The Louisa Gould Gallery is holding its first abstract art show of Vineyard artists, featuring Marjorie Mason, Ed Cohen, Jules Worthington, Roberta Gross, Margo Ouellette and Ovid Ward. Now hanging, the show runs until Sept. 12.

Israeli Consul General to New England Nadav Tamir an update on Israeli/Palestinian and Israeli/Syrian peace negotiations on Friday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center. The talk is free and open to all.

Mr. Tamir was born and raised in Kibbutz Manara in northern Israel. He began his career of public service in 1980 in the Israel Defense Forces, where he eventually served as a company commander and retired with the rank of major.

All weekend, shoppers milled where fairgoers had the weekend before, this time slipping freely inside the Agricultural Hall grounds to admire everything from photographs to pottery, hand-spun scarves to hand-carved walking sticks, at the annual Labor Day Vineyard Artisans Festival. The artists behind this wide variety experienced varied success selling, too, in what most agreed was a tough economic environment for specialty wares.

In this serialized novel set on the Vineyard in real time, a native Islander (“Call me Becca”) returns home after many years to help her eccentric Uncle Abe keep his landscaping business, Pequot, afloat. Abe has a paranoid hatred of Richard Moby, the chief executive of an off-Island wholesale nursery. Convinced that Moby wants to destroy Abe personally, and all Island-based landscaping/nursery businesses generally, Abe is obsessed with “taking down” Moby. His efforts have so far been failures, but that does not discourage him.

It has been a berry fruitful season. We have been blessed with a bounty.

By LYNNE IRONS

My friend Sharlee has done it again. She came up with another great food tip. Last summer in the peak of the tomato season, I shared with you her simple freezing method. Core the tomatoes, bag them, and pop into the freezer. In the dead of the winter running the fruit under cold water will immediately remove the skins and you are good to go. Soups, sauces and stews will be in the making.

Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation is pleased to announce that it has welcomed four new directors to its board and has elected new officers. At the foundation’s annual meeting on August 15, Emily Bramhall of Chilmark was elected president. A longtime board member, Ms. Bramhall had previously served as vice president and treasurer. Former president Steve Crampton was elected vice president, while John Schaefer was reelected treasurer and Ally Moore was elected clerk and assistant treasurer.

By SUSAN B. WHITING

There are so many bird sightings this week there is no room for more. So enjoy Lanny’s photograph of a ruddy turnstone (and see it in color on mvgazette.com) and head out birding. The migration is beginning for land birds, but there are still shorebirds to delight beachgoers.

Bird Sightings:

Tara Whiting spotted an adult indigo bunting at Pond View Farm on August 10.

The initial success of the Island’s offshore blue mussel aquaculture efforts could lead to real new jobs on the Vineyard, at a time when costs are up for fishermen but seafood prices are not keeping pace.

Friday, August 22: Hundreds gather at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society fair for the draft horse pull. The air is dry. The sounds and lights of the carnival rides dominate the grounds late in the afternoon. Fireworks over Oak Bluffs are visible from Edgartown to Vineyard Haven. Afterward lines of headlights and brake lights dominate the Oak Bluffs roads.