If you need an extra incentive to attend the Chamber Music Society’s first concert of the summer this week, here’s one: It’s free. The tickets have all been pre-paid by Sam Feldman, whose late wife Gretchen was an avid supporter of chamber music.

“I’m trying to help her legacy in continuing the [Chamber Music Society] and making it healthy and strong,” Mr. Feldman said. “We are both very involved in our community and love to give back to this wonderful place.”

Lullaby CDs, like Fred Mollin’s recently released Martha’s Vineyard Lullaby CD, adhere to their own set of parameters. Most important, the music must be pleasing and consistent so it doesn’t jolt the little one out of the land of Nod.

“It’s interesting and musical, but it’s also calming,” Mr. Mollin said. “It’s almost a science for us. There’s nothing there to make the unconscious nervous.”

The Island is known for its iconic animals. There’s the black dog, the flying horse, the Jaws shark. But long ago, there was also a red cat. According to Island lore, she was a handsome young gal with fiery red hair who tickled the fancy of Stan Hart, Island bibliophile, sailor and author, who died in 2010.

The housing crisis affects us all.

While the ups and downs of the Island real estate market are not a major concern for these crustaceans, they do have their own domicile dilemma. A version of the Vineyard shuffle is undertaken by hermit crabs year-round.

The Vineyard is a huge maternity ward for birds at this time of year. I have e-mails and phone calls galore about young birds in people’s yards, at their feeders and along the roadside. It is a pleasure to hear the youngsters learning to sing their songs and the adults singing, perhaps with pride, over their brood. The birth of a black skimmer on Norton Point, verified in a photograph by Jeff Bernier, is exciting. This species has an interesting history in Massachusetts. Jeff’s photo was taken on July 3.

Everyone in the gardening and landscaping business has been commenting on how weird the season has been. We’ve been talking about the mild winter and super-warm spring. Both seem to be factors in how quickly the summer plants have moved along. I saw some New England fall asters blooming at the entry to the YMCA, for heaven’s sake.

Realtor Appointment

Peter Fyler, an exclusive buyer’s agent and broker/owner of SplitRock Real Estate, LLC, has been elected to the Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors board of directors.

Edgartown

Richard A. Manley Jr and Deborah J. Fanton purchased 8 Garrett Way in Edgartown from Douglas L. and Karen V. Williams for $1,450,000 on June 29.

Harald B. Findlay purchased 4 Beach Plum Meadows in Edgartown from Robert S. and Anne C. Amato for $2,460,000 on June 29.

Lourie J. and Tighe J. Mathieu purchased 65 Herring Creek Road in Edgartown from John A. Kheary, trustee of the Shirley K. Kheary Qualified Personal Residence Trust, for $350,000 on June 29.

Visiting Reverend

The Rev. Christina Rathbone, Cathedral Missioner at the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul in Boston, will be priest in residence at Trinity Episcopal Church in Oak Bluffs from July 8 through the July 15.

Reverend Rathbone attended New York University and received her divinity degree from Boston University in 2008.

Come May for the past two years, a pair of ducks have come to nest on Rose Styron’s lush lawn overlooking the outer Vineyard Haven harbor. “They eat a lot, at least the mother eats a lot, and the father, a gorgeous green-necked mallard, guards her. And when she’s fat enough, she goes to make a nest under the dock,” Mrs. Styron said, looking out at the water from her porch.