A Trip To A Farm On Martha's Vineyard

A Visit To Katama Farm On Martha's Vineyard . . .

Photo by Deron

Happy Anniversary, Anoushigner!!! սիրեմ քեզի, նիշա ... սիրեմ քեզի, հովհաննես!

MARTHA'S VINEYARD ON HANDS AND KNEES

While staying at the Harbourview in Edgartown, Massachusetts, Marash Girl had the opportunity to talk with one of the "cleaning" ladies . . . Why?  She (the cleaning lady) was washing the bathroom floor on her (the cleaning lady's) hands and knees.  "Why?" Marash Girl asked.  Why, indeed!  "Don't they have mops here?"

"We can get the floor cleaner this way."

Checking with the desk clerk, the answer to her query was confirmed.  "Oh, we have plenty of mops," he answered, "but the ladies tell me that they can get the floor cleaner on their hands and knees.  In fact, my wife tells me the same thing!"

Fresh air . . . ahhhh!

We city dwellers have forgotten what it is to breathe fresh air . . . Taking in lungfuls of clean air on Martha's Vineyard gives one pause . . . should anyone really be living two blocks from Exit 17 on the Massachusetts Turnpike, less than 8 miles outside of Boston?  But then, if we all moved to Martha's Vineyard, the game would be the same.  Beautiful views, but still no clean air for those lungs of ours. And even the views would, by definition, be clogged.  

Now why in the world would Marash Girl be thinking such dark thoughts when Martha's Vineyard is still a daily reality?  Perhaps because today the sun is hiding in a very clouded sky.

TRICK OR TREAT?

On an isolated and dark road nearing midnight on Halloween, after a day of celebration, their trusty Volvo flashed:  "Check Engine"!  Luckily they were nearing the parking lot, not more than a half mile from their hotel, but it did give them pause for concern. Was it all that flaunting of 
Halloween symbols that had flipped to haunt them?

Sunday Morning Sunrise In Edgartown

Winter's on its way to Martha's Vineyard!

    You know winter is on its way when you see this sign at the 

     On-Time Ferry in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts!

(The famous Chappaquidick Island in the background.)

Fish Chowder in Five Minutes

Don't keep that left over fish for too long; you'll end up having to throw it out!

Try making fish chowder with the cooked fish.

Chop up some onions  (after removing the onion's skin first) and celery (after washing, of course) and sauté them in butter/olive oil while you chop up some potatoes (Marash Girl does not peel the potatoes, but rather simply washes them in cool water before chopping.) 

Then chop up your leftover cooked fish (or fresh fish, if you have it, but it had better be very fresh or your house will stink of fish -- and this happened to Marash Girl once when she bought what was supposedly fresh white fish from Whole Foods!) Add fish to veggie mixture and saute.  Add thyme, if desired, salt and pepper.  Saute for a few minutes longer.  Add flour and stir if you want a thick chowder, or simply skip that step and add milk and/or cream and heat to complete the chowder.  "Delish," as Philip Craig's hero J.W. Jackson (of Martha's Vineyard Mysteries fame) would say!  Oh, and don't miss the book of Philip Craig's recipes, recipes gathered from his Martha's Vineyard Mysteries! (Delish! The J.W. Jackson Recipes; A Martha's Vineyard Cookbook published in paperback by Philip R. Craig and his wife Shirley Prada Craig).  And if you've never read Philip Craig's Martha's Vineyard mystery series (whether or not you have summered on the Vineyard), another treat awaits you!

EPA Hassles Conch Fisherman in Edgartown

Edgartown Harbor, Martha's Vineyard, Saturday, October 31, 2015

Look -- that guy on the boat is carrying!  said Marash Boy.

Carrying what?  asked Marash Girl.

A gun!  said Marash Boy.

A gun on a fishing boat?  queried Marash Girl.  "Let's go see what's happening," she said, as Marash Boy distanced himself from the drama and Marash Girl approached the dock.

Marash Girl looks on as EPA hassles local fisherman.

"I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt," the EPA official intoned to the owner of the Sea Raven, as the EPA official went through every bag of conchs, using his stainless steel measuring gauge to check the size of every conch,  tossing aside 
those  that were an 1/8th of an inch or more under 3 inches,  the minimum width set by the Department of Marine Fisheries (DMF) for the 2015 season. 



A local boatman commented, "And this guy has been operating his boat for about 44 years! He's a straight - shooter.    There are so many who aren't.  Why is the EPA bothering a good guy?  I'm going out to warn my friend not to come in; not with the Feds here!"  said the local as he rowed out to his fishing boat, hopped on board, and motored out into the darkening ocean to find his friend.

With all the druggies out there, the Feds had to hassle an honest fisherman?

Perhaps it was just a prank.  After all, it was Halloween!

l.to r.  Good guy's boat, EPA boat, local onlooker's boat on its way to warn his friend

Good neighbor on his way to warn his friend.

