The following remarks were spoken to family and friends following the death of Wendy Jenkinson Weisman.

I’m Wendy’s father.

This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. My Wendy, our Wendy, your Wendy is dead. There’s a tremendous amount of things I could tell you about Wendy; her love of her friends and family, her loyalty, her beauty, her sunny disposition, her many talents, her intellect, all the things she’s done and accomplished in her life, but today I just want to focus on her incredible bravery.

The Rev. Dr. Todd J. Williams, president of Philadelphia Biblical University, is the guest speaker at Union Chapel on Sunday, July 27. The service begins at 10 a.m. The chapel, whose services are open to all, is at the south end of Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs.

This past winter Eisenhauer Gallery owner Elizabeth Eisenhauer and Kaitlyn Ruitenberg went to Brussels, Belgium to visit French artist Michel Brosseau; in Mr. Brosseau’s studio they felt as if they had entered a 19th century European atelier. Canvases are everywhere, filled with colored buoys and sailboat linens bright as if sunlight were pouring out from the canvases. Long drapes hang on tall sunny windows that fill the studio with a warm yellow glow while the murmur of Brussels traffic comes through an open window.

Truth comes from the mouths of babes — or rather kids, tweens, teens, young adults, the future of humanity. Whatever you label them, these pint-sized pulse-takers of youth culture are back this summer with their own reviews of movies for young viewers screening every Wednesday at the Chilmark Community Center.

The organizers of the Summer Film Series at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival teamed up with the Gazette to bring you reviews by Island kids, here for the summer or year-round, each Tuesday, before each Wednesday film presentation.

Jim Glavin had a wonderful 60th birthday party on Saturday night. He was hoping more of his friends would show up, but the estimated 800 who attended the first Aquinnah Music Festival made Mr. Glavin’s 60th birthday magic. “I see a lot of happy people out there,” he said on Saturday night, looking over the lawn at the Aquinnah Circle.

Della Hardman Day

The Oak Bluffs Public Library will host an artists’ reception on Saturday, July 26, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. for a photography exhibition in honor of Della Hardman Day.

The library held a contest to select images to be included in the 2009 Savor the Moment calendar. Selected photographs will be on display at the library from July 25 to August 16. More information about the event is available by calling the library at 508-693-9433.

Cottagettes to Perform:

Cottagers’ History Program

The Oak Bluffs Historical Commission will sponsor a program depicting the history of the Cottagers, Inc. in Oak Bluffs on Wednesday, July 30 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Oak Bluffs Library meeting room.

Supreme Journalist

Linda Greenhouse, the Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times Supreme Court reporter, will give two talks this week: Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center as part of its Summer Institute lecture series, and then, Thursday, a free talk about legal trends at the nation’s top court at 5 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library.

Twelve years ago, Marian Halperin of Vineyard Haven began reading and copying the private journal of someone she didn’t know. Then she read and copied the letters he wrote far from home and the account book his father kept on the Island while he was away.

The beach is the place to be. July’s hot weather this summer beckons people to a place to jump into the ocean, sound or pond to cool off. Now there are a bunch of us who wear weird-looking long pants that zip off at the knees, long-sleeved shirts with a label that says “Buzz off” and sneakers or hiking boots on the beach. We don’t carry umbrellas or picnic baskets but sport binoculars around our necks and perhaps a spotting scope over our shoulders. We are birders or bird watchers.