The Polly Hill Arboretum is hosting A Walk Through Imagination, a project by potter Bill O’Callahan and puppeteer Robin Tuck. The tour leads one through the landscape at the Arboretum, now transformed into The Mysterious Forest of Dreams through puppets and sculptures which help tell the tale of Taggot’s quest to learn about the challenges and riches of life.

Three planets are in the southeastern sky before sunrise, although only for a short time. The planets are Venus, Saturn and Mercury.

Mercury is the errant planet and will only be visible for the next week, possibly a little longer, before it drops back into the glare of the sun.

Most people can pick out Venus high in the east. It is the brightest planet in our sky and has been readily visible for months. Venus is in the southeastern sky before sunrise. The second brightest celestial object nearby is the ringed planet Saturn.

As the northeast continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy’s historic destruction two weeks ago, federal and state disaster relief officials visited the Vineyard on Thursday to assess damages and help begin the reimbursement process for damages to town property sustained during the storm.

Initial estimates to town and county owned coastlines and property Island-wide swelled to over $14.2 million.

A 13-foot pilot whale washed up on Lucy Vincent Beach in Chilmark over the long weekend. Adam Kennedy, a senior biologist at the New England Aquarium, said the whale was likely dead when it washed ashore.

Mr. Kennedy said the animal was discovered half-buried in the sand by the tides last Friday. Only its head and front fin were visible; the rest of its body was obscured. The conditions were “very unusual,” Mr. Kennedy said.

Northern lapwings, a species found in Eurasia, have been seen between Nova Scotia and North Carolina, but recently also have been spotted on Nantucket and in Plymouth.

To find out more about this bird, go to massbird.org/sightings, and to see a photo visit pbase.com/rcm1840/northernlapwing.

If anyone sees this bird on the Vineyard, please email [email protected] or call the bird hotline at 508-645-2913.

The invasion continues. The recon or advanced guard were the pine siskins and purple finches. They came from the barren North Country seeking habitat that provided food as they could find none there. Next, the main forces arrived. These species arrived in waves and included the evening grosbeaks, then the white-winged crossbills and finally the red crossbills.