I ran into Mary Rentschler last week at Cronig’s, always a treat. Amid reminiscences about her mother, Sylvia, we also caught up with news about Nelson, the cat I’d adopted from Mary 13 years ago.
“My sister’s cat just had a litter of kittens,” my dear friend, Cynthia Walsh, had said shortly after I’d lost my darling Porter. Cynthia had found Porter for me. I completely trusted her judgment regarding exemplary cats.
When we arrived, Mary came into her living room carrying a basket of kittens, all cute, but it was the tiny orange boy who climbed from my lap to my shoulder, and snuggled himself against my neck. He purred. I sighed. He claimed me for his own.
Sept. 1 is Ginger Cat Day, a special day to celebrate Nelson and all ginger cats.
The September art show at our library is “Stone Walls, Graves, Fishing Shack Windows,” paintings by Susan Bienen Johnson. Fred Thornbrough’s chair-caning workshop begins Sept. 3 at 2:30 pm, followed by a virtual astrology class with Hallee Brevetti at 4 pm that will include an individual birth chart for each attendee. Register at gwilbur@clamsnet.org. Dr. Robert Gobel will present “Preventing Osteoporosis,” on Friday at 3:30 pm. An acoustic duo at 2:30 pm and mahjongg at 3 pm on Saturday. The library will be closed on Monday for Labor Day. Wednesday at 1 pm, Tom Dresser will discuss “Vineyard Vanguards: Historic Trailblazers and Their Legacies,” and at 3:30 pm, former public defender Emily Galvin Almanza will speak about her debut novel for middle-graders, “Andromeda Diaz and the Reasonable Doubt.”
Jennelle Gadowski has become the first full-time EMT for Tri-Town. She will continue on as emergency management director for West Tisbury as well. Congratulations, Jennelle. You are amazing.
A talented friend of Paul Karasik’s, potter Akira Satake, will be on the Island to do an all-day Demo Workshop at Slough Farm on Saturday, Sept. 19. Cost is $80. Register at programs@sloughfarm.org. Paul sent links to his website, akirasatake.com. He will be at the Film Center that evening to perform on his banjo before the showing of Akira Kurasawa’s noir film, “High and Low.”
Traffic seems to be thinning out a little. Mike commented that he got right out of our driveway, rather than the lengthy delay waiting for cars to whiz past from both directions.
I think this summer has been the worst. We really need to assess the impact of all that is summer on the Vineyard. It has taken 40 minutes or more to get from our house to Barnes Road, a distance of about three miles. Then the roundabout is clogged up with cars going full speed ahead with little regard for the supposed courtesies of a roundabout, i.e. allowing right of way to cars already in it, and waiting your turn. Getting to Vineyard Haven is another opportunity to waste your time and gas sitting in unmoving lines.
As we cede more of our remaining open land to high-end housing developments, and the Steamship Authority continues to spend money advertising to bring more people and cars to the Island, every aspect of life seems stretched beyond any limits.
I understand the pressure to earn a living for those of us who live here. I also understand the value of a quiet, mostly rural life in a place we love. This is a discussion that has gone on as long as I have lived on the Vineyard.
