Good morning.

It’s graduation weekend on the Vineyard. On Sunday at 1:30 p.m. the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School seniors enter the Oak Bluffs Tabernacle as a class and exit as individuals headed to college, work, travel or to spend some time figuring out what comes next. Today's print Gazette has a pull-out section with pictures of all the graduates. Jack Roberts leads the lineup as valedictorian. Be sure to read Ivy Ashe's deftly drawn profile of this scholar-athlete. And to understand just how much the Island cares about these students and wants to make sure their journey to college will not include an empty wallet read about the nearly $1 million in scholarships that will be given out this evening at Class Night.

But it is not only endings we encounter as the Island plunges deeper into June. The streets get more crowded each day, mostly with college kids, either returning home or visiting for the first time, searching for jobs and carrying with them a glimpse of what life is like after high school. Even the quaint old houses of the Vineyard look younger in their presence, more bright eyed and muscular.

For college kids, or anyone really, looking for something to do this week the music scene is heating up. Jamaican legend Barrington Levy plays at Dreamland on Saturday and Deer Tick plays at Flatbread on Monday. Holly Gleason, a Nashville-based writer who occasionally contributes to the Gazette and writes for Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times and Oxford American, to name a few publications, profiles Deer Tick in today's Gazette. Holly’s writing is music to the mind. After reading about Deer Tick, search the Oxford American website online for her profile of Kris Kristofferson, the Rhodes Scholar musician, actor and all around poster boy for cool.

One also has the opportunity to go quiet this weekend and embrace the music of nature. What better way, really, to reflect on the present and future than by going fishing. After all, it’s not just high school graduates who face the eternal question of what comes next. Sometimes a quiet time-out can best point the way to what the heart, rather than the mind, desires of life. And even if no signs point the way, something extraordinary will still occur. You will have caught yourself a delicious dinner, perhaps even a weakfish, a delicious species not seen in our waters for some time. Read about the fishing outlook this spring and a weakfish recipe as Mark Lovewell's column, The Fishermen, resumes for the summer. Perhaps the weakfish are back to give the great class of 2013 the sendoff it deserves.

And don't miss the recent news headlines below:

Good morning Gazette readers:

The other day a young woman walked into the new cafe Behind the Bookstore in Edgartown. She had long dreadlocks, multiple piercings and a baby lamb tattoo on her shoulder. She bought some granola and then walked out. Ten minutes later she was back.

That was the best granola I have ever eaten in my life,” she said, nodding her head so vigorously her dreads kept tapping the counter. "And I have eaten a lot of granola."

Food seems to be everywhere on the Island during this last weekend of spring. Restaurant Week begins on Sunday, Father's Day. It's a chance to sample everything the Island has to offer, gastronomically that is, at affordable prices.

To feast on comforts of a different kind, the Yard opens its dance season tonight. And for those looking for something off the beaten path there is a puppet show on Saturday at noon at the Tisbury Water Works, a Bloomsday celebration on Sunday at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, yoga outdoors from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Menemsha Hills Reservation or a chance to hear the Merrimack Valley bell ringers at 7:30 pm tonight at the West Tisbury Congregational Church and again on Saturday at 1 pm at the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs.

For a full list of events happening this weekend and throughout the summer, visit the Gazette calendar.

Here are some headlines from today's website:

Good morning Gazette readers:

Last weekend at the Yard, the dance and performance center in Chilmark, a tall woman walked outdoors on a path of broken clamshells. The woman was one of the choreographers in residence and for her show she wore only high heels, underwear and a very revealing dress made of what looked like chandelier glass. A designer busily adjusted her dress during the performance which consisted of walking in a continuous loop, as a model might on the catwalk, and lasted nearly an hour.

The performance could be a metaphor for the Vineyard on this first day of summer. We have been nearly dressed and fluttering in circles for weeks now preparing for the season. And now it has arrived.

Oak Bluffs opens the gate on Saturday with its Harbor Festival a day long eating and shopping extravaganza. The West Tisbury Congregational Church holds its 25th annual strawberry festival on Saturday and the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival screens a documentary about Gore Vidal on Wednesday. Preceding the documentary is a series of short films for kids, reviewed this week by seven-year-old kid critic Clara Athearn, and the first Cinema Circus.

For a complete list of events visit the Gazette calendar.

