Betsy Wice asked about this year’s butterfly count. The Vineyard’s butterfly count took place almost a month ago, on July 17. Six people participated including yours truly. It was hot, in the mid-80s, which is good for butterflies, but the wind was too strong. Butterflies don’t like to be blown away, so stay grounded in high winds.

“It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.”

I couldn’t agree more with Lewis Grizzard, the American writer and humorist who had a taste for one of the more divine elements of summer.

He and I are not alone in our fondness for this fruit. John Denver sang of his affections:

“Home grown tomatoes, home grown tomatoes

What would life be like without home grown tomatoes

Last Friday was a perfect day for a boat trip and at 4:45 p.m. the Seastreak started up the East River on her five-hour trip from Manhattan to Martha’s Vineyard. Skies were blue. Fluffy, cumulus clouds — “cloud islands,” one poetic passenger called them — wafted above New York city’s skyscrapers. Helicopters buzzed over the pier at East 35th street as 207 Seastreak travelers boarded the 141-foot-long, high-speed ferry that last summer and this has sailed between New York and the Vineyard on weekends.

Farming on Martha’s Vineyard has become more than a just a career path for a few determined individuals whose parents were farmers. It has also become a trend for many young people who want to know where their food comes from and want to grow it themselves.

I am actually looking forward to the end of summer. There is entirely too much to do. I know this is not true for you lucky few who vacation here.

President Obama arrived on the Vineyard early Thursday evening to begin a 10-day vacation with his family, marking his third consecutive August visit to the Island during his Presidency. Like the last two years, the arrival was low-key and closed to the public. Traveling with the President were White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan and deputy press secretary John Earnest, White House trip director Marvin Nicholson and the family dog, Bo, freshly groomed for the trip.

Lambert’s Cove Beach is open, West Tisbury town administrator Jen Rand reports, after clean tests on yesterday’s water samples. Seth’s Pond remains closed.

The First Family returns to the Vineyard today. Please send your photos, sightings and stories about the presidential visit to news@mvgazette.com and we'll include them in our Summer White House coverage.

President Obama, the First Lady and their two daughters are scheduled to arrive Thursday afternoon. They will be staying at Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark.

“What do you think of this, Olga?” asked a woman, holding out a black and white photograph. Olga Hirshhorn sat in a canvas director’s chair with her name written on the back in a small corner of the Community Services Thrift Shop during the Chicken Alley Art Show on Sunday. Mrs. Hirshhorn, well steeped in art after a life spent among friends with names such as Picasso, Dali, O’Keefe and deKooning, smiled over the crowded masses filling the art show she helped found.

I have mixed feelings about going to the Agricultural Fair. This has nothing to do with the fair itself, which at 150-years-old has aged exceptionally well, maintaining its links to the past without a hint of mustiness. It is very much a thing of the present and this weekend I will bring my children to the fair many times.