they’d never been there in the summer before
when the white morning sky
burns the mist like snowy cinders

Anthony Holand wields a hammer in his Vineyard Haven studio as he works on a commemorative weathervane for the 50th anniversary of the filming of Jaws. The sound of copper clanging rings out as he repeatedly brings the hammer down on a chisel, slowly moving down the shape of a shark.

When you lose your partner, tasks envelop you in that first year. Change your bank accounts, send death certificates to Social Security and some credit card issuers and, yes, you also have to get rid of things.

Great-grand-daughter of a Vineyard whaling captain, daughter of a West Tisbury poet and a New Jersey educator renowned for his Island linoleum block prints, longtime West Tisbury bed and breakfast proprietor, mystery book writer and writing teacher, Cynthia Riggs has now written not only of her Vineyard years but of much more.

They had an old-fashioned hearth-warming party at Tom’s Neck farm on Chappaquiddick on Sunday afternoon. It was a gathering of relatives and old Island friends. They lit a fire.

Complete Package LLC purchased 25 Old Farm Road in Chilmark from Hallett Lane LLC for $3,473,000 on June 21.

Beach BeFrienders has met monthly since its inception, gathering to clean different beaches with a rotating group of volunteers. This year’s summer season begins Saturday, June 29 in Aquinnah where from 8 to 10 a.m. volunteers will head out to Philbin, Lobsterville and Moshup’s Beach.

After working outdoors all day Monday, I officially hate summer. I will say I have an incredible amount of empathy for my fellow humans world-wide. At least at the end of the day I can climb into an air-conditioned truck and go home to a somewhat cool house.

There was no reason to be ticked off by the black creature crawling among my foraged food. At first glance, it appeared to be a tick.

A fork-tailed flycatcher is not supposed to be here, as their northernmost population is in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.