I was not surprised to read that someone from the Island Autism Center was instrumental in establishing a hockey team of disabled players on the Vineyard. She is Brooke Avakian, chair of the board of Island Autism. The hockey team is called The Great Blizzards and Island Autism is a great blizzard itself, having raised millions of dollars, much of it from private donors and foundations. The funding is being used to build a solid, well-equipped hub house/common space, a mini-farm and  residential facilities, all of outstanding quality seldom seen in programs for people with disabilities.

I have heard concerns that it is too costly, too fancy. But why shouldn’t my autistic grown-up child have a private bedroom and an adjoining semi-private bathroom? It is what she would have if she could live elsewhere.

The energy, skills and force behind the program is Kate DeVane, director and co-founder of this astonishing program. What she is doing is nothing short of miraculous. You may have seen the program’s van full of clients, who pop up at the library or the post office or just about anywhere with a load of energetic adults going about their business. Blizzard indeed.

I am thrilled  to report that our daughter Chloe is now a regular participant in the Island Autism day program. Chloe is not a child. She even has a few gray hairs. She qualifies as profoundly autistic, compounded by grand mal seizures. But the under-staffed state program she had been in offered little benefit for her and she spent her days just sitting, unable to participate in the groups’ activities.

From her first day at Island Autism, Chloe has a job to do. With guidance, she heads downhill to the henhouse. She collects the day’s eggs, puts them in a basket, takes them up to the hub house. There, she washes the eggs in the professional kitchen, sorts them into cartons to be sold at the program’s farm stand. And from there, she may hop into the van with a few others to go for a swim at the Y. Chloe is overdue for a little good luck.

Speaking of parenting and grandparenting, Anna Alley recently attended grandparents’ day at Xaverian Brothers High School, a private school for boys in Westwood. Anna’s oldest grandson, Robert Hambardzumian, is an eighth grade student there and acted as Anna’s tour guide and escort for the ice cream social portion of the day.

Anna’s sister Nina Berry is here this week from Providence to help Anna do some sorting and cleaning up around the house.

Happy birthday Saturday, Nov. 1, to Hermine Hull. Jerry Gallagher will celebrate his birthday on Sunday, Nov. 2. And it is that special day Wednesday Nov 5, for Liz Witham and Harvey Mazer. Vicky Thurber is the birthday girl Thursday, Nov. 6.

Congratulations to Katryn Yerdon and Rob Gilbert who celebrate their wedding anniversary on Oct. 30, as well as Rob’s birthday on Nov. 4, and who are heading south on a cruise to relax for a week.

Happy anniversary and congratulations to Doug and Becky Finn on marking your wedding date, Sunday, Nov. 2.

I bought a large bag of fancy expensive chocolates to dole out to the goblins  at our doorstep on Halloween. It is highly unlikely that anyone will show up, so I will have to find a way to dispose of them myself.