It is high summer on the Vineyard, when the branches of our maple trees are so top-heavy with dark green leaves they form half-moon arcs bending toward the ground. Their tips brush the heads of the lawnmower drivers and any pedestrians crossing the lawn.

High summer is when the humidity one day makes us strain for every step. Moister than an oyster, said one jokester on social media. And the next day, the sky is bright blue with a scattering of popcorn clouds, and the air is clean and pure and delicious.

Highlight of the season for many is the library’s annual book sale, which will began Thursday, July 31 and run through the following Monday, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. This significant event, at the West Tisbury school grounds, offers thousands of books, music, Vineyard memorabilia and a few rare treasures.

The last weeks of summer are when every crash pad is fully occupied. So too are the slips for the enigmatic yachts with important-looking antennas on top. And some are even bigger, even more mysterious, anchored way out there, off State Beach.

Back here on earth, some of us are having visions of corn on the cob.

And this is when many of us look around the house and the garden to see what might qualify as a prize-winner at the fair.

High summer is when we start thinking seriously about the unwinding of it all. The dog days are getting shorter. Will our lawns and gardens turn brown this year?

Always in the back of our minds, will we be in the path of a hurricane? Will there be a National Weather Service to warn us? Or a FEMA to rescue us? Lord help us.

On the road into Edgartown, I noticed field after field of butterfly weed poking up red over the uncut grasses. They are just past Morning Glory Farm heading toward downtown.

The butterflies must love it. I expect those fields are all-you-can-eat nurturing grounds for the endangered monarchs. They also attract bees, their buzzing cousins, and probably the region’s other butterfly species: viceroys, the painted ladies, American ladies, the familiar cabbage white, and (my favorite butterfly job title) the great spangled frittary.

Those butterfly names could pass as nicknames for certain people we know and love. We all know a person who has just the temperament to be called a great spangled frittary. Never mind. I think I have a case of high summer fever.

Ambassador Tom Robertson and his wife Toni are here at their summer home and are enjoying a visit with their son Sam and his young family. Both households live in the Washington D.C. area. Sam and his crew will be here until Aug. 5.

Happy Birthday Saturday, July 26, to Fran Bradley and Joan Lelacheur. The birthday spotlight shines on Sunday, July 27, on Max Decker and Chief Dan Rossi.