Charlotte Goodhue stands at the entrance to her pasture surrounded by a gaggle of local children ranging in age from 12 down to the earliest walker, all abuzz with anticipation. Goodhue raises the soup pot she holds in her hand, bangs it with a sturdy wooden spoon, and the children take off at a dead run.

It's not hard to make the case that substance abuse is a community problem. In island communities, its impacts may be greater, and the solutions more difficult.

It's early March as I write, and snow is still piled up to the crotch of the pin cherry tree. But you may be reading this in early April, and I hope you'll permit me to do a little fantasizing about what it might be like, a month from now.

Island schools have varying numbers of students of all different ages, making "traditional" activities and games challenging. A new PE project attempts to address varying needs while working to provide another avenue to strengthen the ties between the six schools involved with the Outer Islands Teaching and Learning Collaborative.

Just about every other year my husband and I travel to Southern California to visit his family for Christmas. We leave the island, which is often covered in snow, or if we're less lucky rain, ice or slush, and take the boat to the mainland and drive to Boston and fly out.

Whether it's a wedding, reunion or holiday celebration, photographers often struggle to get all the key family members in their shots. Imagine how hard it was for Miranda Battiste to capture the family that is the island's year-round population.

Voters will be asked at their May 9 annual town meeting to authorize borrowing $3 million to build a broadband Internet network for the island.

My relationship with Chandler "Blackie" Blackington began about a decade ago when I traveled to Vinalhaven to visit the community's medical center and eldercare home, exploring the possibilities for Swan's Island. Blackie was my tour guide.

Bertha's spoon has sent me into my own kitchen to see what, if anything, someone could learn about my cooking habits from the tools I have used for the 45 years or so that I have cooked.