Lately I’ve been watching a lot of All Creatures Great and Small. The PBS series is in its fourth season and ranks high on my list of not-so-guilty pleasures.

Sand scraped against the blades of our ice skates as we headed out into the middle of Squibnocket Pond.

Why Black History Month

Were it not for slavery

There would be no

Black History Month

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Or a Malcom X

No Barack Obama

Our first Black President

And arguably, no America

As we know it

Built on sweat and tears

Of free labor

Over hundreds of years

Making a young nation

Prominent and wealthy

Beneficiaries of a servitude

Both north and south

Until slaves were freed

Only to endure Jim Crow

Discrimination and segregation

I appreciate the technical, legal and subjective arguments over managing Chappaquiddick beaches to accommodate responsible over-sand vehicle (OSV) access.

Martha's Vineyard is famous for eerie coincidences, some touching luminaries who live here.

I know it is unpopular, but I am a lifetime lover of snow.