The Fusion Drop-In program for middle school students at the YMCA takes place every Monday through Thursday from 3 to 5:30 p.m. The program offers supervised activities, free time and a chance to get started on homework. Transportation is provided from school to the YMCA.

The program is free for members and $60 per session for nonmembers.

Registration is necessary so call 508-696-7171.

A workshop explaining long-term insurance options will be held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at Howes House in West Tisbury. Titled “Long Term Care . . . What is Your Plan?” the free workshop features John Bridges, a certified long term care insurance specialist.

Call the Up-Island Council on Aging at 508-693-2896 to find out more about the workshop.

It’s all about Brooklyn at the Polly Hill Arboretum on Wednesday, Sept. 18. Chris Roddick, senior arborist at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden kicks it off with a talk about pruning techniques and tool maintenance from 1 to 3 p.m. There will be a hands-on demonstration and a chance to practice newly learned pruning prowess. Bring hand pruners if you have them. Cost for this event is $20 or $10 if you’re a member of Polly Hill.

They fell asleep to a sunset on the beach, drank coffee at Mocha Mott’s and had drinks at the Chowder Company. And on Tuesday night, they sealed the summer with a kiss atop the Gay Head Light.

The Vineyard, the ABC Family reality show filmed on the Island over the spring, concluded its first season on Tuesday night. The docu-drama followed a group of 20-somethings as they transitioned from adolescence to the so-called real world over the course of a Vineyard summer.

I love when the previous week’s column gives me some material for this week. I talked about the extended family of turkeys in my yard and how if times really got tough I could have one for supper. I meant to say . . . “talk about local” but it printed up low-cal. I guess that would work as a sentence too! I’ve never really cared about calories so I probably wouldn’t say that.

On Sept. 7 Tim Spahr, an excellent birder from the mainland, was birding with Allan Keith in the Gay Head Moraine. They were on a small bridge over a trickling stream when Tim heard a chip note that Tim said was a hooded warbler. Allan Keith and I both have difficulty hearing and identifying chip notes so we are always willing to bird with someone with good ears. Allan was stunned that Tim not only heard the note, but identified it. With a little coaxing the bird came closer and Tim was able to photograph an immature female hooded warbler.

E.B. White found appreciation in even the simplest of life’s tasks.

Last Tuesday Gerald Fritz’s day started off a lot like every other. Around half past 10 he embarked on a leisurely stroll from his four-bedroom parsonage on South Water street and crossed town to the Espresso Love coffee shop.

Before he’d rounded the corner by the courthouse, he spotted a young acquaintance. “’S’up, Jerry?” the man greeted him. “How you behaving?” Jerry asked. They high-fived and continued on in opposite directions.

A dead juvenile finback whale was found floating in the ocean between the Vineyard and Noman’s Land last Friday.

David Damroth, a Chilmark resident, said he spotted the whale from a hill above Squibnocket Beach. He later took his boat out on the water and got a closer look at the animal, which was largely intact, he said. The only marks he saw were from scavenging seagulls.

An Island man was arraigned Sept. 6 in Edgartown District Court on several charges, including rape of a child.

Andrew R. Bradshaw, 49, was arrested Sept. 5 and charged with rape of a child with force, open and gross lewdness and two counts of enticing a child under 16 in two separate cases dating to June and September 2012. The incidents allegedly happened in Tisbury, where Mr. Bradshaw has a home. His current listed address is in Edgartown.