In Oak Bluffs this week, great mounds of earth were being shifted, walls to turn back the sea were being built and beaches were being fortified and expanded.

And although there seemed to be something Biblical to it all, in reality all the moving of sand and building of walls was more routine then epic.

The construction crews at the tip of the North Bluff were working on a new seawall that is the first step in a larger plan to replace the bulkhead running from the parking lot to the Steamship Authority terminal.

A Dredge With Potential

A former summer visitor to Chilmark plans to appeal a recent Middlesex Superior Court decision which favors the Chilmark selectmen’s right to manage their harbor and essentially keep him from spending more than 14 days a summer at a slip.

Paul DeJesus, an aggrieved owner of a 70-foot Hatteras yacht, told the Gazette yesterday he will appeal the Hon. Dennis J. Curran’s decision.

Weather was a big factor in creating memories in this past Saturday’s annual Pat West Gaff Rig Race. A squall line came through that will be talked about for years to come.

Three schooners were the top winners in the race.

The Island-built 65-foot schooner Juno, captained by Scott DiBiaso, won the race on both corrected time and elapsed time. The vessel completed the race in 2 hours 44 minutes and 8 seconds.

Court TV debuted> a show last year called Murder By the Book. They invited five crime novelists to choose a true crime case that fascinated them, and present it in the series — full of interviews with witnesses and detectives and prosecutors. Linda Fairstein, pictured above, was selected for the second series.

My childhood was of the dirt-beneath -the-fingernails variety. I spent fall afternoons uncovering salamanders from under old logs and trapping slugs to see if they did indeed wriggle up when sprinkled with salt. (They do.) Summer days found my cousins and me on Chilmark ponds filling buckets with blue crabs and moon jellies, and out on Sengekontacket digging for quahogs with our feet. My fingers and toes were immersed in dirt.

Friday, Sept. 14: Sunny morning. Clouds on the increase in the afternoon. Humid and cool. Clouds are dramatic in the late afternoon; a mix of cirrus clouds and cumulus clouds stretch across the western sky. Rain arrives late at night. Stormy night.

A century ago Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs was a heady combination of sights, sounds and smells in the summertime. Exotic souvenirs, local produce and colorful parades were a visual delight. The sound of clattering hoofbeats contrasted with the sputtering of early automobiles. The aroma of spices from all over the world blended with the smell of fresh fruits and recently caught fish.

The Federated Church of Edgartown is sending volunteers on a 10-day mission to New Orleans in November to continue the rebuilding work the church youth group began last December.

With the passing of the second anniversary of Katrina, and with so much left incomplete, inadequate, or non-existent in this still-ravaged area, the volunteers feel called to lend additional physical, emotional and spiritual support.

Learn how people around the world are using prayer for healing. National speaker John Adams brings his experience to the Island Thursday, Sept. 27, at 7:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Society in Vineyard Haven. With illustrations from his personal experience, Mr. Adams will show how anyone can use thoughtful, intelligent prayer to improve their health and advance their happiness.