For more on conch fishing, see "The Conch Conundrum" by Barry Stringfellow in the Martha's Vineyard Times, Dec. 4, 2013.

Farming Mussels in Menemsha

Raking up baby mussels  from the ocean's floor, baby mussels
to  be transported
to the mussel farm for maturing and  future consumption!

Are the birds bidding farewell to the  baby mussels? Or are they grieving a lost opportunity?

Good bye to summer

Two Oaks, Two Stories

From mountain top to ocean side the mighty oak prevails.

 Only 200 years old, Edgartown's White Oak on Fuller Street, Edgartown, 

opposite the back entrance to the Harbor View Inn.

So that no one could ever say that there was no room at the inn, the Harbor View in Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard decided to expand, but in order to expand, it had to cut down an Edgartown  landmark:  its mighty white oak.  Luckily the Inn's back door neighbor decided to save the oak and by hiring a special ferry, was able to transport a crane from "America" to the Vineyard, in order to save the mighty oak, transporting it by crane across the street to his front yard on Fuller Street, and there it stands, the 200 year old white oak of Edgartown.

On Wilbraham Mountain, a mighty white oak stood guarding the mountain top.  It was there that Uncle Levon Charkoudian would rest, read and picnic when he was healing in the 1920's.  And it was there that the Charkoudians began to picnic as a family, and there that the white oak graced the front yard of the Charkoudian family cabin until, one day, of its own accord, the 300 year old white oak fell, and soon after (ten years later), the tornado took down the Charkoudian family cabin and the rest of the trees on Wilbraham Mountain.

Louis Tiffany leaves his mark on St. Andrew's Church, Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard

Looking for a respite from the winds and the rains of life? St. Andrews Church on North Summer Street in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, is open for all who wish to worship, or simply escape (if only for a moment) from the winds and the rains of life.

Tiffany seen from the outside.

Marash Girl wandered in one day last week and was taken by the comfort offered by the church sanctuary with its stained glass windows.  She didn't realize until her second visit that there, on the front of the church to the right of the altar (which she learned later was the bow of a dory from the schooner "Northern Lights") is a stained glass window created and signed in the lower right corner by Louis Tiffany.  Wanna see it?

Never deny a child a treat on Halloween . . .

Marash Girl realizes that it's not yet Halloween, but here she is in Edgartown, at the site of a major disappointment suffered by her grandchildren.

A number of years ago, Enila and Iffar visited Marash Girl in Edgartown on Halloween.  Trick or treating among the shops, the children  noticed that other children in costume had gone into Murdick's Fudge and asked for a treat, receiving in return a small amount of candy.  Excited, Enila and Iffar followed suit. Although they were dressed in costume and it was Halloween, they were denied  even the smallest piece of candy by the lady behind the counter at Murdick's Fudge.  Marash Girl has never forgotten the look of disappointment on her grandchildren's faces that day.  Although Marash Girl had been about to purchase several pounds of fudge to send across the country to her friends and relatives that Halloween, she did not.  

To this day, when she walks  by Murdick's Fudge, she remembers the disappointed faces of her grandchildren, and will never, no never again, purchase candy from  Murdick's Fudge in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Marash Girl meets vocalist Kate Taylor and artist John Hager at Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard

Marash Girl meets vocalist Kate Taylor and artist John Hager at Aquinnah (formerly known as Gay Head) a week after the Gay Head Light (the lighthouse on Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard) had been moved 150 feet eastward to avoid its tumbling into the Atlantic Ocean due to erosion of the Gay Head Cliffs.

Artist John Hager turns his back on the Gay Head light in order to paint the landscape before him.

Detail of photo above:  painting in progress by John Hager

Artist John Hager and vocalist Kate Taylor prepare to leave after an interesting interchange with Marash Girl (which included discussion of Hager's Viking ancestry)  at Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts    

Don't miss Kate Taylor's show -- it promises to be great!  

July 14, 8 PM at Aquinnah Town Hall, July 15, 8 PM at West Tilbury Grange Hall, 

Martha's Vineyard

Touring Edgartown with Michael Currid

A walking tour of Edgartown led by Michael Currid -- a fellow who works at the corner store (The Paper Store -- the only place you can buy the New York Times in all of Edgartown) and runs the Edgartown Tour Company -- said walking tour turned out to be a highlight of this week.  Local lore mixed with local history, stories of Herman Melville's stay in Edgartown,  stories of whaling captains,  mistresses dressed in red at their lover's funeral,  Methodist churches built bigger and better to accommodate Edgartown's growing population . . . Marash Girl's question brought the tour guide back to the present with a start.  "When folks are not occupying their summer homes in Edgartown, is there a problem with break-ins?"

Without a pause, Currid answered.  "Oh, there are break-ins.  In fact, one summer a few years ago, a woman broke into a home here in Edgartown, spread the contents of the home on the walkway in front of the house, and sold it all during a Saturday yard sale."

Martha's Vineyard, Everywhere You Look!