A group of artists are coming together at the Gay Head Gallery for a group show, Changing Coastlines: Changing Ponds to benefit the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group and the Martha’s Vineyard Water Alliance. The work captures the beauty of the coastline and reflects the impact that wind, storms, currents and a changing climate has on local resources.

Thunder Ben David of Chilmark died Thursday, July 25, after seven glorious years as the biggest attraction at Native Earth Teaching Farm owned by Rebecca Gilbert and Randy Ben David. “He was our rock star boar,” said Ms. Gilbert.

It has been a busy year for West Tisbury poet laureate Justen Ahren. Recently he opened the Noepe Center for Literary Arts, a creative refuge on the Island to foster writing through the gift of time and solitude. He also just completed his first book of poetry, A Strange Catechism. He will give a reading at the Noepe Center, 104 Main street, Edgartown on Tuesday, August 6 at 7 p.m.

The new Vineyard Seadogs calendar has arrived just in time for the dog days of August. Take a journey around the Island with these dogs who delight in all things Vineyard — the beaches, harbors, porches and even reading rooms. Maybe they can read after all.

For many fishermen, boaters and sailors, Nantucket Sound is a neighborhood. It is an inland sea with personality where stories abound. The sound ranges in size from 500 to 700 square miles, depending on who is doing the measuring. Nantucket Sound is the water that separates Cape Cod from Nantucket and much of the Vineyard.

Friday, July 26: Rainy wet morning. Torrential shower overnight. One inch of rain falls from 1 to 2 a.m. Leaden grey morning. Puddles abound in all the down-Island roads. Colorful umbrellas and raincoats decorate Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs. More rain in the afternoon. Drizzle. Light showers in West Tisbury. Pink skies in the west, at dusk. Overcast.

At Stannard Farms in West Tisbury, Lisa Fisher is using good bugs to combat the bad ones. Peering into her green beans, she pulled aside heart-shaped leaves. She was looking for a mahogany-colored beetle a little larger than a ladybug, called the bean beetle.

One of the very first things Ali Berlow tells you is that she’s never killed a chicken. “I’ve never killed a chicken, and I never intend to,” she says matter-of-factly.

This may sound surprising coming from the author of The Mobile Poultry Slaughterhouse: Building a Humane Chicken Processing Unit to Strengthen Your Local Food System.

Stepping over the threshold into the low-ceiling wooden enclave of MM Antiques in West Tisbury, one can’t help but feel as though they’ve stumbled upon a comfortably familiar seance.

Virgil warned us to be wary of the snake in the grass, but I am suggesting an addition to that advice. Beware of the snake in the water, too!