One of life’s great pleasures is stepping outside in one’s own yard and picking a homegrown bouquet to bring into the house. I have brought in an armload of different daffodils and narcissus for the living room, some violas and primroses for beside the kitchen and bathroom sinks, and fragrant hyacinths for my bedside table.
I will admit that as much as I love the cold and quiet bare-branched winter, spring is my favorite season. Watching the unfolding, daily appearance of new colors and new leaves that demand to be noted and appreciated. Spring represents the renewal of growth and life. So, too, our spring holidays: Passover, Easter, and Ramadan.
That renewal of growth and life is nowhere more obvious than a trip around town to look at the daffodils. They are everywhere, newly planted in regimental lines or in long-ago clumps that have thickened and spread over time. After months of grayness, color is yearned for, and daffodils provide more than anyone could imagine. Deer and rabbits don’t eat them. I don’t think they have any natural enemies other than an overzealous person who mows too early, before the foliage has ripened to feed next year’s growth. If nature has provided a perfect plant, it has to be the daffodil.
There are a number of special programs at the West Tisbury library for school vacation week. If you are reading this column early enough, today, Thursday, April 13, there is a concert of music by Beethoven and Chopin at 2 pm, “Radio Games” with Laurel Reddington, for fourth to sixth graders, at 3:30 pm, “Dance Between the Lines” with Claire Page at 3:30 pm, and a poetry program with Eleanor Bates at 4:30 pm.
On Saturday afternoon at 12:30 pm, Rachel Elion Baird will speak about her attendance at the U.N. Conference on Women’s Rights. At 2:30 pm, Robin Putnam from the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation will speak about identity theft and fraud on Zoom. To register: wt_mail@clamsnet.org.
Patti McCracken will be at the library on Sunday afternoon at 2 pm to talk about her book, “The Angel Makers: Arsenic, a Midwife, and Modern History’s Most Astonishing Murder Ring.”
Elliot Dascher will begin a five-session meditation course on Monday, April 17, at 7 pm.
On Tuesday, there will be a free soup and bread lunch served from 11:30 am to 1 pm; lunch will be served every day through Friday this week. At 2:30 pm, there will be a talk about raising chickens in your backyard. The knitting group will meet at 5 pm, and at 6 pm, there will be a talk on Zoom: “Expedition Bigfoot and the Paranormal Caught on Camera,” by Ronny LeBlanc. Register at wt_mail@clamsnet.org.
All ages, 3 and up, are invited to “Pony Time,” 10:30 am, at Misty Meadows to learn about and meet some of their horses. Back at the library, there are virtual reality games at 3 pm for kids ages 10 and up, a new weekly card club at 4 pm for all ages, to play or to learn a new card game. At 4:30 pm, West Tisbury poet laureate Tain Leonard-Peck will lead an online poetry writing workshop. To register: wt_mail@clamsnet.org. The Quilt Guild will meet in person at 6 pm.
There are daily yoga and exercise programs throughout the week, online and in person. Check out the library’s website, westtisburylibrary.org, email wt_mail@clams.net, call 508-693-3366, or stop in.
There is an opening on the personnel board. If you are interested, send an email to personnel@westtisbury-ma.gov or admin@westtisbury-ma.gov.
Attending Ben and Nicole Cabot’s Passover Seder is one of the evenings that I look forward to. I sat at the table remembering the Seders of my childhood, as well as ones since I moved to the Island. It was Nicole and her elder daughter, Violet, who brought me back to Judaism. On Sunday, Mike and I will have breakfast with Iyla Bohan, her parents, and Granny Mary, who is visiting from Connecticut. I love holidays. They are occasions to be with the people I love, and to celebrate the traditions that bring us together.
If you have any West Tisbury Town Column suggestions, email Hermine Hull, hermine.hull@gmail.com.
