Commentary
Summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard. Who couldn’t look at this time as anything but pure relaxation? Warm, fresh, salty air that just cleans out all the other weeks of the year from your lungs. You feel an extra spring in your step as you walk the sidewalks of the towns. There is a slight smile on your face that you just can’t seem to lose everywhere you go. All those other weeks of the year there is regular day-in, day-out time, and then there is Vineyard time, when everything runs just a little bit slower.
I noticed the oaks right away. My first visit to the Vineyard was in spring 2002 when the abundant oak trees were raining down yellow pollen. Later, after moving to the Island while my daughter was playing at the West Tisbury School playground, I wandered off into the woods to look at the trees. I was gleeful to discover five oak species, including Quercus alba, the white oak. A young mother asked why I was so excited. After I explained my love affair with oaks, and my new position at the arboretum, she gave me some input: “I hate oaks; they’re everywhere.
Today is Philanthropy Day on Martha’s Vineyard. Proclaimed by Dukes County, it’s a day to honor everyone, seasonal and year-round for the tremendous amount of time and money you donate to preserve the Vineyard and keep its nonprofits running.
In the last year there’s been a lot of philanthropy to thank you for. Some of it preserved or improved important Island institutions.
Learjets on final approach ride wakes of noise, the whoosh of traffic throbs off the seawall and the wail of the lumpen mob soars over Circuit avenue.
It’s summer.
It’s time for the earnest toilers of commerce to harvest the golden hordes. In fact, it’s July 21 and the Monster Shark Tournament is in Oak Bluffs and with it the yahoos in their plastic boats, rafted up three, four to a mooring — hundreds of them bobbing in the crowded harbor.
Somewhere on a chain of islands off Martha’s Vineyard:
You may recall the headline of last March 6: “Angry Island Mob Attacks Bird Watcher; Injuries Result.” Angry? Probably not. Mad? Absolutely. Elvin Jane, the birdwatcher in question, visited the island again last week and we pretty much got things straightened out.
About 40 years ago my wife and I built a modest summer house on the high point of Chappaquiddick known as Samson’s Hill. We fell in love with Samson’s Hill due to its rural character and the serenity of the area. Since then, a number of thoughtful people have built modest homes around us and all have been careful not to violate the integrity of the neighborhood.