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West Tisbury
September 29, 2005
Hermine Hull - 508-693-2525 - hrmhull@gis.net
This past week has been of such perfection. All of my landscape-painter friends have been out as much as possible, the clear light and intense colors both fleeting and compelling. Large masses of goldenrod, bleached green grasses, dark cedars, reddening poison ivy, blueberry bushes, and beetlebungs are all outstanding against brilliant blue skies. The cloud shapes over the beach have been of pencil-thin stripes or of billowing abundance. Every day seems a gift.
A group of Whitings and friends spent Saturday morning weeding out great clumps of greenery from Parsonage Pond. It was quite a sight, with people knee-deep in the water and the tractor, laden with muck and weeds, pulling up onto the shore.
Henry Bassett was at the Farmer's Market Saturday morning, buying lemon-limeade and sweet corn with his parents, Brian Bassett and Sarah Wasserman. The party, who were here from Cambridge to visit Sarah's mother, Susan Wasserman, were heading off to the library for crafts hour and to check out the new books selection.
Glenn and Linda Hearn entertained guests this past week. Bob and Joan Walsh and their son Bob were here from Quechee, Vermont. Bob the Younger enjoyed exploring the Great Pond in Linda's kayak, while the rest of the party enjoyed relaxing and talking with each other.
Hannah Webster, daughter of Candy and Ray Webster, was awarded her Black Belt in Karate on September 17, in a ceremony at the Oak Bluffs School. Hannah, age 11, is a sixth grader at the West Tisbury School, and the youngest member of the current group of award-winners. She has been studying karate since she was six years old, training three times weekly at Triangle Fitness in Edgartown. Her test had taken place in Boston on June 25, a week after Hannah had left for summer camp in New Hampshire, causing a lot of frantic driving off-Island by her mother. Congratulations, Hannah, on a remarkable achievement.
My NASCAR correspondent, Nathaniel Haynes, gave me a full report of his trip last weekend to New Hampshire to the Louden Speedway, accompanied by his father, Bruce, and their friend, Rob Young. Nathaniel said they had great seats with a good view of all the crashes. He saw the number seven car driver crash, then slam his helmet on the number 15 car, a scene that was repeatedly shown on television as the 15 driver was suspended over the incident. Our West Tisbury contingent met Jeff Gordon and saw Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman. They also saw Bob Hennessey, Kenny Mastromonaco, and Bob Maciel, current and former West Tisbury neighbors.
Nancy Whiting celebrated her 80th birthday Saturday evening at a family dinner at the home of her son, Tom Hodgson, and his wife, Christine Gault. Nancy's daughter, Michelle, came from North Carolina. Granddaughter, Lucy Hodgson, was here from Boston.
Also on Saturday, Tracy Amaral and Keith Olsen were married outside the home of the groom's parents, Richie and Lydia Olsen, on State Road in the field among the cows.
Sunday afternoon, members of the West Tisbury Fire Department took place in the Annual Muster, a collection of drills and timed events held at Waban Park in Oak Bluffs. The event attracted departments from West Tisbury, Tisbury, and Oak Bluffs, as well as an off-Island contingent from Millbury. Oak Bluffs was the winner, their team augmented by four West Tisbury firemen, drafted to help out the two firemen who comprised the Oak Bluffs team. (The other teams had six to ten members each.) Despite a smaller-than-usual turnout and water problems, everyone had a good time. Hamburgers, hot dogs, water, and T-shirts were sold; some T-shirts are still available if you want one.
West Tisbury School students are holding a tag sale to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina on Saturday, October 1, from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm, in the school gymnasium. Please remember to bring your donated items to the gym on Friday afternoon from 2:40 to 5:40 pm. If you have any questions or would like to help with the sale, please call Victoria Phillips at 693-0761 or Marsha Curtis at 696-7738 x 123.
West Tisbury author and illustrator Leslie Baker will begin a month-long retrospective exhibition of her 20 years of children's book illustrations from 15 books with an opening reception at the Chilmark Library this Saturday, October 1, from 3 to 4 pm. All are welcome, especially children. "This is really a show for kids," says Leslie.
Katie Ann Mayhew has just finished recording her second CD, this one called "A Vineyard Christmas with Katie Ann Mayhew." It features traditional, classical, and popular Christmas songs. The CD is expected to be on sale on the Island sometime in November. Katie Ann's Uncle Jack did the recording and mixing for the CD. Her Aunt Sarah provided artwork for the jewel case. She is accompanied on the piano and organ by Linda Berg, West Tisbury Church organist and choir director, and on the violin by her cousin, Caroline Mayhew.
If you missed it, this Sunday's Boston Globe Real Estate section featured an article about John Abrams's work as an affordable housing advocate and builder. Coincidentally, The Sunday New York Times also had an article about the rising costs of home ownership nationwide and its impact on affordability, family budgets, and the economy as a whole. We have both papers at the library.
Jonathan Revere kindly e-mailed me to correct a misstatement from last week's column; the video that he made of Lew French's talk at the Grange was not intended for Plum TV. My apologies to Jonathan and to all of you for the error which, though unintended, was an error nonetheless.
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