In 1991, Carl Manning Widdiss led the campaign to change the name of Gay Head to Aquinnah.

Not many people can point to a single pivotal point when their life made an about-face, but Kib Bramhall has no doubt that art class changed his life. Sixty-five years later, he is still painting. His newest show opens at the Granary Gallery Sunday.

An update on our two abandoned kittens: they are growing, purring, playing and starting to slurp some gruel. It was a big week for them.

Stina Sayre Designs on Main Street Vineyard Haven is hosting the Seize Your Beauty fashion show July 31. The event is a fundraiser for Friends of Family Planning Martha’s Vineyard.

I’m going on record (you may write this down) by proclaiming that this summer rivals any summer (in memory) for sheer pleasantness. It is decreed.

It seems my neighborhood in Vineyard Haven has gotten just as busy as my old ‘hood in Manhattan. I saw a large group on Walter and Gail Burke’s deck and nothing would do but for me to cross the street and get the scoop. Walter, Gail and I are still friends although we were on opposing sides in the Rupert the Rooster controversy. As luck would have it, 7-year-old grandson Ernesto was visiting with his mom, Megan Burke. Ernesto and Megan live in Nicaragua so this was a month-long stay.

Carl Manning Widdiss died early Sunday morning in Phoenix, Ariz., after enduring a five-year struggle with cancer. Three of those years were spent caring for and tending to the needs of his late mother, Gladys A. Widdiss.

Vineyard Gardens combines poppies and paintings as it hosts Gallery in the Gardens on Fridays throughout August from 5 to 8 p.m.

Singer-songwriter Cindy Kallet will perform a benefit concert for Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary’s Fern & Feather Day Camp on Sunday, August 3, at 7:30 p.m. at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury.

Walter Cronkite left a legacy that travels beyond the shores of the Vineyard, and it continues with the fifth annual Walter Cronkite Awards Ceremony and Reception on Tuesday, August 5, from 5 to 8 p.m.