How often in nature do we see a single standing beetlebung tree? Not often, thinks Kara Taylor.

“A beetlebung alone is a really unique sight to see,” Ms. Taylor said last week in her new Chilmark gallery space. “Alone, the tree takes this amazing shape. I can only remember one place where I’ve seen this.”

So she decided to paint it.

The wood panel oil painting with 23-karat gold leaf, entitled West Tisbury Beetlebung, is one of 13 paintings in Deciduous, Ms. Taylor’s first show in her new location.

Award-winning writer and performer Ann Randolph brings her spin on life’s little challenges to the Vineyard with her solo show, Loveland. Ms. Randolph takes the audience along on a cross-country flight described as both hilarious and deeply human. She will offer two shows at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven, one this Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. and another performance next Saturday, July 13, at the same time.

In an interview from the Berkshires where she is teaching a writing workshop, Ms. Randolph provided some insight as to where she gets her material.

For many, life on Martha’s Vineyard revolves around the beaches. But those seeking a little more stimulation than the sand under their feet should look no further than the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center’s Summer Institute. Every year the Summer Institute presents a variety of films and speakers and this year’s series begins this weekend.

On Sunday night the documentary Hava Nagila opens up the film series. The movie explores the history of the quintessential bar mitzvah song and takes a deeper look at Jewish cultural identity as a whole.

South Beach reopened to swimming Thursday after several Portuguese man-of-war stings forced the town to close the beach to swimming on July 3.

“They are dangerous, they are prolific,” said Edgartown parks administrator Marilyn Wortman Wednesday morning, just hours after two lifeguards were stung and sent to the hospital.

“Don’t go in,” she said, “you’re going to get stung.”

The whistling of fifes, the crack of baseball bats, the streak of fireworks in the night sky — the Island's streets will swell today with the sounds of the Fourth of July.

At approximately 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 25, the tide in Lake Tashmoo reached its highest point and began to roll back. Susie Bowman, a naturalist and teacher at Mass Audubon’s Felix Neck wildlife sanctuary, was there to mark the change with her husband, Woody. After Mrs. Bowman marked the tide’s apex, she began measuring out five-meter by five-meter quadrants in which they would search for pairs of mating horseshoe crabs. This is the couple’s fifth year of horseshoe crab surveying at Lake Tashmoo.

Friday, June 28: Heavy shower in the morning. Dark skies. Foggy. Low altitude clouds overhead. A damp afternoon. Light rain on Main street in Vineyard Haven doesn’t stop shoppers from filling the sidewalks and coming out of the stores. Stores are busy. Ferryboat horn. Skies lighten in the late afternoon.

Masquerade (Division A) and Avanti (Division B) took advantage of a shortened Sunday schedule to win their respective divisions on a foggy, humid day. Commodore Dan Culkin made the early morning call to cancel Sunday’s annual Tarpaulin Cove race and keep the fleet closer to home on Course 1, which was run in reverse — East Chop to West Chop, twice around.

“We’ll keep the lavender blooming,” guarantee the folks from Sequim, Wash.

There are a couple of birds that I actually do not like, amazing as it may seem. The two are the European starling and the house sparrow. Why, you ask? Well, neither species is native and both are overly aggressive. This aggression is detrimental to many of our native songbirds.