The cold and snow can’t help but be a reoccurring theme lately. Making the first tracks in new snow on the North Haven road this morning in winter storm Nemo, I felt privileged to be in such a picturesque place. Sure it’s 11 degrees, the roads are slick, and there will be shoveling to do later. For now, we live in a very big coastal snow globe that many folks only ever see photos of in magazines.

School events

The school visioning meeting was held this week with fantastic dinner but low non-school employee turnout. There will still be ways to give your input on the direction of school planning however, as there will be a committee which will gather to discuss some of the topics brought up at the dinner meeting. Stay tuned for information around town soon as to when that committee will begin meeting and how you can join.

Also in school news, the seventh- and eighth-grade basketball teams have had their awards and pizza dinner marking the end of their season, and the fifth- and sixth-grade teams finish up their championship games over the next few days. Varsity basketball games have been played and as I’m writing this, the schedule for championship games has not yet been determined.

Organizations around town

Chad King and Betsy Hopkins are making a move to organize our Vinalhaven nonprofit organizations by having a forum on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m. at the Gathering Place at the Tidewater Motel. For our small population we really have an amazing amount of fantastic groups, and those groups could benefit from working together, sharing their ideas, missions, and plans, coordinating calendars, and thinking about how to cooperate in order to benefit the community. Do contact Chad or Betsy with questions, and if you are a board member, director or other mover and shaker in your organization, do try to attend this gathering.

What folks are talking about

Folks are talking about the upcoming play, Noises Off! by Michael Frayn, presented by the Vinalhaven Players on March 1 and 2 at 7 p.m. and March 3 at 1 p.m. at the Smith Hokanson Memorial Hall at the Vinalhaven School. The production is billed as “A laugh out loud comedy in three acts” and has some of your favorite Vinalhaven characters in it. Directed by Karen Burns, you’ll enjoy the acting of Jeff Aronson, Bill Chilles, Frank Morton, Francis Warren, Jamie Thomas, Jenn Gehnrich, Ellie Reidy, Alison Thibault, and Rachel Noyes. So mark your calendars now, and tickets will be on sale soon.

Speaking of planning ahead, it’s not too soon to sign up for your summer Community Supported Agriculture shares from Sparkplug Farm, a source for locally-grown produce here on Vinalhaven. The 2013 CSA gives you 16 weeks of vegetables at a wholesale price and you can find out more details about it from Sara Hodges and John Wright at sparplugfarm@gmail.com or sparkplugfarm.com.

Speaking of summer, lately during these mornings of single digit temperatures, I admit my thoughts have drifted toward summer days and warmer climates. Knowing that in other places on the globe right now there are folks wearing shorts, swimming, getting suntans, and reading 70 degrees on their thermometer leaves me incredulous. I haven’t decided yet whether I should hold a grudge against the 70 degrees, or the people I know that are down in Florida enjoying those 70 degrees! Oh well, the grass is always greener, or maybe the snow is always more white, and maybe they’re looking at that magazine photo of a snowstorm on an island in Maine and thinking just how beautiful it must be living in a snow-globe.

If you have news to share that you’d like to see in this column, please drop me a line at susan_raven@mindspring.com or leave a message at 863-4134.