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1 week ago | 
vineyardgazette.com | Katie Carroll
Palpable shifts. May is the month when things come to life. May is the month that prompts celebration. There may be over-the-top festivities encompassing May Day, college graduations, Memorial Day and birthdays. But there are also those small little victories than need a cautiously optimistic yippee.
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2 weeks ago | 
vineyardgazette.com | Katie Carroll
Change: both good and bad, positive and negative. Either way, I’ve never been good with it. It’s not that I need everything to stay the same, just most of it. Charming and quirky with a sense of pattern and order appeals to me, but life doesn’t always work like that. You have to adapt to new situations, yet preserve the past while moving forward. I think that’s why I visit the cemetery so often to visit my old friends.
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3 weeks ago | 
vineyardgazette.com | Katie Carroll
May 1 is more than just the first day of the month. It’s May Day, when Chilmark School fourth and fifth graders celebrate a longstanding community tradition. No longer can students frolic all over town for the teachers-versus-students “Where are the children?” variation of hide and seek, but the May pole is danced around for community onlookers to enjoy, and May baskets are compiled by fifth graders for teachers and a few select folks around town.
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1 month ago | 
vineyardgazette.com | Katie Carroll
If you’ve been to any of the 63 National Parks, you know already that it’s more than just a pretty place; it is an awe inspiring experience. Most weeks I try to keep my column focus on you, but occasionally I just have to share a little bit about me. I’ve set a goal to visit each of the National Parks. Yes, there are a lot. Yes, some of them are a challenge to get to like Gates of the Arctic in Alaska that requires a charter plane to access.
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1 month ago | 
vineyardgazette.com | Katie Carroll
Dark gloomy, clouds have lingered overhead all but masking the sun. What we all want to see is a blue sky, yet what we’ve seen in various shades of gray with the occasional ray of sunlight peaking through the clouds. Raindrops, as tiresome as they can be, hold positivity within their sogginess.
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1 month ago | 
vineyardgazette.com | Katie Carroll
It seems like we should be so far removed from the nighttime glow of artificial light, but in reality it surrounds us. It can cause tremendous difficulties for critters, the environment and us humans. Humans are messy creatures. One of the pollutants we create on a daily basis is something we can easily get a handle on: light pollution. As I have mentioned before, a couple of my favorite spring pastimes are listening to the pinkletinks and tracking the return of the osprey.
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1 month ago | 
vineyardgazette.com | Katie Carroll
I saw my first osprey yesterday. It was a glorious spring sight and, despite its altitude, hard to miss with all the noise. The pinkletinks are back singing as well. At this time of year it’s habit to roll down my windows while driving through the corner at Brandy Brow. Such a melody those little frogs willingly share. If you need a boost to the spirits, I suggest the simplicity of rolling down your car windows.
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1 month ago | 
vineyardgazette.com | Katie Carroll
The weather starts to get warmer, the sun shines a little brighter and life seems full of new beginnings. While it might be a bit hard to elaborate on the feeling you get when you hear the first cacophony of pinkletinks, spot the first crocus, see a seal pup sunning itself or smell the briny salt air the warm sun brings, it’s not hard to quietly enjoy these little pleasures. Although the days are getting longer and the air warmer, it’s still hockey season.
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2 months ago | 
vineyardgazette.com | Katie Carroll
Beware the ides of March. March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. In March, the brave crocus dares the snow. As the flowers bloom in March, let your dreams blossom too. March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers. I could go on and on sharing noteworthy quotes about the month of March as all seem magnificently appropriate with March seemingly the most transitional month.
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2 months ago | 
vineyardgazette.com | Katie Carroll
March is here and our shoes are laced up for what’s typically the month where a meteorological smorgasbord is served. Warm, cold, rain, sleet, snow, sun, wind and any other term that describes the weather is something Mother Nature will consider dishing out. She’s preparing us for the vernal equinox that will arrive on our doorstep in about two weeks time. It’s the month of odd jobs and projects. It’s the month that preps us for what spring will bring.
