Saturday was a perfect day, and Flat Point Farm the perfect place for our annual fire department picnic. Tents and games were set up at the very end of a broad pasture along Town Cove. Garrison Viera was manning the grill. Tables were filled with potluck dishes and early diners.
Flat Point Farm was the home of West Tisbury’s first fire chief, Arnie Fischer. Reminiscing with Betty Haynes, Sharon Estrella, and Eleanor Neubert, we spoke of years when it was drizzling and cold, or baking hot, of years when Arnie Sr. and Priscilla, and the fire and police chiefs from all the Island towns, were still alive, and part of the day. We are lucky to still be able to return to that beautiful spot for the picnic every September.
Our department is made up of many new members now, along with some of the children and grandchildren of the original cohort. They may not remember when Arnie was chief, or Bill Haynes, or John Cotterill, or Manny Estrella. Greg Pachico is the current chief, and the requirements and training are much more sophisticated, even though we are still an on-call volunteer department.
I was sorry to hear that Herb Moody died last week. He was a West Tisbury policeman when I first moved to town, back when the police station was still beside the Mill Pond. George Manter was chief. Herb, Skipper Manter, and Tim Rich were the department.
Another loss was the passing of Dr. Michael Jacobs. Condolences to his family and to his many friends and admirers.
Harriet Bernstein is showing some of her newest paintings at the offices of MVTV. She hosted an opening reception last week. Harriet’s paintings are about color. She incorporates solid geometric shapes and thickly brushed areas laid onto thinly painted, translucent backgrounds. I had thought of her work as pale or bright, but several of these paintings use a darker palette.
Among others attending were Leah and Woolcott Smith. Woolcott mentioned that he and his potcake dog, Penny, “because she’s the color of a penny,” had missed seeing Mike and Abby lately on their morning walks. Our conversation turned to the toxic cyanobacteria in the water at Sepiessa, and signage warning of danger levels. Signs are yellow now, no longer red. Mike let Abby play in the water last week.
Just think. “The color of a penny” will no longer be a recognizable description of a dog’s fur, or anything else. Young children today will grow up never having seen a penny.
Woolcott showed me pictures of a sculpture he made that incorporated narrow strips of metal into wooden backing, skillfully bolted to a tree. Sadly, the tree began leaning over his workshop, and had to be taken down. He was able to cut the tree so carefully that his work of art remains for all to admire and enjoy.
Kanta Lipsky is one of 20 plein air artists exhibiting at the Old Sculpin Gallery this week. It’s always interesting to see different artists painting the same scenes, how their vantage points and visual interpretations are all their own.
Jennelle Gadowski, Emergency Management Department member, will be at the West Tisbury library on Friday, Sept. 26, at 3:30 pm for the first of a series of programs about community preparedness. She will cover the essentials of building an emergency plan, creating a go bag, signing up for emergency alerts, and other important information. Good to know.
