Editor’s Note: The following letter was sent to Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Montana Sen. Max Baucus by President Barack Obama on June 2 following a meeting between the President and a group of key senators about health care reform. In remarks beforehand the President said: “So we can’t afford to put this off, and the dedicated public servants who are gathered here today understand that and they are ready to get going, and this window between now and the August recess I think is going to be the make-or-break period.

Day’s End on Eel Pond

Sunlight falls through holes in the clouds

spotlighting the marsh grass here and not there,

whitening a sail out on the water, leaving

others in shadow, shining the transom

of the moored cat boat, its bow disappearing.

The bobwhite calls its name without knowing it.

Sparrows and swallows, fussing and twittering.

line up like deacons on the deck railing,

Busted Budgets, Conscious Choices

Six Island towns, six budgets, and one — in Oak Bluffs — already collapsing as weakening receipts this year cannot hold up the weight of spending. Town officials across the Vineyard continue to demand that all departments do the job on leaner budgets; cost of living increases have been scrapped, travel has been curtailed, in Oak Bluffs voluntary redundancy packages are on offer for town employees.

Flower Power

The season of beautiful flowers has begun on the Vineyard. In rustic, rural dooryards up-Island riots of pink and white clematis tumble over weathered fences and stone walls. Bridal wreath (spirea) has nearly gone by, sending showers of tiny shell-like blossoms across lawns and back stoops. Look up — towering native locusts are topped with fragrant white blooms.

LISTEN CAREFULLY

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Can you hear me now? Yes, loud and clear.

Can you hear me now? Yes, loud and clear.

Forty-eight-foot cell phone towers in 19 different visible locations all over West Tisbury is a bad idea.

From Vineyard Gazette editions of June, 1909:

There was quite a ripple in quiet Edgartown on Saturday when the Tea Room on Davis Lane was opened, and one realizes at once, that it is a long-felt want in our summer life. The Tea Room, in connection with Mrs. Leonard’s Studio at the Arts and Crafts Cottage, was in gala attire, being a bower of daisies which were most kindly contributed by some of the children of the neighborhood; even they entered fully into the spirit of the occasion and did their noble best to beautify the place.