Thanks in large part to a Ray Ellis painting of Edgartown harbor that was auctioned for $120,000, the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust raised $350,000 for the conservation of its historic buildings and properties across the Island at the annual Taste of the Vineyard fundraiser this past weekend.

Tisbury police chief Daniel Hanavan is bracing for the thousands of cars and visitors that will disembark daily from ferries into Vineyard Haven streets this summer. Edgartown police chief Antone Bettencourt is taking special note of the rise of underage alcohol purchases, while his Oak Bluffs counterpart, Erik Blake, is getting ready for summer bar closings in his town full of bustling night spots.

New Zealand is the westernmost corner of the Polynesian triangle with Hawaii on top and Easter Island anchoring the east. Incredibly large portions of the north and south islands are uninhabited, with preserved glacier formations, breathtaking mountains and sky-blue waters, making the commonwealth monarchy perhaps the last friendly frontier on earth.

Last Sunday evening at the Old Sculpin Gallery, as the Chappaquiddick ferry shuttled back and forth and fishermen dangled their lines off the boardwalk, art enthusiasts and passersby contemplated the artistic expertise of three recent high school graduates, Noelle Nelson and Courtney Mussell, winners of the Martha’s Vineyard Art Association 2012 Scholarship, and alternate Christine Janak.

A prominent New England patriarch has died violently, exposing a nest of dark family secrets. That’s the plot of Richard North Patterson’s recently released family drama. The novel, Fall From Grace, set on Martha’s Vineyard, is the first in what is to be a series of three novels.

Mr. Patterson, a part-time Island resident, will discuss his work at a speakeasy on June 20 at 5:30 p.m. held at State Road Restaurant in West Tisbury. Hors d’oeuvres and light refreshments will be served.

Another Letter to My Love

First it was a book, then a movie and now a play being staged by the folks at Island Theatre Workshop. The story in question is I Sent a Letter to My Love, written in 1975 by Bernice Rubens, a Welsh writer who won the Booker Prize in 1970 and was again short-listed for the prize in 1978.

Holly Bellebuono is well known for the informative workshops and walks she leads on the Vineyard, educating people about herbs both native and cultivated, and how to use them in various ways.

Laura Wainwright, previously a teacher and children’s librarian, turned her senses toward the natural world to produce her first book, Home Bird: Four Seasons on Martha’s Vineyard (Vineyard Stories 2012). The book is composed of essays that adopt the voice of a home bird — someone who simply likes to be home and hear all the nuanced noises of what the world has to offer. A home bird appreciates the details that so often go unnoticed in even the smallest, simplest daily activities.

Library Open House

On June 29 from 2 to 5 p.m., the Edgartown library trustees and staff will host an open house to thank the community for approving plans to build a new library facility. On hand will be a special guest of honor: the library’s new director, Jill Hughes, who begins her full-time position on June 25. There will be food, live music and games for kids.

Who says libraries are just about books?

Moonlight Movies

Take a bite out of the sky this weekend, Saturday, June 23, when the Tisbury Business Association, Jawsfest and the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society host an outdoor Moonlight Movies event at Owen Park in Vineyard Haven. The movie is Blue Water, White Death, a 1971 documentary, one of the first of its kind, about the Great White Shark.

The event is part of a campaign called Summer of the Sharks 2012 to promote shark conservation and awareness.