for a slow day, a lot to do.

Yesterday (Thursday), the forecast called for rain. So we planned accordingly: Instead of a day of canoeing or golf, we figured we'd take advantage of gloomy weather and take a tour around the island. No matter that it turned out to be a beautiful day when the clouds lifted (sans rain) mid-morning.

We started with a drive toward Vineyard Haven and then headed on from there. We stopped in at Chilmark Pottery, where we'd picked up a couple of fun pieces (currently in use at home as salad bowls) on an earlier trip. We weren't in the market yesterday, so we moved on. We stopped at an adorable little farmstand called Fiddlehead Farm (cute!); they weren't yet harvesting much of their own produce (tomatoes are still a week off here), but they had a bunch of neat gourmet and imported items. From there, we wandered on to Martha's Vineyard Glassworks, which we'd also visited previously. We watched the glassblowers work and bought two "floats" -- brightly colored globes modeled on those used by Japanese fishermen to float their nets. They're super cool garden accessories (we have two at home in the bed by the front door) and these will go in the back by the patio. Nice souvenirs.

Then we moved onto Chilmark Store, which was insanely busy with the lunch crowd. No wonder: they make a wicked good New York-style pizza. We fueled up with a couple of slices (and a few bits of whole-wheat crust for The Hairy Friend).

Next stop: Morning Glory Farm for some lettuce and tomatoes for last night's dinner, and then to Edgartown Seafood for a slab-o-halibut. Rob grilled the fish on the charcoal barbeque out back; it was perfect, with a salty, peppery crust on top and nicely moist inside. If I never have fish again, it'll be OK. We topped it with a tomato/garlic/basil/balsamic/lemon/oliveoil combo, much like what Uncle Dave & Regina did last weekend. Awesome.