And, because this is an Island, afterall, be on the lookout for extreme tides this weekend due to a moon both full and in perigee.

Here are a few headlines from our website.

Fog and the Fourth of July go together on the Vineyard like blueberry pie and ice cream. But have no fear: the forecast for the Fourth calls for the fog and summer showers to lift in time for the annual parade in Edgartown. Thursday is the national holiday. The warmup to the day of picnics and fireworks will be held at the Performing Arts Center tonight when Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen take the stage for Love Letters, the Pulitzer-Prize nominated play written by A.R. Gurney. The event is a benefit for the Vineyard Playhouse.

Parade organizers are still looking for top-down vehicles to carry local notables in the parade Thursday. You won't want to miss the Vineyard Gazette's vehicle, making its parade debut.

Most of the Gazette staff will be working on Thursday — stop by our office at 34 South Summer Street in Edgartown to say hello. If you're lucky, you might catch Friday's paper coming off the press!

Have a safe holiday; please do not drink and drive.

Here are a few headlines from our website:

Good morning Gazette readers:

Did you know that a screech owl doesn’t screech? Its call sounds more like a horse whinnying, politely at that. Or maybe you are an early morning riser and owls are like some foreign land you want to visit but just don’t find the time. Perhaps today’s story on the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary will encourage a more close embrace with nature, both before and after dark. Full moon kayak anyone?

There is no escaping, however, the pre-sunrise cacophony of Vineyard birds. The songbirds are happy and going full throttle. Who can blame them? The largesse of summer swells these days like a Botero painting. Blueberry season awaits, both low bush wild (not telling where) and high bush you-pick-em at Susan Murphy’s farm.

Visual sights abound, too. This weekend Camp Jabberwocky performs Romeo and Juliet in Las Vegas and two sailing regattas await — the Edgartown Regatta and the Vineyard Cup.

To better to savor these moments spend a moment with Will Monast and his Gosnold Chronicle. His piece sails troubled waters but will have you joining the birds and singing your own song as you count your blessings today and every day.

Here are a few headlines from our website:

Good morning Gazette readers:

In New York city the streets are melting beneath the feet of passersby. In Death Valley, feet are literally melting. Here on the Vineyard it is hot, too, but on an Island there is relief from the heat on every sandy shore, even if the water has reached the high 70s and low 80s.

One could also beat the heat by heading indoors to for the music scene, in full swing this week. On Sunday NRBQ plays Flatbread and on Monday the Ljuba Davis Ladino Ensemble performs at the Martha's Vineyard Film Center. On Monday and Tuesday the Chamber Music Society hosts concerts with the Island's own Delores Stevens at piano. And finally, for the kids and kids at heart, on Tuesday the Gazette's own Mark Alan Lovewell performs from his most recent CD, A Child's Island, at the Old Whaling Church.

And after some good music, everyone loves a good burger. Fat Ronnie awaits.

Here are a few headlines from our website:

Good morning Gazette readers:

The kids are making mud for pigs and catching earwigs out at the Farm Institute. They’re dodging dodge balls at the Chilmark Community Center, making puppets at Sense of Wonder and going thespian with the Playhouse. It’s deep summer and the camps are hopping. Some say the Vineyard is camp for adults, too. The list of things this week includes everything but the tug-of-war. Lori McKenna headlines a benefit at Dreamland on Saturday, Lauren Geenfield sets up camp at the Film Center in Vineyard Haven with two films and a workshop and Tanya Augoustino, reopening her A Gallery in Oak Bluffs, returns with a show by photographer Mariana Cook. Oak Bluffs celebrates Della Hardman Day on Saturday with a lineup of activities. Where are the dudes? Check out the Gazette calendar to find out.

Here are a few headlines from our website.

Good morning, Gazette readers:

Swimming alert: If you are on the Island this week (or every week), please remember to be safe and sensible when in the water. A gusty onshore northerly breeze for the past several days has erased the stifling humidity (goodbye to all that in July) but created rough seas on the north shore. On the south shore this is the time of year when riptides can catch even the strongest swimmers by surprise. So be sensible while enjoying the delicious, healing qualities of the clean saltwater. When conditions are rough, always swim with a buddy. If you are caught in a rip current, remain calm and swim parallel to shore until you are out of the current and can safely reach the shore.

