Even though our Southport Memorial Library is still closed, the garden in front of the building gives pleasure with bright yellow daffodils and tiny grape hyacinths. Watch for other flowers and shrubs to open up.

Also watching for the coming of new life is Anne Gobes at the Cape Newagen Alpaca Farm. Several of the farm’s females may be creating new life, but it is hard to be sure. Watching closely is the best way to be present at the birth or very soon afterwards. The farm is closed to visitors stopping by, but you can call to make an appointment for a safe distancing outdoor visit. All visitors will be required to wear a facial covering and follow the bio-security measures including social distancing. They are limiting the number of people visiting the farm to four or less in a group. Please leave any pets at home.

You can pay the farm a visual visit by joining their Patreon Online Community. Go to the website, capenewagenfarm.com and click on the patreon page to find out how to become a member. Once a member you can follow the farming adventures, possibly meeting Mildred, the new barn kitty.

Hendricks Head Beach continues to be a popular place to get fresh air. On Sunday, late afternoon when I visited, eleven cars were in the parking lot, all but one of them with Maine plates. A small child was playing in the sun, just in a sun dress, creating a scene truly like a summer’s day.

Workers appeared on the Thompson Bridge site again this past Monday. When I stopped to ask about their current plans, they said the beams they have been waiting for are due May 14, so between now and then they can do whatever is necessary to be prepared to string those beams across the expanse to reconstruct the bridge. Good to see work beginning again although our promised completion date is now pushed into June.

Being married to a cleric with nearly 40 years experience of Sunday services, I find some of the virtual services we have been watching very creative and wonder how pastors will coax people back within four walls. For example, for many denominations this past Sunday is called “Good Shepherd Sunday” because the lessons assigned are ones describing Jesus as the shepherd and us as his sheep. The 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd,” is usually said by all. As we watched the service on television, broadcast from Kit’s last parish before retirement, Trinity Church, in Princeton, the pastor at the beginning of the service announced that we would go on a visual field trip during the sermon. Sure enough, he preached the sermon from a sheep farm, complete with one adult sheep wandering up to nuzzle his leg and lambs cavorting in the background.

Our island is especially quiet on the weekends with most worksites unattended. Come Monday morning the trucks create traffic on our roads and, thanks goodness, business for our island store, but one wonders if the numbers of Covid -19 cases will drop enough for the inns to open along with Cozy’s Dockside and the Southport Yacht Club. Time will tell.