Claire Ganz

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Chilmark Town Column

Jan 22, 2025 | mvtimes.com | Claire Ganz

January is a time when it can be harder to connect. Many places close for much-needed breaks. Many people take much-needed vacations. Many find themselves coming down with illness. I’m still recovering. Bitter cold temperatures and whipping winds don’t help. Kathryn Elizabeth Coe, 71, of Washington Depot, Conn., and Chilmark, passed away peacefully on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, surrounded by her loving family. She was the wife for 47 years of Tom Hollinger.
Chilmark Town Column

Jan 14, 2025 | mvtimes.com | Claire Ganz

Menemsha is a place I often touch down. It is a place where the wind and the tide bring up memories and hope. The question, “Are we big enough to fill the shoes of those who led the way?” loomed over my heart this week when I heard the news that Sam Feldman died. He was an inspiration to many, and instrumental in bringing to fruition large projects. We are grateful to the many who come to share their wealth and considerable talents. The Island can be a place of comparisons and contrasts.
Chilmark Town Column

Jan 7, 2025 | mvtimes.com | Claire Ganz

Here’s to 2025. I am recovering slowly, after catching a bug that gave me a fever for many days, and am grateful to be home. I enjoyed touching down in Santa Fe, N.M., a city of faith where the neighborhood closed to traffic on Christmas Eve, rooftops and sidewalks were lined with glowing farolitos — lanterns made by filling paper bags with sand and a fat candle — bonfires dotted courtyards and street corners, someone set free paper balloons, and the school hosted an intricate labyrinth.
Chilmark Town Column

Dec 30, 2024 | mvtimes.com | Claire Ganz

Wishing all a Happy New Year. I thought it would be easy to come up with words for this column, and instead my mind is flitting from topic to topic. I’m writing this with every expectation that the cups of tea and bowls of chicken with carrots and poblano pepper broth poured over Joan Nathan’s matzo ball recipe, featured Dec. 19 in the New York Times, will continue to fortify my body and banish the catarrh well before the Offerings of Music and Light at 5 pm Sunday, Jan. 5, at the Chilmark Church.
Chilmark Town Column

Dec 23, 2024 | mvtimes.com | Claire Ganz

This year’s going to be different. So many changes. “Life is hard, the old well … the furnace …” I said. “Things are always hard for you,” said the friend in a caring voice, her confidence piercing my concerns and allowing me to see the habit. Things are better. Water is flowing. The house is warm. The lights are on. I love it here. I love it here, I whisper, grateful for the time I get to spend with the kids in Sunday school. Warmest wishes on Callum McQueen Hart’s baptism.
Chilmark Town Column

Dec 9, 2024 | mvtimes.com | Claire Ganz

“Grace can be the experience of a second wind, when even though what you want is clarity and resolution, what you get is stamina and poignancy and the strength to hang on.” —Anne Lamott The festive lights are on, and I look forward to calling a friend to go for a drive to see them. I still prefer dark nights, starlight, and watching for meteors. It is tough to see the south lit up by the lights on the windmills.
Chilmark Town Column

Dec 3, 2024 | mvtimes.com | Claire Ganz

Last week was a lot. Geordie Gude died on Wednesday, and his family and friends gathered at the P.A. Club for a musical celebration. We are losing so many who were part of the fabric of the Island. The rending is hard, but I see many who remind me the warp and woof of our community are strong.
Chilmark Town Column

Nov 26, 2024 | mvtimes.com | Claire Ganz

This time of year opportunities for connection abound. It is also a time to pause and ponder. I am rereading David Silberman’s “This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving.”This is the time of year when I like to carpool, so I can visit with friends, because it feels as if the chore list has grown exponentially; at the same time, opportunities for shopping, great movies, and music crowd out quiet moments.
Chilmark Town Column

Nov 19, 2024 | mvtimes.com | Claire Ganz

I’m cleaning and reorganizing the kitchen from one that was set up to easily welcome, prep, and store baskets of fresh produce and fish to one where you can make soups, cut out sugar cookies, and make breads, and savory crackers. Putting away the iced tea pitcher and pulling out the teapot. Clearing the dining table. Noticing the berry-filled branches and greenery that will make wonderful garlands and wreaths. Gathering sprinkles, sparkles, and food coloring. I like to replace them once a year.
Chilmark Town Column

Nov 12, 2024 | mvtimes.com | Claire Ganz

Mum and I have recovered from a terrible cold with awful bouts of what she calls catarrh, pronounced like guitar or the country Qatar. I think it is a much better word for phlegm. Thank you to Michael Greenberg and Hannah de Keijzer for sending me photos and the following email: We “were in Menemsha for the week, and we saw a brown pelican in the harbor! I was very surprised to see it this late in the year, and we managed to get a few nice photos of it.