Water of the drinking variety will be on display Thursday at Vineyard House's annual fundraiser, Water Tasting by the Sea. Starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Oyster Pond home of Richard and Nancy Friedman, the event features gourmet food and a silent auction, all to benefit Vineyard House, which provides safe, structured housing for people in the early stages of recovery from substance abuse. Also on Thursday, the Stone Soup Leadership Institute presents their 4th annual Walter Cronkite Awards at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown starting at 5 p.m. Filmmakers Bob Nixon and Liz Witham are this year's honorees.

Sorry, food writer Michael Pollan's appearance on the Vineyard this week is sold out, but you can show your support for another leading Island locavore at SBS starting at 6 p.m. tonight when Ali Berlow, founder of Island Grown Initiative, signs her new book about humane chicken processing.

Here are some headlines from our website:

As the sun burned through a cool morning mist early Monday, a woman walked down the pathway in front of Middletown Nursery collecting small American flags, tucking them under her arm as she moved along the fence. Half a mile away, the fair grounds at the Agricultural Hall were empty and quiet, the grass brown and trampled, a few dusty carnival trailers packing up their gear and headed for the ferry. President Obama left Sunday and the flags and welcome signs have come down. The fair is over. Summer's on the wane, but hardly over yet, and for many these late, golden days of August are the best. And there is no shortage of activities. A key benefit for kidney disease research begins Thursday with the On the Vine music festival featuring Smokey Robinson, Natalie Cole and others. Still time for one last summer dance.

Here are a few headlines from our website:

Good morning Gazette readers:

Summer tides are turning; it’s an ebb flow now for visitors, tourists and traffic. Outgoing ferries are jammed to the gunwales with cars, people, children, bikes and golden retrievers. Next up, Labor Day weekend. Seen in downtown Vineyard Haven: parking spaces. As the seasonal shift begins, hardworking Islanders look forward to a little time to breathe and get to know their neighbors again. And summer galas are replaced by community causes, on the quieter side of life but certainly no less vital.

Here are a few headlines from our website:

Good morning Gazette readers:

At age 81 Capt. Robert Douglas is finishing his 50th year steering the course of the Shenandoah. Captain Douglas said he really hit his stride when he began doing six-day charters for fifth graders. In his words, “I would strongly approve of bonsai-ing people at age 11... Grownups tend to lose their resiliency.” Strong words from a strong man of the sea, but there is truth in what he says. The infectious energy of a child hungry for knowledge and adventure is not just a cliche. It’s what keeps teachers coming back each year. On that note, the Vineyard school year starts Monday. Time to slow down at school zones and watch out for little one’s crossing the street.

Captain Douglas is demure about when he will retire, but Dragonfly Gallery owners, Don McKillop and Susan Davy have decided to set a new course. On Saturday they are holding their penultimate art reception. They will close their doors after Columbus Day to spend more time on their own art.

Art lovers can also spend next week watching more than 20 artists take part in a plein airpainting event in Edgartown hosted by The North Water Gallery, The Christina Gallery and Pik Nik Art and Apparel.

Remember to pick up a copy of Friday’s Vineyard Gazette to see if you won a free $500 back-to-school shopping spree. The winner was chosen randomly from our Notebook subscribers.

For a complete list of events, visit the Gazette calendar.

Here are a few headlines from our website:

Good morning Gazette readers:

Today is Friday the 13th and for the superstitious a day to tread carefully and perhaps cast a glance or two over the shoulder. Do fish feel the same way? This time of year they should. After all, in just two days the waters around the Island will be filled with hooks. The Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby is here — curtain rises at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 15. Newcomers may want to brush up on some go-to fishing spots. For those immune to the lure of the sea, there are appetizing activities on land, too. Grapes are ripe for picking this time of year. A retrospective of the work of artist Richard Lee takes place at Featherstone on Sunday.

Tivoli Day takes the stage on Saturday in Oak Bluffs. While in town visit the Groovy Sue Gallery to enjoy the work of artist Suesan Stovall.

For a complete list of events, visit the Gazette calendar.

Here are a few headlines from our website.

Good morning Gazette readers:

The sweet spot of the Vineyard has arrived - sorry summer friends. Blue, blue skies, water still warm-ish, shops still open and the fishing fine at the derby - the albies are running! Tomorrow at 6 a.m. is the Kids Derby held each year at the Oak Bluffs Steamship Wharf, and the weather promises to be a far cry from 75 years ago when the ferocious Hurricane of '38 struck.

