JUNE 7: The Vineyard Sound, an all-boys a cappella group that performs throughout the summer all around the Island, had their first concert today during the Chilmark School Community Lunch. The lunches take place four times a year, and the kids invite members of the community to come eat with them. The meal itself is made almost entirely with local ingredients (I think the quinoa was the only exception), with all the veggies coming from the school garden.

JUNE 8: And here’s where the farm-to-table starts- the West Tisbury Farmer’s Market, which opened today. This year opening day was rainy and grey–as much of the ‘summer’ has been so far, but all things considered, turnout was still good.

JUNE 9: I knew I was going to make another exception to the ‘no photos from my personal life’ once high school graduation rolled around, and here it is! My youngest cousin (who was born and raised on the Vineyard) got her diploma today! I am beyond proud of her, and so excited for her to take on college next year. It is also totally crazy that all of my cousins and I are now finished with high school.

JUNE 10: One of my beats is the town of Tisbury, and on Monday the selectmen had a disciplinary hearing for a police officer (she’s not in this picture). The hearing was closed to the public at her request, so I had to wait three hours outside the town hall for the session to conclude so I could get the decision. I wish I had taken a photo of the skunk friend I saw (twice!) while I was waiting around, but this will have to do.

JUNE 11: The Martha’s Vineyard Sharks opened their season today, initing all of the Little League kiddos to come for free. The college players are incredibly generous to the younger kids, signing hats and baseballs, and just taking the time to talk. This particular game got rained out (surprise!), but there are 50 more this summer, so I’m sure the kids will be back.

JUNE 12: We have some pretty nice sunsets here–not just in the summer, but throughout the year. Most people will say that the up-Island towns–Menemsha, Aquinnah–have the best sunsets, but I think that West Chop can hold its own.

JUNE 13: WOMP. I knew Thursdays were going to be the most difficult today to take a photo, since that’s a major deadline day…and today I didn’t get any in. I am making up for today next week, on JUNE 21, the real first day of summer. There’ll be two photos on that day.

JUNE 14: Flip-flops outside of the Nashua Hotel in Oak Bluffs. Cell phone photo.

JUNE 15: Seniors Natty and Jackson walk off the ferry boat after helping the Vineyard to its second straight state title in boys’ tennis. The Vineyard had never won any sort of state title in tennis until last year, and, because the team was all juniors and a sophomore, all of the players were back this year. As one told me, there was no reason not to win again. I took the bus up with them to Worcester to the final match, and when we all got back they were greeted by a (very noisy) fully reception from the emergency departments, with fire and police sirens blaring and wooping. I’ve been photographing the tennis postseason since I started at the paper four years ago, when a few of the kids had just made the team, and feel incredibly lucky that I’ve gotten to cover a state championship winning group throughout its entire career.

JUNE 16: Travel soccer is big here–one of the great mysteries of the Vineyard is how travel soccer, lacrosse, AND baseball manage to field full programs with such a relatively small youth population–and the Under-18 team had its first playoff game on Sunday. I was at the farm most of the day, but swung by this game on lunch. Most of the players are actually Under-16s, playing up, so that’s pretty cool.

JUNE 17: Saw this on the bulletin board at the cafe where I work in the morning. It’s great advice (for anybody, guy or girl)! Also, I like the “Guy With Pick Up” business card up in the corner. Cell phone photo.

JUNE 18: Ocean Park bike rack, completely full on a Tuesday afternoon. Must be vacation time!

JUNE 19: Story time at the Oak Bluffs Public Library includes playing with a parachute. The library is right up the street from my house, so I go there at least once a week, but this time I was there on assignment working on a story about the new children’s librarian.

JUNE 20: Noepe is the name the Wampanoags gave to the Island, and I learned last night, at this writer’s retreat party I was photographing, that I have been pronouncing it wrong my whole life. The difference an umlaut makes!

MAY 31: Members of the girls’ varsity tennis team celebrate their first postseason win and final home game of the season with victory cupcakes. The tennis teams here are always the last squads standing in the spring (see JUNE 4).

JUNE 1: Saturday was National Trails Day, which the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank celebrates with a Cross-Island Hike (this year it was from Katama to Lambert’s Cove). I could only do half of the hike because I had an afternoon assignment, but my friends walked all 20+ miles! The photo is of the far side of Sengekontacket Pond; on the horizon you can see the barrier beach that separates it from the Atlantic Ocean.

JUNE 2: Here’s one of my favorite things about working for a small newspaper on a small Island: this is Jack, the high school valedictorian–and tri-sport captain, and future Sharks baseball player (see JUNE 5). I photographed him during my first staff assignment for the paper (second photo down) and, because I cover high school sports, have been reporting on the various athletic accomplishments since then. And it was great to be able to pull everything together into the valedictorian profile, which ran this week.

JUNE 3: ABC Family has filming a “reality” show called The Vineyard here for the past several weeks, and every time we see the cast and crews out and about we try to go photograph them In Action. On Monday, they were out quahogging on Sengekontacket (for reference, this is the opposite side of the pond from that in Saturday’s photo).

JUNE 4: The boys’ varsity tennis team has lost exactly one match since June of 2011. They were undefeated and Massachusetts Division 3 state champions last year; the starting seven lineup has been the same for the past two years. It’s pretty impressive, to say the least.

JUNE 5: The high school baseball field is also the home of the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks, a summer collegiate wooden-bat league. This year they did serious upgrades to the facilities, including new seats behind home plate (from Camden Yards, no less), and lights! The Sharks have never been able to play night games because of the lack of lights, which has hurt attendance, since during the day…everybody here wants to go the beach.

JUNE 6: Local duck eggs at Morning Glory Farm! I worked at Morning Glory eight years ago–as did my now-coworker Remy, as did several of the Island farmers who are just getting their businesses started. Cell phone photo.