Villages

Eleven months after a public groundbreaking ceremony and eight months after the actual breaking of ground, substantial progress has been made on “Forever Home,” a significant re-envisioning and renovation of the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons campus in Wainscott.

On social media, Mark Smith has shared only a few of the pictures he’s taken of these ordinary moments at a refugee center in southeast Poland, just a couple of miles from the Ukraine border, yet there is something about them that serves to make the everyday consequences of the war in Ukraine very palpable for people an ocean away who can easily push it out of their thoughts.

While much discussion about the renovation of Guild Hall has centered around interior issues, specifically the John Drew Theater, at last week’s East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, at which Guild Hall sought a special permit and variances needed to make the changes, the board strove early on to focus comments only on the exterior of the building and grounds. “There’s a lot of callers on the line, and a lot of the callers are calling about the inside of Guild Hall, over which we have no jurisdiction,” Phil O’Connell, chairing the meeting, said.

The wrecking ball is swinging, and the $1.4 million renovation and expansion project for the Lars Simenson Skatepark in Montauk is underway. The hope is that it can be finished by mid to late-summer.

The Amagansett Library has launched a free seed "catalog" with vegetable, herb, and flower seeds available for library users to take and grow at home. The project is in partnership with Amber Waves Farm, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and home gardeners and will provide resources and programs this summer about gardening for food and fun.

The peanut craze of 1897, the telephone strike of 1947, and the day in 1997 that the G&T Dairy Chicken House closed for good.

"I've always loved Montauk," said Jennifer Fowkes, the new executive director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce.

The Breakwater Sailing Center, a.k.a. the Breakwater Yacht Club, in Sag Harbor, will host an open house on Tuesday to introduce a women's sailing initiative and new programs for the summer. "Historically, women are pretty much underrepresented as adult sailors," explained Joan Butler, a sailor, nurse practitioner, certified nurse-midwife, and a Breakwater member.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, churches here allowed parishioners to rent or buy pews, often charging more for those closest to the pulpit. Pew deeds or titles could be passed down to heirs as families grew, but during the 20th century the practice disappeared.

Despite the feeling of calm that has settled in after mask mandates were lifted, despite the significantly lower case numbers and deaths across the United States, Covid is not finished with us — or we with it.

The waters surrounding Plum Island are teeming with abundant life, not unlike the Long Island Sound, Peconic Estuary, and other nearby waterways. But a series of scientific dives below the surface last summer revealed something that sets Plum Island's marine environment apart from the rest. "There wasn't any trash," said Dr. Matthew Schlesinger, chief zoologist with the New York Natural Heritage Program, which completed the survey along with InnerSpace Scientific Diving.

A strain of avian flu that state officials have deemed "highly pathogenic" has arrived on the South Fork, where a farm in Sag Harbor lost a flock of about 6,000 game birds on March 23 due to the infection and its potential to spread. The outbreak has poultry farms here on high alert.