Even amidst a shoulder season of plenty, not everyone is able to partake. Tonight and tomorrow the Yard presents Who’s Hungry, a puppet show created by Dan Froote and Dan Hurlin that incorporates Vineyard stories about food insecurity into the show.

It is also a weekend of remembrance at the Edgartown Lighthouse. There are currently 615 stones at the Children’s Memorial located there and at 1 p.m. on Saturday they will all be honored in an annual ceremony begun in 2001.

Here are a few headlines from our website:

Good morning Gazette readers:

While eavesdropping the other day, the following was overheard: “The mushroom walk is sold out! I love living in a place where a mushroom walk sells out.” This would be the walk and talk at Polly Hill arboretum led by Mushroom Marlene. Don’t despair, she’ll be back.

Although eavesdropping does offer gifts rare and uncensored, it also comes with a bruise or two these days when done outdoors. Horse chestnuts and acorns are raining down from above, a veritable hailstorm of fall nuggets. What are all those squirrels doing anyway? Perhaps on a hammock somewhere enjoying the eternal sunshine. It was the driest September on the Island in 67 years of record keeping.

Hopefully the weather will hold this weekend as the Living Local Harvest Festival begins tonight and continues tomorrow. Banker White’s documentary of his mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease screens this evening at the Harbor View Hotel and on Sunday the 10K run to benefit the Gay Head Lighthouse relocation effort takes place. And for those ladies looking to grab the remote, so to speak, in the arena of car maintenance, Andrea Dello Russo of McIntosh Motors rides to the rescue.

Here are a few headlines from our website:

Good morning Gazette readers:

But for the orange and scarlet leaves drifting to the ground and leaving a crunchy blanket on windshields and back stoops, you might have thought it was summer this weekend. Certainly the crowds were summer-like. But when the Columbus Day holiday arrived on Monday, all was quiet again and the Island wore her glorious October coat of many colors. Fishermen lined the shorelines and the 68th Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby entered the final week of competition. Natural food enthusiasts who had been gathering nuts like so many squirrels, along with other things foraged, were gearing up for the annual Wild Food Challenge, held at the Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club. Who will win the prize for the best native dish? Check out the Gazette's website later today to find out.

Here are some headlines from our website.

Good morning Gazette readers:

It was Linus who famously said: “There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.” With a solemn nod to Charlie Brown, this is pumpkin month on the Vineyard. There’s a festival to celebrate them at Morning Glory Farm, and there will be jack o’ lanterns and pony rides at Arrowhead Farm. There’s even a pumpkin moon this month. Beyond all things pumpkin, the weekend is full of festivals and farm shares, including the food and wine festival and a brown bag sale at Whippoorwill Farm in West Tisbury. We’re stuffed just thinking about all that wonderful food.

Here are a few headlines from our website:

Good morning Gazette readers:

Halloween night is still six days away, but on the Island it appears ghouls and goblins are not in the waiting mood. Festivities begin tonight and keep going strong throughout the week. The Gazette visits its own dead, too, or rather one writer discovers that reports of the death of one of the paper’s esteemed illustrators have been greatly exaggerated.

But fear not, there is plenty for the living to do this weekend to keep on living. First up is the flu clinic for ages ninth grade and older taking place tomorrow from 9 a.m. to noon at both Waban Park in Oak Bluffs and the West Tisbury School. The CROP walk is Sunday with everyone meeting at St. Augustine’s Church in Vineyard Haven at 1:25 p.m..

Oh, and by the way, what’s the difference between a Fenway frank and Yankee hotdog? You can eat a Fenway frank in October. Go Red Sox!

Here are a few headlines from our website.

Good morning Gazette readers:

Today the sun sets at 4:31 p.m. But cheer up, the shortest day of the year is less than two months away. That’s just a few potlucks from now, really.

Over the weekend there was plenty to celebrate. On Saturday night the annual Barnraisers' Ball in West Tisbury drew half the Island it seemed. And on Sunday, 99-year-old Margot Weston was honored at the spirit of the Vineyard award. For those who were off-Island, photographer Tim Johnson has once again captured the essence of what you missed. http://mvgazette.com/multimedia/island-light-daylight-saving Turning to this week, for those raring to go this morning, Jim Norton joins the Howes House Conversation group to lead a talk at 9:30 a.m. on the new book by Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen entitled AnUncertain Glory, India and its Contradictions.

