A while ago, my daughter tried to put an outbuilding on her property in West Tisbury. She was told she did not meet zoning and was refused a permit.

This got me to wondering about the rules so I started to investigate. There are many rules, some seem silly. But what I found was that there are many, many violations of these rules. It seems no one is checking or following through on them.

Oftentimes we find new reasons why our Island life is unique and special while we understand that many feel we also make some sacrifices. All too often, I hear gripes and concerns about our hospital and its services. I feel compelled to share my recent experience so that the good news can also be noted.

During President Obama’s vacation, I was driving down Middle Road in Chilmark because a portion of South Road was closed during his visit. As I was passing by the Keith Farm, the car in front of me suddenly stopped on the right side of the road.

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of August, 1977: The first of Will Hardy’s Songs of Martha’s Vineyard — this being the title under which words and music have now been collected and reprinted — was composed in 1911 and the last in 1928. That was quite a spread of years, crossing from one historic social era to another, from the final phase of the innocent age that ended in the First World War to the eve of the Great Depression.

Chilmark is ready to close the book on August and move into the slower season. It is always bittersweet to say goodbye to seasonal friends off to their other homes, schools and interests. We have enjoyed sharing the varied moods of summer with them.

A few of the Aquinnah winners at the 152nd Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair include Amos Sauer who won a third prize ribbon for his hand-sculpted wooden boat; Waylon Sauer won first place and blue ribbons for his sculpture of an eagle and a wooden fighter jet, as well as third place for his woven beach grass mat.

Welcome back to Jim and Trude Hart who spent a wonderful vacation touring our northern states. They had dreamed of seeing our country. I wonder where they’ll go next? So long to Kim Beal and her kids; they left last Monday. Kim was able to pack in clamming, celebrating both sons’ birthdays, beaching, and accompanying the boys Christian and Quinn and daughter Lilly on hikes.

Rev. Cathlin Baker of the Congregational Church rang the church bell 50 times Wednesday, joining the rest of the country in marking the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Put plainly, most of the movie footage is not terribly good. Some of it is out of focus or overexposed. Some of it lingers too long on fish lying dead on the rocks. Some of it wasn’t even shot on the Vineyard, and it takes a judicious eye to determine which scenes show the Island and which show Nauset, Cotuit or the jetties at the northern end of the Cape Cod Canal.

The Gazette continues its special project on coastal erosion. Two new stories explore the topic of planning for retreat, how scientists used to think about it and how that thinking has changed. Two new stories today explore the topic of planning for retreat, how scientists used to think about it and how that thinking has changed.