Even though winter has just begun, I think we all can’t wait to see the snow melt and finally see a sign of spring again. It has already been a tough autumn and winter, especially for Islanders. A lot of people are feeling the effects of the economic depression this winter. Construction on the Island has been a driving force of the economy on the Island. This is true especially when winter comes and tourists leave their summer homes. For preparation for next summer they hire Island construction workers to work on their houses.

January Journal

From Gazette editions of January, 1934:

The reeking of the sea all about the Island is something new in the way of natural phenomena to many of the younger Vineyarders. The word comes to us from the Scotch and the Icelanders, and it seems to describe as no other word the exhalation of vapor which takes place when the salt water is still relatively warm, and the temperature of the air drops far below zero.

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

As an octogenarian and 20-year resident of the Vineyard, I’m following the debate on the matter of the most desirable emergency medical dispensing site (Jan. 9 Gazette).

It seems to me that Oak Bluffs police chief Erik Blake is entirely wise in stating that asking all Vineyarders to head for the high school in the summer months is not feasible. Certainly I, in Vineyard Haven, would not want to face the traffic jam that would exist just between our two towns.

In years past we all have looked forward to celebrating and remembering the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as we recalled his leadership and contributions during the civil rights struggles. But today we are thinking about what Dr. King would say if he were with us as we celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States of America. I believe he would smile and say, “Thank you America, for part of my dream was realized when you looked at a man and his character and not the color of his skin.”

The picture on my computer screen shows four grandchildren dancing at the edge of the water on South Beach. Madeline stands knee deep in surf, her hands lifted above the froth. Lindy is half turned from the incoming wave, ready to run for higher ground. Her cousin Burns faces bravely forward, feet firmly planted in the running sand while Liza, poised on one foot with the other kicked up in the spray behind her, welcomes the waves.

January Days

The whole Island, it seems, has got a case of the winter blahs. Of course the weather hasn’t helped — gray, rainy, icy, bitter cold, snowy — pull up the covers and make another pot of tea. Many down-Island storefronts are shuttered, recalling the year when Jaws II was filmed on the Island and Hollywood experts transformed Edgartown in July into a winter streetscape, complete with mud-splattered shops and great billows of manufactured rain and fog.

It’s like that for real now.