Natural Healing

Heal yourself, or at least let the bounty of nature, rather than lab created chemicals, do the job.

On Tuesday, July 26, local expert Holly Bellebuono of Vineyard Herbs, will conduct a hands on salve-making workshop from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Polly Hill Arboretum. The event starts with a walk to identify and collect medicinal herbs and weeds on the arboretum grounds. After the walk participants make their own oil infusions and beeswax-based ointments. Supplies are included and everyone gets to take home their new medicine.

Tennis by Design

Looking good and swinging good. Next Friday, July 29, Stina Sayre Design is hosting a fashion show and cocktail party to benefit Vineyard Youth Tennis. The event takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Shephard Fine ArtSpace located at 8 Uncas avenue in Oak Bluffs.

Governor Deval Patrick is coming to the Island but this is not just another baby-kissing tour. On Saturday, July 23, he will be reading from and discussing his new memoir, A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life.

Mr. Patrick was born in Chicago in 1956 and after junior high school he won a scholarship to attend Milton Academy in Massachusetts. From there it was on to Harvard as an undergraduate and for law school. In 2007 he became the first African American Governor of Massachusetts and was reelected last year.

The Chilmark Library is presenting an exhibition of paintings by Carol Barsha. There will be an opening reception held on Saturday, July 23 from 3 to 5 p.m.

Ms. Barsha’s exhibit is called Twenty Years at Beetlebung Farm. Her work chronicles her time spent painting at the farm for a few weeks every summer from 1998 to 2008.

Ms. Barsha’s primary medium is oils. Her attention, while at Beetlebung Farm, was turned toward its “fields and gardens, specifically, rows of plants and flowers and the fences that contain them.”

Alan Dershowitz Speaks

Local summer kid, and internationally acclaimed lawyer, author, and lecturer Alan Dershowitz will be speaking this coming Wednesday, July 27, at 5:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library. His talk is entitled The First Amendment: From Pentagon Papers to Wiki Leaks.

Mad Potter on the Move

The Mad Potter has wandered into Vineyard Haven and is now selling his pottery at Morrice Florist on State Road.

The work of his royal madness is truly unique. Towering castles, mermaid and Celtic knotwork bowls, vases, goblets, dragon mugs: If you buy it the fairies will come and move in with you.

Potter, Mad spent his formative years in Ireland. So, yes, he does understand what the wee creatures like. And his artistic flair is unmatched.

Poetic Duo

On Tuesday, July 26, the West Tisbury Library continues its summer of celebrating great poets as Michael Palmer and Julie Carr take the stage to share their work.

When Joe DaSilva starts talking about his cooking career, little of it has to do with food. He talks about the people and conversations that start over a meal. Eating is an experience, he says, that doesn’t rely solely on the ingredients. Sometimes you just have to go back to the basics.

It is high summer on the Vineyard and nowhere more than at l’étoile restaurant in Edgartown, where customers are filling up the dining rooms indoors and out and sitting shoulder to shoulder at the bar late into the night.

And the food being prepared for them is a work of art. Well, actually it’s the work of an artist.

Robynn Murray served in the armed forces in Iraq and was featured on the cover of Army Magazine as an inspiration to women in the army. She now wants nothing to do with selling the military to other women. While in Iraq she was shot at, pointed her gun at families, and witnessed death and destruction. Upon returning home from the war she had to deal with the slow, messy process of trying to cope with her experiences in the army.