Opinion
It’s a mistake to think that all significant events are unusual or out of the commonplace, or surrounded by some sensational circumstances. Take a man or a woman rounding a corner on a bicycle. That looks, maybe, like a pretty routine occurrence. But perhaps it isn’t.
Picture this: dense, twiggy colonies of dark, gnarled branches buried in sand along the barrier dunes of Lambert’s Cove Beach. What is this tough plant that thrives in such a challenging environment? The answer is obvious each May when these same branches erupt with beautiful white flowers. It’s our native beach plum (Prunus maritima). This exceptional spring display lasts a few weeks then something even better follows. Over the following months plump, tasty fruits ripen, often creating a bountiful crop for harvest by the end of the summer.
From the Vineyard Gazette editions of August, 1958:
The Menemsha of today presents a contrast with the Menemsha that Ralph B. Potter of Cranston, R.I. knew sixty summers ago. But this contrast has not been reached abruptly, as Mr. Potter can assure you, for he has vacationed at Menemsha for every one of those sixty summers, and has watched the changes come in slowly and irresistibly.
I wish to respond to the points raised in what I will call Schlesinger’s Lament on the editorial page of the August 21 issue of the Gazette. I live across the street from the “Ominous, Omnipresent” Allen farm wind turbine. I think the turbine is actually quite beautiful.
Barbara Schlesinger’s letter on wind turbines, in the August 21 Gazette, deserves special consideration. After years of researching wind energy, including being certified to install them, and after listening to continuous stories of neighbors being antagonized living near these turbines, my views have changed.
Paris and the Vineyard have something in common. In a recent New York Times international edition article, the headline in large bold type read: “Paris Wants Smokers to Kick a Bad Habit: Tossing Butts in the Street.” The story went on to say “A stroll through parts of Paris on weekend mornings is a little like walking in an ashtray.” Paris now plans to install 10,000 so-called snuffers by the end of the year with more to follow.