A chilly springtime wind blew through town last week, keeping me in a sweater as I watched branches sway in my woods. Otherwise, spring is progressing as expected. Takemmy Farm, North Tisbury, and Morning Glory have voluptuous bouquets of tulips of every color and variety for sale. New leaves are emerging, and shadbush is blooming in delicate puffs. My dogwood trees are flowering now, too, planted in memory of my Connecticut childhood.
There was an article on the front page of Sunday’s New York Times, “Reviving U.S. Waterways by Removing Failing Dams.” Interesting reading, as I think it might apply to the debate over our Mill Pond. Worth taking a look at.
Mike and I had a houseguest over the weekend. A dear longtime friend, Melanie Winsten Hall, came from New York’s Hudson Valley. We met when Melanie brought artwork for me to look at when I had my gallery, and we have been friends ever since. She is a painter, teacher, and children’s book illustrator.
It’s true that having company makes us look anew at the Island. Melanie and I took a drive up-Island, and reminisced about places we have loved, and painted. I haven’t painted outside in some while; didn’t realize how much I missed it until I revisited some of my favorite spots. Lobsterville. Red Beach. Squibnocket. Moshup Trail. The Allen and Keith farms. Mermaid Farm and Brookside. Polly Hill’s. So much still looks the same, and we appreciated its untouched beauty that allowed the illusion that nothing has changed.
I had wanted to stop in at Merry Farm Pottery, which opened this past weekend, but we ran out of time. Another day. Micah Thanhauser will have his studio open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 11 to 5 pm, and anytime by appointment: micah@merryfarmpottery.com
The Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living’s Walk for Dementia and Caregiver Services is Saturday, May 16. Meet at Nomans Restaurant in O.B. at 10 am, and walk to Jaws Bridge and back. There is a 20 percent discount on your meal with walk registration. For information: 508-939-9440.
West Tisbury’s Richard North Patterson has a new book, “Tripwires: Fifteen 21st Century Events that Undermined American Democracy — and How to Reclaim It,” which will be published on Sept. 1. It is based on a series of essays he wrote online, “America on the Precipice.”
Books and reading have always been my retreat and succor. Here are some other suggestions: P.G. Wodehouse is always a good bet. Spending any time in his world of wacky characters in even wackier situations, all told in a plummy British upper-class voice, cheers me right up. Wodehouse must have been laughing hysterically as he typed these stories.
Reading American history, the combination of glorious Enlightenment ideals balanced by hard-headed realism, the writing of our Constitution, the rending of our nation that led to the Civil War, Reconstruction and its aftermath, two world wars, Jim Crow and anti-immigrant prejudice, our greatest times, and our worst. It is instructive to read about how we Americans came through periods of seemingly insurmountable discord before now, as well as periods of unity and achievement.
Jon Meacham has published an anthology of documents, speeches, and essays called “American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union.” Chris Matthews’ “Lessons From Bobby” is about Robert F. Kennedy, a man who showed great moral clarity in his efforts to make America fairer for all Americans. Then I reread President John Kennedy’s book “Profiles in Courage,” a book I first read in the 1960s. Anything by David McCullough or Doris Kearns Goodwin is always readable and instructive.
Happy reading.