If you are a reader of email you know that the Southport Island Association’s Winter Walk was canceled last Sunday because of too much winter. Kit and I had our snowshoes at the ready, but probably parking would have been a problem. So this coming Sunday, Feb. 23, same time, same place, that is assemble at the Lunts’ house on Joppa Road, parking at the Town Hall, if necessary, from 3 until 5 p.m. Take a refreshing walk and then return to the Lunts’ for refreshments.

A large and happy crowd gathered at Robinson’s Wharf for Valentine’s Day, enjoying either the regular menu or the special Valentine’s Day menu offering lamb, prime rib, or lobster risotto. Our neighbor Edee Crosby and I enjoyed the risotto while Bruce and Kit gnawed on the lamb. Women were treated to a glass of champagne, a red carnation and a chocolate. Thanks to Robinson’s for making it so easy for the men to shower valentine greetings on the women folk or for the women to celebrate themselves. Note that dining at Robinson’s Wharf will cease for several weeks as they refurbish the kitchen.

Town Reports are now available at the Southport Town Hall, the Southport Memorial Library and the Island Store. Also available to read at the Town Office, for anyone new to Southport or new to town meeting is a short, “Citizen’s Guide to Town Meeting.” As I scanned the booklet, one of the most useful parts is the glossary, explaining the terms that may be unfamiliar to some of us.

The meeting itself is March 3, at the Town Hall, beginning with secret ballot voting for moderator and for election of a selectman, assessor and overseer of the poor (one person), a town treasurer, a member of the school committee, and a trustee of the Boothbay Region Water District. All the folks currently holding those offices are standing for reelection. You may vote from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.

The remaining 55 articles will come before the town when the meeting reconvenes at 7:30 p.m. Articles 3-5, those seeking to fill vacancies on the library and cemetery boards and on the planning board, will take nominations from the floor and be voted on. You must be a declared resident of Southport and registered to vote, but usually the voters agree to allow others a voice. Remember, you cannot legitimately complain about your government if you do not participate and make an effort to know what’s going on.

On the subject of governance, even though the topic is only tangentially related to Southport, if you did not get to read the front page article of the Portland Press Herald for Tuesday, Feb. 18, google “Out of a Team’s Dark Time comes Shining Moments.” When we have had so much controversy over the loss of our hospital and loss of the position of wellness director at the YMCA, it is very heartening to read such a positive account of Boothbay Region High School’s basketball coach, I.J. Pinkham, the team captain, Andrew Hallinan, and the players who stepped up to the foul line for the six players who did not.

School is all about teaching, whether in the classroom or on the sports field. Boothbay Region High School, in sustaining its commitment to the athletes concerning the agreement that if they drank alcohol during the season they were off the team, made good use of a teaching moment.

With more snow falling as I type and more forecast during the rest of the week, food can become very important. At the Southport Memorial Library this morning we all enjoyed Meredith Mitchell’s monkey bread that she dropped off before she and husband Bob headed south for warmer weather.

Pancakes are now being flipped on Saturday mornings at the Island Store from 8 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. to stoke you up for shoveling, and the Wednesday community lunch continues at the Southport Town Hall from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. The Wednesday lunch is free. However, donations of food to be cooked and served are gratefully accepted.

Former Southport resident Meris Esterly was married on Valentine’s Day to Allen Strout. The ceremony took place on the beach at Martinique on the Gulf, in Gulf Shores, Ala., where the groom’s family has a winter home. The groom has been a cook at the Esterly’s ranch in Winston, N.M, although he is originally from Michigan.

The school children are on vacation, but they left behind some snow sculptures on the school grounds for us to enjoy. The yellow skating flag is flying on the town flag pole, indicating that the ice on the school pond is safe for skating. To do so though, someone will have to shovel a lot of snow. Enjoy our winter, everyone. Before long we will be saying, “It’s too hot.”