Martha’s Vineyard” by Anna Lardinois, which includes several of his stories rewritten for 8- to 12-year-olds. On May 22, look for “Martha’s Vineyard in the Roaring Twenties: Radicals and Rascals.”
We have already had April showers and April sunshine. I am hoping for a real display of blooms this week in time for Passover and Easter bouquets. One more warm day should bring forsythia into its exuberant golden full bloom. I look forward to Seder tables and Easter baskets, and plan to enjoy them both.
If you have any West Tisbury Town Column suggestions, email Hermine Hull, hermine.hull@gmail.com.