By LYNNE IRONS

Nothing makes me more relaxed than a rainy Saturday in July. Last weekend, in my opinion, was perfect for us gardeners. There is a country-western song out of the West Texas cotton fields with the following refrain:

Sow your seed

In the ground below

Fall to your knees

and pray real slow

For the rain to come

And kiss the seed

To bless you with

All that you need.

Ronald Rood had a great and somewhat timeless concept for a book. In 1971, he penned a little paperback titled Animals Nobody Loves, highlighting the wonders of some often-maligned creatures. The author cleverly divides the book of unloved critters into three sections, based on the reasons for finding them objectionable: The Way They Look, The Way They Act, and A Little of Both.

The New England Conservatory of Music’s Millennium Gospel Choir perform Saturday, July 12, at 7 p.m. at The Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs. Admission is by freewill donation.

Alison Shaw: Yellow

The Yellow Show is opening with a reception at the Alison Shaw Gallery during the Arts District Stroll this Saturday, July 12, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Island chef and author of Raising the Salad Bar Cathy Walthers will be there with one of her salads; Slice of Life baker Megan D’Olimpio is creating a dessert; and Craig MacCormack will be bartender for the day.

Almost a week after the devastating Independence Day fire which destroyed Café Moxie and severely damaged the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, workmen finally began clearing away debris from the scene yesterday.

The smell of smoke still wafts along Main street Vineyard Haven, but the activity at last signals the start of the recovery process, delayed while insurance inspectors did their job.

Coastal erosion has split Lucy Vincent Beach, temporarily cutting off a portion frequented by nude bathers at the point of a fossil-encrusted cliff, stretching the beach patrol and putting swimmers at risk.

At the very end of Main street Tuesday night, a bright green Tisbury fire truck stood with nothing to do and nowhere to go until one small boy came along and, too shy to do so on his own, had his father ask if he could climb up into it.

In its sixth year of a capital campaign, the Martha’s Vineyard Museum is carrying an operating deficit from 2007 as it considers a different location for a future museum campus.

Keith Gorman, executive director of the museum since January of this year, has taken control of the nonprofit business at a difficult time. Determined to avoid a repeat financial performance in 2008, he is also presiding over a reassessment of the campaign to expand the museum which began in 2002 with a $27 million price tag and is currently undergoing a period of major reassessment.

West Tisbury assessors in recent weeks have approved a record number of real estate tax abatements, with more to come in the aftermath of flood of abatement applications this spring.

Some $197,000 in abatements, representing more than $44 million in real estate value, had been approved by the end of the fiscal year on June 30 and the final total will be higher, said principal assessor Kristina West.

The town granted about $130,000 in abatements in 2005, likely the previous record, she said.

Swimmers at South Beach, State Beach and Tashmoo were told to get out of the water yesterday by Edgartown and Tisbury public safety officials, following the sighting of a shark close to shore. The shark sighting off South Beach was confirmed later by a private airplane flying over the beach.

There also was one report of two sharks being seen late yesterday morning at the eastern end of the Joseph A. Sylvia State Beach, in an area also known as Bend in the Road Beach, but there are serious questions about that report.