Chance encounters have been major players in Dawn Davis’s life. A random meeting on a plane introduced her to publishing. An on-the-fly author reading in a public library turned into an annual literary brunch at Lola’s.

With the opening of a new education center and botany lab, the Polly Hill Arboretum is hoping to become the leader in plant science and conservation on the Island.

Lew French's new book, Sticks and Stones, a collaboration with Island photographer Alison Shaw, catalogs much of his work over the last 10 years: fireplaces, walls, landscapes, and his second home in Brazil. A Chilmark patio may bring to mind Stonehenge, a Japanese garden and regional geology.