Save your appetite today for some haggis — a wee bit of sheep’s heart, liver and lungs to be exact — being prepared for the MV Center for Living’s cultural luncheon, honoring the Scottish influence and contributions to the Vineyard

The luncheon, where there will be other food besides haggis, takes place from noon to 2 p.m. at the Grill on Main in Edgartown. The event will include Edgartown’s poet laureate, Steve Ewing, and bagpiper Howard Wall.

The Steamship Authority has canceled a number of ferries traveling to and from the Vineyard on Friday due to high winds. Those who intend to travel should check steamshipauthority.com or call 508-477-8600 for the latest updates.

The cancellations comes in the midst of the Island’s second wind advisory in as many days. According to the National Weather Service, the Island may experience strong to damaging 20 to 30 mile per hour winds. Gusts may reach as high as 55 miles per hour. The wind advisory will remain in effect until midnight

The Chilmark Community Center will host an evening of dancing and desserts tonight, Jan. 13, to benefit the Yard. Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish will play from 8 to 10 p.m. Admission is $20, free for all kids. All proceeds from the evening’s festivities will be used to retire the Chilmark dance center’s debt.

The popular Circuit avenue bar Ritz Cafe was ordered to suspend operations this past week, part of a 20-day penalty meted out this summer for serving alcohol to minors. This is the Ritz Cafe’s fifth violation since 2000 from the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission, the state entity that regulates and approves alcohol licenses.

Elite Academy

Two Martha’s Vineyard students, Conor Smith of Edgartown and Riley Donegan of Vineyard Haven, have been awarded congressional nominations to attend United States military academies, Cong. William Keating announced during a visit to the Island this week. Conor Smith plans to attend West Point in New York; Riley Donegan will attend the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Congressional nominations are required to attend military academies; congressmen dole out only a select few from their district each year.

Good morning! Tom Hodgson of West Tisbury reported the first snowdrops this week. The Gazette office will be closed on Monday in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday. The office reopens on Tuesday morning.

At a high school in Uganda, disobedient students sit under a punishment tree. In Taiwan, students can join the gift-wrapping club, which meets after school. In Yemen, high school students can take dentistry classes as part of a vocational program.

Weathermen are not the only ones confused by this year’s unseasonably warm winter weather. Off the Cape and Islands, this winter more than 100 sea turtles, tempted to linger in the balmy waters, have met a cold and sandy end.

“This year I’ve seen more turtle strandings than I’ve ever seen in my 12 years here,” Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary director Suzan Bellincampi said on Thursday.

After more than five years of efforts to restore Island medical care for Vineyard veterans, good news came this week: A new contract for services is expected by the end of February.

Following a meeting between the Cape and Islands legislative delegation and Comcast executives in Boston yesterday, cable television service for Chappaquiddick and other remote areas on the Vineyard inched a little closer to reality.

“They heard from us clearly that it’s very important for underserved communities on the Island to get Internet,” Seth Rolbein, senior advisor to state Sen. Dan Wolf, told the Gazette yesterday afternoon.