Mariners are being urged to proceed with caution through the waters of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket following the probable sighting Sunday of three right whales north of Oak Bluffs.

The whales were spotted two and three miles offshore, said Tim Cole, a fisheries biologist with the National Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

Less than 450 Atlantic right whales are known to be in existence, making them one of the most endangered marine mammals in this area.

Mint julep anyone? Louisa Gould is bringing the Kentucky Derby to Vineyard Haven as she shares a look at the jockeys, trainers, owners and horses through her photographer’s lens.

The West Tisbury Congregational Church, host of the Island’s most popular strawberry festival, are feeling blue at the moment — blueberry that is. On Saturday, July 13, the church will hold its first ever blueberry festival.

The Harlem Quartet returns to the Vineyard with two concerts, July 15 at 8 p.m. at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown and on July 16 at 8 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center. The Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society is producing the event.

Guitar lessons are coming to the West Tisbury Library this fall thanks to a grant from the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard. The $2,400 grant allows the purchase of six good quality student guitars, and Steve Maxner is set to teach the free classes for both young adult and adult Islanders.

The ninth annual African American Cultural Festival will offer the exhibit Freedom: The Story of Us, along with plenty of children’s activities, vendors, dancing, mini-lectures and more. The festival is from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Hartford Park in Oak Bluffs on July 25 and 26. It is sponsored by The Cottagers of Martha’s Vineyard.

Bean Thyme
By LYNNE IRONS

I pretty much make it up as I go along. I planted an enormous amount of English thyme from seed a couple of years in a row. Never being able to waste a single life, I tediously transplanted every seedling. Now, many of the vegetables beds are edged with thyme plants. I would never live long enough to use all that thyme so I decided to cut each plant down to tidy little six-inch globes of cuttings. I spread the bushels all over my hay mulch around the potato plants in hopes of deterring both voles and Colorado potato beetles.

Peter Huntington will be glad to hear that not only was the scissor-tailed flycatcher that he spotted at Pond View Farm last week found again, but it was photographed. Wendy Elsner found the scissor-tailed flycatcher cavorting with eastern kingbirds in the dunes off Edgartown Great Pond on July 8. She was able to take several photos of the birds. This is approximately the tenth record of this southern flycatcher on the Vineyard since it was first seen in 1942! Most of the other sightings have been in the early spring or fall.

“A hedge between keeps friendships green.” 

The Unitarian Universalist Society on Main street in Vineyard Haven will welcome its new part-time minister, the Rev. Bill Clark at this Sunday’s 11 a.m. service. Mr. Clark has agreed to serve officially beginning in August. His topic for the July 14 service is The Center, and will examine the idea of finding a spiritual and emotional center.