March’s roaring lion arrived with winds that kept our woods in perpetual motion and sent leaves blowing everywhere. It was warm one day, then cold the next. Our woodpile is getting shorter, and I am grateful for every sunny day that heats the house enough to not need a fire through the night.
Lambs have been born at Allen Whiting’s, 15-plus at last count. They are late this year at Flat Point, expected over the next week. Emily Fischer’s goats had a visit from their new veterinarian from Vermont, who gave them ultrasounds with a very high-tech machine. There is beef, lamb, and pork in the freezers at the farmstand. You will be greeted by chickens, goats, and maybe the new lambs when you visit.
When I visited Ruth Kirchmeier last week, I commented on the yellow eranthis and snowdrops blooming thickly together outside her door. She had given me a pot of eranthis several years ago. Mine seem happy and have bloomed every spring, but have never spread to carpet my garden bed like Ruth’s. She told me that she digs them up every year, separates the clumps, and replants them to ever-increase. Now that I know …
The Murphy family will celebrate the life of their beloved Barbara at the Chilmark Community Center this Sunday afternoon at 2 pm. Bring a favorite dessert to share, or not. Bring yourself, your memories of Barbara, and your affection for the Murphy family.
We have had so many other losses these past few months: Richard Cohen, David Christensen, Linda McGuire, Bob George. It’s hard to pick up the newspaper or the telephone these days.
There will be a presentation by The Resource Inc. at the Howes House this Friday, March 14, at 10 am. The subject will be housing rehab loans to help seniors safely stay in their homes. Call the Up-Island Council on Aging for more information: 508-693-2896.
Cheer yourself up with a bouquet of daffodils. It’s time for the annual sale that benefits the M.V. Cancer Support Group. Daffodils will be available on Saturday, March 15, 9 am, at Reliable Market, down-Island Cronig’s, and Edgartown Stop & Shop, or preorder by contacting Helen Green: heleng1125@comcast.net.
Friends of Mill Pond put on a fascinating program last Saturday at the West Tisbury library. Bow Van Riper, research librarian at the M.V. Museum, spoke about the development of early mills and millraces that powered them on Martha’s Vineyard, focusing on our West Tisbury mill and Mill Pond. Bow gave his historical presentation as the wonderful storyteller he is, then answered questions from the SRO audience.
The walls of the program room were hung with a collection of paintings and photographs of Mill Pond by West Tisbury artists. It is well worth seeing. There are some very special pieces representing our town’s history: a small oil painting by Olga Bryant from the 1940s; pen and ink drawings by Thomas Cocroft; woodcuts by Sidney Riggs; a crisp watercolor by Ted Meinelt, and an oil by Barbara Day, both from the 1980s. Jeremiah Brown photographed the Mill Pond on a bright autumn day, memorializing a favorite view of his late wife, Janice Haynes. Artists depicted the pond on bright days, misty ones, at night, in simplified compositions, or with carefully rendered detail. There is even one nonrepresentational painting, a composition called “Reflecting,” by Lanny McDowell.
Friends of Mill Pond’s next event is this Saturday afternoon at the library, where Kanta Lipsky will read her children’s book, “Pinkletink the Froggie,” with an art project to follow.
Barbara Davis invited me to the Black Dog Cafe last Saturday night for dinner and a concert by Rick O’Gorman and Jess Lehman. It is always a treat to hear live music, and this duo was fabulous. I have known Rick for years, and he graciously sang “St. James Infirmary Blues,” one of my favorites. Barbara, who I’m sure knows something about everything, didn’t disappoint; she is lending me a book about the several renditions of that song. Rick’s daughter, Amah, arrived mid-concert, a special treat. I hadn’t seen her in ages, and hadn’t heard her sing with her father since she was a little girl. Johnny Hoy will sing at the Black Dog the next two Saturdays, and Sean McMahon the last Saturday in March.
If you need a bit of spring, stop by Ghost Island’s farmstand. The entryway is filled with flats of seedlings, tomatoes and peas the last time I was there. The vernal equinox is next week, March 20. It always seems as though we go from winter darkness to equal hours of day and night so quickly, a few minutes a day that add up like magic.
If you have any West Tisbury Town Column suggestions, email Hermine Hull, hermine.hull@gmail.com.
