Open Season on Tuesdays

Early summer on the farm and the fields are plowed and top-dressed with fresh compost (aka black gold); new lettuce is just coming in; it’s a banner year for asparagus (which loves the moist coastal climate); and the cool weather spring crops are soon to be prime time: sugar snap peas, beets, carrots, spinach, broccoli and cabbage.

Achoo

It’s in the air. And on the car and settling in fine layers on the dining room table and coating the laptop and flying out of the dog’s coat when she shakes. It’s the cause of sneezy noses and watery eyes and it has nothing at all to do with flu season.

Pollen is a season all its own on the Vineyard, where the hayfields grow lush and tall at precisely the same time that the oak and pine trees are producing new growth: read pollen. And then along come gusty ocean breezes to keep the stuff aloft.

The Name of the Game

Listen to John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, who waited fifteen years before his team earned an NCAA championship title. “Winning games, titles and championships isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but getting there, the journey, is a lot more than it’s cracked up to be,” he said.

He also said: “Team spirit means you are willing to sacrifice personal considerations for the welfare of all. That defines a team player.”

Port Town in a Storm

A Daunting Task

While Island seniors and their families are planning their graduation parties, parents of Island middle schoolers are discovering ways to make sure their kids reach graduation, happy and healthy. The Martha’s Vineyard Youth Task Force hosted dinners at all Island schools in the past week, to communicate with parents about communicating with teens on the subject of drinking and drugs. Their message is at once sobering and promising.

Memorial Day 2009

What will the summer bring? This has been on the minds of Islanders throughout the long winter. As sidewalks and farm fields lay frozen beneath endless layers of snow and ice, as the economic downturn cast dark shadows across the nation, as Islanders pulled in their collective horns and counted their pennies along with their blessings — the question hung in the air wherever you went. What will the summer bring?