Three ospreys have returned to their nest on the Southport Bridge. Town water is either flowing or will be shortly for those who have access. Daffodils and forsythia lend their yellow beauty to roadsides and gardens. Spring has sprung, released a bit early, I suspect, due to the few days of amazingly warm temperatures. As I write on Sunday morning, the sun is hiding behind clouds and temps are back to normal April, but the lock of winter has been broken once again.

Many people will begin returning to the island too. I cannot keep track of them all, but do know Connie Heroy has returned last Saturday to her home on the west side. Welcome back, Connie.

An annual spring event is the Southport Island Association’s sponsorship of Island Cleanup, which this year will be Sunday, April 30. Meet at the Southport Town Hall at noon to collect a bag and choose your zone for cleaning. When finished, leave the bag at a designated spot for pickup and then return to the town hall for a hot dog lunch provided by Cozy’s Dockside. Always a fun and useful event. All will be over about 2 p.m.

Glad to read that Cozy Dockside is preparing to open Memorial Day weekend in spite of a few mechanical problems. I personally wish our Selectmen saw fit to allow the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Southport Yacht Club, which the folks leasing Cozy’s are catering, to “spill over’ onto the Cozy’s property, because a 100th anniversary is a very special time, and the properties are next door neighbors. Yes, such a decision might set a precedent, but such circumstances probably would not happen often.

Selectmen are busy with other matters as well. A public hearing will be held onsite on April 19 concerning Wharves and Weirs applications from Charles and Oliver Phippen and Robert and Nancy Flowers. Another public hearing will also be held in the Selectmen’s office on April 26 to review an application for a Malt Liquor and Wine application for FoofaLLC, DBA The Tea Room.

Thanks to Bruce Harris, who has agreed to be the next chair of the Boothbay Region YMCA’s Board of Trustees. I am sure his organization skills, his knowledge of the law, and experiences in the community will be fertile soil in which the work of the Y will grow. Although he and his wife, Medea, have not lived here for a long time, they have six children who have been very active in local schools and Y Arts, so have been quickly immersed in community affairs. Yet in spite of all his responsibilities, I always see Bruce with a smile on his face.

Congratulations to Paul Coulombe for earning the 2023 Maine Office of Tourism’s Governor’s Award, presented to him on March 28. A picture and article describing the event at which the award was presented appeared in the April 6 edition of this paper.

Notes for your calendars concerning two Southporters. In last week’s paper a lovely picture and obituary for Jane Nies announced that her life will be celebrated at All Saints by-the-Sea on July 29 at 3 p.m. Also a celebration of Kit Sherrill’s life is being planned at All Saints on Aug. 12 at 11 a.m. This coming Sunday, April 23, at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church will be a regular worship service, but the music will be that which Kit chose for his funeral.

Jane and Perry Nies’s daughter, Nancy, has survived a major car accident in which she was broadsided by another car and pushed into a head on collusion a third car. Fortunately everyone involved survived but Nancy and the driver of the car causing the accident both broke their necks. You can see pictures of the cars and Nancy recovering on Facebook.

I wonder if anyone has found the book “Lighthouses of the Maine Coast” by Robert Sterling. It was published by the Stephen Daye Press of Brattleboro, Vermont in 1935 and is about the grandfather of Evelyn Sherman, Royal Luther, who retired from lighthouse service in 1928 after 53 years of service. As I wrote two weeks ago, Evelyn remembers that she loaned the book to a gentleman two or three years ago and would love to have it returned.