The conditions for Holmes Hole sailors reached a Platonic ideal this week. The weather was clear both Thursday and Sunday, with an eight to nine mph from the WSW or SSW.

Over the course of a 40-year career drummer Rick Marotta has toured with everyone from Aretha Franklin to Steely Dan to John Lennon and many others. This weekend, he will perform back to back shows on Saturday and Sunday nights at Flatbread.

The theme was owls, and last Friday at Featherstone Center for the Arts, artistic renderings of the majestic winged creatures were everywhere you looked. The theme was chosen in memory of Grace McDonnell, and this summer, thanks to a gift from her parents, 10 scholarships helped Island children attend Featherstone's art camp.

I begin with this serious reminder: bringing dogs to the Oak Bluffs Fireworks is a very bad idea. Please leave your furry friends at home, safe and sound.

A remembrance gathering will be held in Oak Bluffs this weekend for Julian Bond, the well-known civil rights leader and former chairman of the NAACP who died August 15 at the age of 75. Mr. Bond was a longtime Vineyard visitor.

The Tisbury car show — a Labor Day weekend event that benefits the town firefighters association — will go on, although now possibly at a different location. The association will now decide whether to relocate the show to the regional high school.