And on Thursday, join sister-islander (Nantucket that is), John Stanton as he presents his new movie Wood Sail Dreams at the Film Center.

Here are a few headlines from our website.

Good morning Gazette readers:

It was a weekend for reflection and remembrance as the Vineyard sent silent wishes for hope and recovery to the coastal-living people of the Philippines half a world away who are suffering such devastation and loss. On Monday, a sunny, blustery day, Islanders joined the country in honoring all veterans. In remarks from Arlington Cemetery on the national holiday, President Obama said: “In the life of our nation, across every generation, there are those who stand apart. They step up, they raise their hands, they take that oath. They put on the uniform and they put their lives on the line. They do this so that the rest of us might live in a country and a world that is safer, freer, and more just. This is the gift they’ve given us. This is the debt that we owe them.”

Here are a few headlines from our website:

Good morning Gazette readers:

Driving up Island behind a septic truck a motorist couldn’t help but notice the writing in big block letters on the back of the truck: “Warning, contents may contain political promises.” No matter which way one leans, the stinky truth hurts.

Perhaps the answer is to visit the way back machine and party like its 1975 — the Charter School will show you the way one more time on Saturday night. Then it’s time to get creative. Felix Neck’s Fern and Feather camp will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary and they are looking for a new logo.

Fall feels fleeting. First snow was on Tuesday. Lynn Irons hauled out the long underwear on Wednesday.

Here are a few headlines from our website.

Good morning Gazette readers:

Alma Benson died on Tuesday at the age of 93. She had continued to work at Cottle’s lumberyard in Lambert's Cove until she was 92. In the hospital, just before she died, she said she was excitedabout going to the pearly gates because Tom Osmers and her late-husband Franklin had promised to meet her there and take her fishing. May the fish never stop biting, Alma.

There’s a changing of the guard at the Red Stocking Fund, where longtime chief elves Kerry Alley and Lorraine Clark have announced their retirement.

This weekend the Oak Bluffs school and the Tisbury school put on their school plays. Susan Mercier of Edgartown books gives a book talk at the Federated Church on Monday. Hanukkah begins Wednesday at sundown and Thanksgiving arrives on Thursday. Safe travels everyone.

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Good morning Gazette readers:

Snowy owls seem to be everywhere on the Vineyard these days. And why not, no reason to hide when you look that good.

Oak Bluffs is looking good, too. The tree was lit on Wednesday and this weekend the town is throwing a day long holiday party. In Edgartown, the Christmas Decorations Committee is doing what it has done so well for nigh on 60 years. The Island Community Chorus performs its holiday concert on Saturday and Sunday.

The Gazette is getting in the spirit, too. As part of Christmas in Edgartown, everyone is invited to the Gazette office at 34 So. Summer Street next Friday, Dec. 13, for an open house between noon to 3 p.m. But be forewarned when wandering the Gazette halls — the Notebook may be listening.

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Good morning, Gazette readers:

In her essay Street Haunting, Virginia Woolf used the excuse of looking for a proper pencil as a way to explore a gray and wintery London. “The hour should be the evening and the season winter, for in winter the champagne brightness of the air and the sociability of the streets are grateful,” she wrote.

The streets and dirt roads of the Vineyard, both rural up-Island and the towns of down-Island, seem to possess this sociable nature these days. Christmas is in the air, and if a pencil seems an anachronism, there are holiday lights and activities to draw one outside. Christmas in Edgartown is upon us and everything is within walking distance for this three-day festival.

But nature is not one to take a back seat to the work of mere mortals. On Saturday morning wake early, just before sunrise, to behold the Geminid meteor shower.

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In his essay Once More to the Lake, E.B. White wrote about being father showing his son a treasured summer vacation spot while also being thrown back to the past and his own childhood. At the very same moment he was both father and child, young and old. This time traveling vertigo is active during the holiday season, too. The mother on the couch watching her daughter open presents is equally the young girl she once was arranging manger pieces and wishing for a pony for Christmas. Indeed, it is part of the magic of the season, this merging of anticipation and reflection.

The Rev. Cathlin Baker of the West Tisbury Congregational Church takes us on a similar journey setting out on her Advent season pilgrimage.

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