Bridge to Baseball

Walk-offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs: Baseball’s Grand (and-not-so-grand) Finales is the title of former Sports Illustrated baseball writer Jim Kaplan’s latest book — and an evening talk he’s giving Wednesday, August 6, at 7 p.m. at the West Tisbury Library.

Mr. Kaplan will chat about the connection between baseball and bridge, which he describes as being “joined at the hip.” The program will include a trivia quiz and the winner will receive a free book.

On July 18, Edgartown resident Hillary Landers drew three names for a pair of tickets each for field box seats for a Red Sox vs. Yankees series at Fenway Park.

The three winners were Kate and Sam Sherman of Edgartown, Carol and Richard Walton of Oak Bluffs and Linda and Peter Leahy of Chilmark and Brookline.

The raffle was a fundraiser for Hillary who suffered a spinal cord injury in September 2006 and returned to her home after 15 months of hospitalization and rehabilitation. In the fundraiser, 145 contributors raised just under $30,000.

Class on Fly-Fishing

A fly-fishing class will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, August 9, at the Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club off Third street North in Edgartown.

Sandra Demel and John Kollett will provide individualized instruction. Equipment will be provided or feel free to use your own. The class size is limited. The fee is $85 for club members and $100 for non-members. For information and to preregister, call 508-693-6338.

Sustainable Garden Design

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 paranoid hatred of Richard Moby, the CEO of an off-Island wholesale nursery (and Abe’s ex-wife’s new beau). In recent chapters, Abe caught Moby selling illegal invasive plants and sent a plant-sample to the state authorities to prove it.

Former CIA lawyer Vicki Divoll will deliver a talk titled Memo to Our New President: How to Fix Eight Years of Damage to U.S. Intelligence on Wednesday, August 6 at 5:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library.

Ms. Divoll, former assistant general counsel for the CIA and former general counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is presently teaching American government at the United States Naval Academy. She has also served as a fellow at Harvard University Institute of Politics.