With six confirmed cases of tularemia and reports of Lyme disease coming in, the Vineyard has begun another season of documenting tick-borne illnesses.

Although cases are still being confirmed, official numbers will not be released until early next year. But initial reports from state public health officials and the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital indicate no slowdown in the high rates of tick-borne illnesses on Island.

While many nonprofits across the nation are cutting staff and programs due to the weak economy and rising operational costs, the Vineyard Nursing Association over the past six months has gone in a different direction, nearly doubling the number of patients under its care while hiring new staff and expanding its programs.

Massachusetts is in the midst of a blood shortage due to a decline in blood donations, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross said Monday. Meanwhile, officials at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital said demand for blood on the Vineyard has increased with the summer swell in population.

Those involved with blood supply agree the current situation makes a high turnout critical for this Thursday’s Martha’s Vineyard Community Blood Drive.

The names of Flip Scipio’s clients — Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, and Carly Simon among them — are testament to him as a guitar technician.

Other names you’ve never heard of are testament to him as a person. They are the names of soldiers in Afghanistan, whose music he also enabled. Not that he even mentions it until it comes up in conversation at his Aquinnah home.

They are tallish, spare and almost laconic men. Certainly, 350 years of pragmatic New England roots, courtesy of their mother, Barbara Flanders, is part of it.

For Doug and David Seward, there is another reason. They are identical twins. “Mirror twins” as Doug puts it. They don’t need to talk much though they’re working at talking more, so other people are included in their often soundless dialogue.

They have lived 61 years as intuitive brothers, raised as crickers, a term for Menemsha Creek youth of a certain age.

The 22nd annual two-day monster shark tournament in Oak Bluffs ended Saturday with a total of 27 sharks caught and submitted, the largest of which was a 399-pound thresher. The team on the Waterbury caught the shark Friday, beating the other 200 boats in the tournament. Their prize was an $80,000 boat.

Chilmark police responded to a high number of motor vehicle and moped accidents over the past week, including a two-vehicle accident on Middle Road on Thursday that sent six people to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

Chilmark police chief Timothy Rich said the accident occurred just after 10 p.m. near the intersection of Tabor House Road when a 2005 Subaru Legacy driven by seasonal resident Donald Leopold, 18, crossed the center line and collided with a 1999 Volvo Station carrying seven occupants.

Menemsha Coast Guardsmen played a large role in a rescue attempt following a collision between a sailboat and power boat in Buzzards Bay on Friday that left an experienced sailor dead.

Coast Guard personnel aboard the Menemsha-based 25-foot rescue boat responded to a mayday call for help shortly after 1:45 p.m.

Senior chief Stephen Barr of the Menemsha Coast Guard station said the boat crew arrived on scene in less than 35 minutes and found another patrol boat already there.

Sailing Vessel Will Visit

Vineyard Haven Harbor

The Bermuda-based sail training vessel Spirit of Bermuda will grace Vineyard Haven harbor this coming weekend, Friday, July 25 to Sunday July 27.

The Spirit, part of a youth sailing program in Bermuda, is being welcomed by Sail Martha’s Vineyard, a sister organization here on the Vineyard. Two lucky Sail MV sailors will make the passage back to Bermuda as part of the crew.

Michael Pollan knows the rules of the potluck.

Although he is the featured speaker at tonight’s Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard potluck dinner in West Tisbury, the New York Times bestselling author will be bringing the requisite dish to share. “I’m singing for my supper,” he said from his Aquinnah home.