Despite the fact that March is such an unlikeable month, it’s hard not to feel warmly toward one that has been as mild as this so far. As I drove up from the ferry early Tuesday evening, with the sun still up and an unseasonable fog settling in, I wondered why the roadsides looked oddly drab. Then I remembered that, despite the weather, it’s only mid-March, and that’s the way things are supposed to look in March.

It seems as if the cultivated plants and bushes in my yard are responding to the early warmth by getting ready to bloom sooner, while the native plants are still hanging back. Maybe they know it’s not a good idea to start blooming when a frost could easily kill off new growth.

March is the season of potholes, and new ones appear seemingly overnight, especially after a good rain. The crater at the beginning of the ferry lineup area on the Chappy side, which the highway department filled earlier this winter, has suddenly developed new mini-cavities. It’s a good idea to note where potholes are during dry spells, because after a rain, they are invisible.

March is also a month for potlucks, and there will have been three at the Chappy Community Center by the end of the month. Sue and Will Geresy hosted the March 7 potluck, at which about 20 Chappaquiddickers gathered to enjoy each others’ company and cooking. The potluck this past week was a party for Tom Osborn to celebrate his turning 50. Congratulations, Tom! There will be a regular potluck on Wednesday, March 21, starting at 6 p.m., hosted by Alan and Sunny Wilson or some other island notables.

Chappaquiddick lost another lifelong seasonal resident at the beginning of the month. Be (Dorothy) Phinney never missed a summer on the island for 85 years. She was the youngest of the three Turnbull girls — sister to Peggy Jones and Jane Knight (my mother), all strong supporters of maintaining Chappy’s rural character. She loved sailing, tennis, clamming, and blueberrying with her sisters and her extended family. Once she won the Chappy tennis tournament with her good friend, Phil Walsh, and was runner-up on several other occasions. Be hosted a saltwater aquarium of island fauna for many summers that taught her children and grandchildren an appreciation of nature and the ocean. She acted as steward of the island through her membership at Saint Andrew’s Church, the Chappaquiddick Island Association, the Trustees of Reservations, and as board member of the Chappy Community Center. There will be a memorial service on March 31 at 11 a.m. at St. James Episcopal Church in Farmington, Conn. followed by a reception. In lieu of flowers, donations may be given to Wellesley College, 106 Central street, Wellesley, MA 02481.

The Edgartown library building committee and the library trustees are planning informational sessions around town as town meeting time approaches. On March 14 the librarians presented a program to explain how the new building will enable them to serve us better. The library building committee will be at the community center potluck next Wednesday, March 21 to give a presentation after dinner about the proposed new library, and to answer questions. Edgartown has already been approved for a $5 million library construction grant. A recent letter from Robert Maier, director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, announced that Edgartown’s library project has moved up from number four to number three on the state’s grant waiting list. Evidently, Edgartown can expect to begin receiving the grant money in the summer of 2013.

Wasque is still very much in flux, with sandbars forming and changing according to storm and tidal action, and no clear indication of when the breach will close. The stairs at Fisherman’s Landing are all gone, as well as a length of the path to them. Walking the beach to the west of there, Dick and Daryl Knight saw a gray seal on the beach recently. Gray seals are also called horsehead seals, and are larger than harbor seals. The bulls can reach up to 11 feet long and over 600 pounds. Daryl described the seal as “weird looking,” and said they’d seen them on the beach on Nantucket, where they are more common.

A recent article in the Cape Cod Times mentioned our former goat Asha. She’s been renamed Butthead, which is indicative of the reason we decided to find her a new home. She and three other goats (formerly Vineyard goats) have become the property of the Eastham department of public works, donated by the owner of an organic cranberry bog who used them to clear land. The goats are being used to mow around town, and eat invasive plants like bittersweet and poison ivy that would otherwise be attacked with herbicides. The selectmen have set up a goat donation fund to pay for vet fees and the small amount of grain they eat. I can attest to the fact that goats will devour much of the local landscape, and that they are clever escape artists who make beelines for all your favorite bushes.