Heard on Main Street: How come Superman could stop bullets with his chest, but always ducked when someone threw a gun at him?
If you haven’t had your flu shot, get it Saturday, Nov. 7, from 9 am to 1 pm. You must go first to the vehicle staging areas at Waban Park or to the Ag Hall. Register there before you go to the high school or you will be turned away.
The best thing about setting the clocks back is that now I wake up to daylight. I suppose it is more to the point that the school bus will pick up children in daylight as well.
Dr. Jelle Atema has been part of WHOI for 30 years. Our library brings him back on Zoom on Tuesday, Nov. 10, for his third program on how underwater creatures use their senses for navigation, hunting, and survival. Learn how sharks seek out prey. Smell is only one of several senses that make sharks efficient predators; another is a ‘lateral line,’ which runs the length of a shark’s body and picks up vibrations in the water. When sharks catch a whiff of a potential meal, timing is everything. See “A Shark’s Navigational System” on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 7 pm. More from [email protected] on this and the following programs.
Need some laughs? See the interactive program at the VHPL on Friday, Nov. 27, at 6 pm, right at home. “A Funny Program About Funny Programs” is based on Martin Gitlin’s book “The Greatest Sitcoms of All Time.” Marty will show funny bits from old shows from “I Love Lucy” through “The Big Bang Theory.”
In more serious news, the Island libraries are sponsoring new tools to assist parents and students with the unusual challenges of this school year. Brainfuse will provide free online tutoring and homework help to all Martha’s Vineyard library cardholders, available seven days a week.
The Louisa Gould Gallery announces a one-month extension of ‘The Martha’s Vineyard Maritime Show: Ship to Shore’ until Dec.1. The exhibit showcases the work of 13 renowned maritime painters. Enjoy a new flip book of the show at flipsnack.com/ShiptoShore/copy-of-ship-to-shore.html.
We are all finding the continued sense of threat from COVID-19 overlays everything. Trying to tread through the minefield of threats everywhere has made us almost too concerned. We need to find our calm space, determine where we feel safe, and go out of our way to avoid all other scenarios. Handwashing and wipes, masks and shields ease our way. What seemed like paranoid behavior in March has become important every day to most of us. And that is why we are doing rather well on the Island. Stay safe — and stay careful — that seems to make the most sense. It is easily the only way to feel safe in today’s crazy world.
My granddaughter was exposed to the virus because a child who sat in front of her in class was found to be positive. You have to hope the parents did not send her to school knowing that was so. We have to trust so many to be careful with our lives now.
I am tired of news — I try to only watch weather reports. But I do give in to the temptation to read headlines. So I thoroughly enjoyed the NY Times ways to break up the tension. It was a treat to see quiet scenes of farm or aquatic life, and to view up close things rarely seen before, even if I hardly understood what I was looking at.
The only other good break in these days for me was the chance to slowly browse through shelves of books available for my taking. The library open-air viewing of bookshelves was a true breath of fresh air. Sure, I can order one author’s bestseller but what about another author’s offerings that might give me hours of pleasure. I walked out with a pile of books new-to-me and looking forward to an adventure of reading in the days ahead.
When I was young, we’d celebrate Armistice Day at 11 am on Nov. 11, celebrating the peace treaty marking the end of WW I. This is one of the few holidays that doesn’t take a three-day weekend. I think it finally became Veterans Day because no one remembered why it was called Armistice Day. And it is always appropriate to recognize our veterans.
Big bunches of birthday balloon wishes go out tomorrow to Sam Myers. Buffy Hanschka celebrates her birthday on Saturday.
Heard on Main Street: These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about the hereafter — I go somewhere to get something and then wonder what I’m here after.
If you have any Tisbury Town Column suggestions, email Kay Mayhew, [email protected].
