I’m watching the wind blow through our woods. Leaves dressed in progressive stages of green, from rich viridian to almost yellow, swirl wildly as jazz dancers. They are still dense enough to block all but the slightest hint of blue sky.
I looked at Liz Taft paintings this morning. Blue skies are clearly visible in her paintings of open landscapes: beaches, marshes, ponds, long views painted in blocks of autumn colors with those delicious skies overhead.
In contrast, Marie-Louise Rouff’s abstract paintings are colored the reds and ochre-golds of deserts. I hope her family will have some of her work at the memorial gathering this Saturday, Oct. 17, at 1:30 pm, at Featherstone. Even after moving back here from California, even though Marie-Louise loved the Island, loved its verdant woods, loved its flat marshes and beaches, she continued to paint the structural masses and colors of Western hills.
We all have our places, our colors, our views that will outlive us in our paintings.
A correction of Paul Rashba’s email: It’s cls.mv26@gmail.com. He has already had 30 responses to his request for interest in the Center for Lifetime Study he hopes to replicate on the Vineyard. Prospective teachers and students should get in touch with Paul. He plans to have a meeting soon.
Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Conference will host a climate discussion, “Lessons from the 2026 Blizzards,” at the West Tisbury library on Saturday, Oct. 17, 3 to 5 pm.
Also at the library, the Climate Book Club will meet Sunday afternoon at 4 pm to discuss Peter Brannen’s “The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything.” The Memoir Book Club will meet Wednesday afternoon at 5:30 pm; pick up your copy of “Between the Mountain and the Sky” by Maggie Doyne. Suheir Freitekh, activist and founder of Palestinian NGO Al Ufoq (the Horizon), will speak on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 12:30 pm about her work supporting a network of Palestinian women entrepreneurs.
Check the library website or flyers in the lobby for all the programs offered during the week: crafts, exercise, dancing, author talks, storytimes for toddlers and tummy times for babies, and more.
Halloween will be here before we know it. Peggy Stone of West Tisbury parks and rec is looking for volunteers to help with the town Halloween party at the Ag Hall. Call her at 508-696-0147.
It has been another of those weeks we are all struggling to understand. Here we are, living in a close community on a beautiful Island, welcoming new babies, planning memorial gatherings for friends who have passed, Halloween parties for families, lectures and programs, getting kids to school and home again, planning playdates and dinner parties, while families off-Island are traumatized and separated, and Americans are shot in the streets.
I fear that we are counting on elections to counteract the destruction of our government and our civic norms, expecting the midterm election won’t be interfered with, that the results will be respected despite daily threats and intimidation to the contrary.
MV Democrats will hold the No Kings Vote Early rally at Five Corners this Saturday at 1 pm. Plan to vote early at the Public Safety Building in West Tisbury. Early voting hours are Saturday, Oct. 17, 8 am to noon; Monday through Friday, 8 to 11 am; Saturday, Oct. 24, 9 am to 5 pm. VOTE!
