2026 has certainly begun with a bang. Literally. America invading another country. Just when I felt grateful for the end of 2025, thinking the state of the world couldn’t get any worse, it did. What happened to the world peace that I asked Santa for last month at the firehouse?
I am of the generation who lived through Vietnam, Abu Ghraib, regime changes in Iraq and Afghanistan, years of tax cuts and unfunded wars. What is the matter with our country?
Now that I have gotten that out of my system, on to the snowy beginning to our New Year here in West Tisbury. It looks and feels like a real winter. I am getting spoiled waking up to snow covering the ground and branches, and blowing past our windows. On the nights when it isn’t snowing, we have the huge and brilliant Wolf Moon shining in.
I am grateful for the beauty outside my window, as I am progressively more enfeebled by my dratted left knee. Much as I enjoy reading on my sofa with Abby and Nelson, I hate being in pain, and I hate hardly being able to walk, even using a cane, across the floor to our kitchen.
Still, there are lovely moments. Mike and I celebrated our 41st anniversary on New Year’s Day. Ginger Norton and Doug Ruskin also were married on New Year’s Day. Claudia Canerdy and Richard Lee were married on New Year’s Eve years ago, just before we were. Chris and Sheila Morse chose New Year’s Eve, too, as did my in-laws. In years past, I would make rack of lamb for an anniversary dinner with Bobby and Richard. It is a lovely time of year for one more special occasion, something to look forward to after the bustle of Hanukkah and Christmas.
Another happy occasion coming up is Ann Burt’s birthday on Jan. 9. I was told by a bird that Ann will turn 90, and that receiving lots of birthday cards would be a special treat. I have already mailed mine, and hope her other friends and admirers will, too. An extra Happy Birthday wish for you, Ann, here in the column.
The library has several events planned for the coming week. Kanta Lipsky’s balance class is back on Zoom, Mondays and Fridays at 11:30. Sign up: wt_mail@clamsnet.org. There will be ballroom dancing on Saturday at 11:30. Three programs on Sunday: Birthing Story Sharing Circle will meet at the M.V. Family Center at 1; at the library, a jazz concert at 2, and the Climate Book Club, which will discuss “The Book of Hope” by Jane Goodall at 4. On Wednesday, kids ages 8 and up are invited to “Paint and Sip” (water and juice) at 1:30. Young adults and teens can learn the basics of needle felting with YA librarian Laura Hearn at 3 on Friday afternoon. Materials will be provided. Sign up: lhearn@clamsnet.org.
I will end by addressing too many losses. Marshall Seagall was an active library patron, an active fundraiser for our last addition. Shanta Gabriel was a writer and a spiritual presence to all who knew her. Natty Schneider, who died in a skiing accident, and Tatiana Schlossberg, who wrote about her rare illness in the New Yorker, were both way too young. Longtime scallopers Roy Scheffer and Tricia Bergeron died in a boating accident on New Year’s Day. My condolences to their families and to all who knew them.