A Different Kind of Visit

In August 1994, the last year the annual agricultural fair was held on the grounds of the old Grange Hall in West Tisbury, the fair was on, and I was crossing State Road by the town hall as two motorcycle escorts heralded the arrival of President Clinton’s motorcade.

The death of a spouse or life partner is often fol lowed by a flurry of activity. You may be surrounded by loved ones — family and friends. They support you emotionally, spiritually and physically. They bring food over. They make the phone calls no one wants to get. A funeral, a memorial service . . . It would seem that you couldn’t do it without them. They are there for you in any way they can, and their loving support carries you through that initial grieving period. But then what? One day, you wake up and the flurry of activity has stopped.

Well, yes we did. At long last, my “darlings” have won a ribbon at the fair. A blue one (technically, pale blue — honorable mention), but blue nonetheless. A life dream now realized. And sweet it is.

Four years ago I chronicled the saga behind my own long-held ambition aroused in 1977 when I first spotted cherry tomatoes displayed in the exhibit hall at the West Tisbury Grange Hall.

BACK TO SCHOOL

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

No Rest for Chocolatiers

From Gazette editions of September, 1984:

This feels like an only on Martha’s Vineyard story. Two weeks before the doors to my daughter’s school open for students, the cafeteria and gym are filled with reporters from around the globe. They await the arrival of President Obama and Ben Bernanke, who, after negotiating the narrow two-lane roads leading to the school, on an Island without one traffic light, arrive at the Oak Bluffs School by motorcade. Once inside, the President announces he is reappointing Bernanke for a second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.