Mark Alan Lovewell
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
Wednesday night offers Vineyarders a lunar eclipse perfectly timed for observing. The full moon rises in the eastern sky just as the sun sets at about 5:04 p.m. and the best part of the show is five hours later.
One can only hope that the weather cooperates as the next time the Vineyard will have so convenient a show will be in December 2010.
This February full moon is called the Snow Moon, which is located in the zodiacal constellation Leo and in close proximity to the bright ringed-planet Saturn.
They work under trying conditions. Chilly winds can blow over 30 miles per hour, the temperature hovers at above or below freezing and the precision of their work is expected to measure within fractions of an inch. Winter storms come and go, while the seas offshore boil with huge waves and send spray into the air
Still, they show up on the job with a smile.
They aren’t sailors. They are the Island’s carpenters.
At a job site on East Chop, carpenter Stephen Dunham is atop a three-story, rain-soaked plywood palace.
Skiff’s Island is back. The elusive island that sometimes resides southeast of the Vineyard may be making a comeback this winter.
The island is legendary. A number of ships have been lost to the treacherous waters of the Island or its shoals. While recreational anglers sometimes have caught their biggest fish next to it, there are other fishermen who are fearful of it, especially at night.
Plenty of mild chili, cold beer and warm fun went into the 22nd annual WMVY Chili Contest last Saturday. The fundraiser raised approximately $21,000 for the Island’s charitable organization, the Red Stocking Fund, more than last year’s event.
The Safe Haven Project got four aces last Saturday night in Oak Bluffs when more than a hundred friends and supporters showed up for a couple hours of gambling.
The event, a first for the nonprofit organization, was Casino Night at the Oyster Bar Grill on Circuit avenue.
Blackjack dealers wore stiff white shirts and dealt like the professionals from Foxwoods. “Oh, they are all local,” said Deanna Ahearn Laird, a longtime supporter of Safe Haven and volunteer on the camp committee.
There is nothing sleepy at the Portuguese-American Club in Oak Bluffs this winter, or any winter.
While many of the Island’s summer restaurants and clubs might slip into a state of hibernation, at the PA Club the music is loud, the television is playing and the heat is on. Someone has a story to tell.
The club, off Vineyard avenue, is the Island’s community living room, dining room and kitchen. For many of members, the place offers a second home, a second living space. The oven is seldom off.