I think we are doing well in this heat wave. We have had a nice breeze; it may not be as cool as we want but it is a breeze. We had some heavy rain, and then humidity, but we are still happy we do not live in the big cities with stone buildings holding all this heat. Plus, it helps that we are surrounded by an ocean that you can take a quick dip in to cool off.

Happy Birthday to all who celebrated their day this past week. Big balloons go out to Jhon Moreira and Noah Nascimento, who celebrated July 7; Alexa Sawers, July 8; Thomas Mullen, Thais Pereira, July 9; Cameron Stanton, July10; Emmeline Meuse, July 11; Henry Aranti, Shaynne Batchelder and Lara De Oliveira, July 13; Natalina Ben David, Jacob Branca, Liam Herrmann, Ronan Murphy, July 14; and to Tyler Batchelder and Veyda Pearl who celebrated July 18.

The Fourth of July has come and gone and now we can concentrate on different activities. I must mention that I have hosted the Colonial Navy in my yard for 30-plus years. They have lost members and everyone is aging, but there is new talent joining every year and women are among the fifers. This year they had two new 20-something-year-old drummers. It was great to see the interaction among the band and there are many more years ahead for these great men and women.

My friend Diane Welch called me on Sunday and asked if I wanted to go with her to Featherstone to see the exhibit Rising Up! A Multi-Cultural Celebration of Stitched Fine Art. It was a great exhibit and left me thinking, as I do not have a very big creative mind in art, how people see these beautiful pieces. One piece, which was both our favorite, was plastic and thread that created a night forest. I was looking at the branches and figured they were made of thread and done on a sewing machine. The catch was it was stitches you get when the tension is wrong, and you get those big balloon stitches. I grinned as I thought she put my frustration into art. Then I looked at the quilted face and wondered how people see eyes in some material and beautiful cheeks from another. I loved the exhibition; it is here for another week. If you get a chance to go it is a nice way to spend a few hours.

We then went to the glassworks in West Tisbury. Ella Blodgett has been there since her junior year at the Charter School and is now doing her own glass. She has made some beautiful paper weights that are now on display and for sale. They have made some shark ornaments for the Jaws anniversary that are pretty awesome. They also had an exhibit of candle sticks displayed upstairs that has me thinking where I could maybe put one. It was a great afternoon and will look forward to more outings.

Have a great week and keep the home candles burning.