Wednesday – Vineyard Haven and Edgartown

This morning I went on the bus to Vineyard Haven, the main port of entry to Marthas Vineyard. I looked at some old buildings, walked along the main street – took a few minutes-, found the wool shop down a lane – it was closed. I had ¾ hour before the bus I wanted to take and went into a bookshop. I bought 2 books – a small book about the Wampanoag tribe – their history and what they are doing. Several of their ‘elders’ – not their word but I cannot remember the right one – were featured. There was a page on the lady I met in the bus. The other book is a kid’s story about 2 skunks who run amuck in the gingerbread cottages of Oak’s Bluff. Apparently it is a real problem. The shop keeper and a regular were talking, and I got involved, about a book - the first in a trilogy- that everyone is talking about - Fifty Shades of Grey. One commentator has called it ‘well-written porn for mums’ but apparently last week, in Vineyard Haven, 50% of the purchasers were men – today’s trivia. The customer had just opened a b and b . 35 minutes had passed since I went in.

I went on a bus to an area just north of Vineyard Haven to look at another of MV’s 4 lighthouses. More huge houses on large blocks with lots of trees.

I caught a bus back to Edgartown, the town I went to the previous day. I had a really nice lunch overlooking the harbour and then took some photos of more old houses. One was owned by the master of a whaler on which Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick, sailed in 1841.

Back in Oaks Bluff I bought some tomato soup for dinner and smiled at the question ‘Would you like some silverware?’ as he reached for a plastic spoon.