Editor’s Note: A small piece of history came down this week when a portion of an old house near the intersection of Old County and West Tisbury-Edgartown Road was torn down. The sagging buildig on the east end of the house was a familiar sight to all who drive that road. The building was formerly a general store that sold hand-cranked ice cream. The following piece was published in the Gazette in the summer of 1996.

I am just back from Tunisia. Sadly, I have not been to a hammam — the Turkish steam bath for which Tunisia is famous. And I have not ridden a camel, which, of course, one should always do in a desert country. But I have seen camels aplenty and I have petted one (coarse, uninviting hair — not at all like the smooth texture of a camel’s hair coat). The camel, however, was friendly. His name was Ali Baba and he even let me scratch his ears. Admittedly, he was muzzled. That seems to be the trend among camel owners these days, probably because cross camels spit.

By PHYLLIS MERAS

Longtime Aquinnah seasonal resident Frances Tenenbaum was lauded last week in the Boston Globe’s Gardening Column as “one of the 20th-century’s outstanding American garden book editors.” Columnist Carol Stocker described the former Houghton Mifflin garden book editor as one “who helped elevate garden writing by American authors instead of following the book industry’s long trend of simply reprinting British garden books.”

With Memorial Day ap proaching, I am recalling a visit to Viet Nam last fall on which two U.S. Navy veterans of the war in Viet Nam were among my companions. As we visited city and countryside, we met Vietnamese veterans on street corners and in rice fields. Amazingly, bygones seemed to be bygones among veterans on both sides. Though the war is keenly remembered — particularly by those who have been affected by the Agent Orange that we dropped in the war — stoic acceptance appeared to be the norm.

With Valentine’s Day on Sunday, it’s all hearts and flowers — and chocolates — right now. Here on the Vineyard, the chocolates are Chilmark Chocolates, of course. Like most of us, I indulge whenever I can. I know that First Lady Michelle Obama is speaking out these days about obesity, but her main concern is with children. Senior citizen that I am, I am relatively unconcerned about gaining weight. At least I was, until I went on a chocolate-eating binge last month in Belgium. I ate some pretty trendy chocolates.