Polly Hill Arboretum executive director Tim Boland has been awarded a Chanticleer scholarship to pursue a course entitled Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders, an intensive two-week program offered in March through the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford University.

This prestigious opportunity will afford Mr. Boland a better understanding of how to integrate the arboretum’s organizational mission with economic strategy, while providing extensive training in strategic planning and personnel management.

It is always exciting to find a new bird species for the Vineyard and perhaps even more so during the annual Christmas Bird Count! The bird in question is a fish crow. Here is the rub. In the last few years many Island birders have “heard” what they felt were fish crows and a couple have seen crows which were smaller than our native American crows. How does one verify the existence of these crows on the Vineyard?

There are days when we are all in a fog.

Even if your mind isn’t murky, there are other reasons for the haze in Vineyard Haven and all around our Island. Returning from holiday last Sunday, I was greeted with clouds at my feet.

Eisie Show and Talk

Certified qigong instructor Nan Doty will offer a four-week workshop based on the book The Healer Within: The Four Essential Self-Care Methods for Creating Optimal Health, by Roger Jahnke. Running on Wednesdays throughout January, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Library, the workshop promises the opportunity to begin the new year with vitality.

There is snow in the air this holiday season and even better there are plenty of oysters in the ponds. This has been a good year for winter’s favorite bivalve. Tisbury Great Pond wild oysters are being sold at the market as a new report suggests a promising future for oysters in Edgartown Great Pond.

Quilt Winner

The raffle held to benefit the African Artists Community Development Project was drawn on Christmas Day out of the Tuareg basket. Susan Spence was the winner of a beautiful quilt that was a collaboration between craftswomen in Lusaka, Zambia, who sewed the panels, and women on Martha’s Vineyard, who pieced the quilt together.

We wish a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year to Gazette readers near and far. Coverage of a Christmas Day home fire appears on Page Two. The post-holiday snowstorm is reported on Page Nine. Our offices will close at noon today.

Correction

MV Glee creator Sandy Stone’s husband Mike Benjamin was misidentified in a story about the new IMP space published last week. The Gazette regrets the error.

In her summation of the Martha’s Vineyard economy, presented to an audience of Island businesswomen in November, Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce executive director Nancy Gardella labeled herself an optimist. For certain sectors, she said, things were going well. Very well.