Sad news to begin. David Riley of Pratts Island Road died on Monday evening, May 2. He was under hospice care in Needham, Massachusetts. A service for David will be held at St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts on Friday, May 6 at 10 a.m. A gathering to celebrate David’s life will also be held on Southport this summer. Our love and prayers go out to Audrey and the family.

Our thoughts and prayers for quick recovery go out to Jim Gagnon, Southport’s harbor master, assistant code enforcement officer, and building inspector. The last time I saw Jim he was entertaining us with tales of ice boating up north. Now he has been laid low with a heart attack. Get well soon, Jim.

Good news last weekend was the show “I Love Maine” performed at the Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta. Written by Joel Biron and directed by Emily Mirabile, the cast consisted of children both from the Central Lincoln County YMCA and the Boothbay Region YMCA. Many of those cast members were Southporters, all of whom sang, danced, and conducted themselves on stage as professionals. Thanks to all for a fun-filled evening.

A goodly number of people showed up at noon on Saturday, April 30 for the Southport Island clean-up. Selectman Gerry Gamage cooked us hot dogs. We could help ourselves to chips, pie, and brownies, as well as soda and water. Many thanks to Janet and Oliver Cusano, at the Island Store, for our sustenance. The remaining hot dogs and buns were donated to a potluck supper at the Southport Town Hall that evening.

After filling our tummies and visiting with friends, we chose our section of Southport’s roads to clean and went to work. With perfect timing the town truck came by our driveway just as we were unloading our stash of bottles, cans and trash. The only interesting item we found was an old, light green, glass Moxie bottle, smaller than a coke bottle. Perhaps the Southport Island Museum will want this treasure.

Southport Island School mothers will be able to fill their tummies on this Friday, May 6 as they gather at the school with their children for breakfast. The children have been making flower pots, planted with real flowers as an additional gift.

Oliver’s manager, John Reed, says the eatery will open on May17 at 11:30 a.m. for lunch and dinner. The staff will offer several new selections as well as some old favorites. The restaurant will be open seven days a week this season.

Our Island Store is starting to stretch out its hours so that now until Memorial Day the store will be open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on Sundays from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. On weekdays the store will continue to be open 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. Memorial Day weekend the staff will begin its full summer season life.

Our Southport firemen will be at our service on Friday, May 27 for the 16th annual Firemen’s Dinner at Newagen Inn. The event will begin at 5 p.m. with live music, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the Inn’s elegant Cape Harbor room. Dinner will follow, showcasing Newagen’s Executive Chef Peter Stiles’ menu and will be served by Southport’s finest firemen. Tickets are $35 per person. All proceeds go to support the Southport Fire Department. The Inn also will offer a special room rate for $150 with $50 donated to the Southport Fire Department. Please make your reservations by emailing frontdesk@newageninn.com or by calling 207-633-5242. This event is often sold out, so reserve your place soon.

Next time you visit the Southport Memorial Library check out the lovely quilts in each of the two unisex bathrooms. Neither room has a window, so Barbara Lally has made window-sized quilts that hang on the opposite wall as you enter. In the first room the quilt is made as though it was a window looking out on an autumn woodland scene. The second quilt sports three large crabs and the sentence, “Don’t be crabby,” good advice for all of us. Thanks, Barbara

Many people have asked what the roadside signs mysteriously covered with a sturdy plastic bags signal. Gerry Gamage says the state plans to pave the loop road around Southport, so the signs will warn us of “road work ahead”. As the signs also appear on many other roads on the Boothbay peninsula, I assume we will see much roadwork this spring and summer.