Experiment: Put 17 teenagers together under one roof. Take away their cell phones and send them to their rooms at 10 p.m., lights out at 11. Sketch out a detailed daily itinerary that includes intense workouts, short breaks for meals and absolutely no beach time.

What might they do? Throw temper tantrums? Band together and stage a full-scale revolt?

In this case, they sing. Arias.

This is OperaFest, a two-week, summer camp-like program for some of the youngest and most dedicated opera enthusiasts in the country.

The Education Department at Mass Audubon’s Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary has selected Jacob Gurney as recipient of the James K. Whittemore Young Naturalist Award. This annual award recognizes campers for their outstanding participation and contribution to environmental excellence during Mass Audubon’s summer 2009 camp season.

By JONAH LIPSKY

There is a journey of the imagination happening this weekend and next at Featherstone center for the arts. PigPen Theatre Company, is presenting its site-specific play, Mountain Song, written for and inspired by the amphitheatre in the field behind the arts center. With music, puppetry and comedic acting, and centered around an epic quest of love, the play is for the whole family.

Running 45 minutes long, the play is a short and fun-filled evening. It is produced by Artfarm Enterprises and Vineyard Arts Project.

Vineyard restaurants and fish markets are now serving and selling fresh, locally caught striped bass. The commercial season officially opened on Tuesday in Massachusetts.

Commercial anglers have a season that will probably run well into August before the quota is taken. They are limited to fish that are a minimum of 34 inches, and there is a daily limit of five fish on Sundays, and 30 fish on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The Massachusetts quota for commercial fishing of striped bass is 1,128,577 pounds.

There are three species of birds that have stirred bird-watchers’ interest this week: black skimmers, merlins and a barred owl. Two of these species have tried nesting on the Island although the Vineyard is out of the normal breeding range for both. One was successful, the other not. One has been reported on the Island only three times before, in 1918, 1929 and 1948.

The feature film Ajami, a drama nominated for this year’s best foreign film Oscar, will screen on Sunday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center.

Ajami is set on the streets of Jaffa’s Ajami neighborhood, a turbulent melting pot of conflicting cultures and politics. The story is told through the eyes of the city’s Israelis and Palestinians, wealthy and poor. At the center is a dramatic series of events which play out amid the tragic consequences of enemies living as neighbors.

Original Women Pop Up

Original Women, a social enterprise dedicated to celebrating women artisans from around the world, will be opening a pop-up shop at Caravel on 23 Nevin Square in Edgartown. The shop will operate from July 21 to July 26 and feature functional, decorative and wearable works of art from all corners of the globe. Indian printed tunics, graphic telephone wire bowls and playful jewelry from South Africa, India and Ghana, and hand-woven scarves and bags from Guatemala, Peru and India are just a sampling of what will be available.

I am a poor sport in the heat of the summer. I never understood the song Summertime and the Living Is Easy.

Friday, July 9: A hot and clear day. A dog day in July. Lawns in Edgartown are burnt amber: the grass crunches underfoot. A light breeze in the afternoon. Breeze lightens in the afternoon. Long lines for ice cream cones in a North Water street, Edgartown shop.

Shoo fly, don’t bother me.

Salt marsh greenhead flies have arrived. Or rather, they have emerged, since they have been hanging out in the salt marsh over the last year, in densities that may surpriseyou. This year, they are both early and prolific, and (as always) they are out forblood.