What's black and white and an unwelcome sight?

I'm sure the Visitors' Bureau isn't promoting this in their materials, but Martha's Vineyard has skunks galore. Everywhere. If you are anywhere near the woods, you are probably nearly a skunk or three. They're inescapable.

As I was getting out of my car a few nights ago, I heard a suspicious rustling in the leaves on the other side of the street. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! I turned around just in time to see an adventurous baby skunk pop out of the forest and start to scamper into the street. Then he saw me and froze, even though I was a good 20-feet away. In a panic, he scurried back into the brush and I heaved a sigh of relief and hurried into the house.

It could have been worse, I suppose, if it had been a shark. Yes, there are sharks around the Vineyard, too, which is why the Monster Shark Tournament was held again in Oak Bluffs this weekend. It's an annual shark hunt that apparently delights many spectators and disgusts the Humane Society and distresses the Humane Society, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Fishpond USA, which joined forces to protest it. A sizable ad appeared in the Vineyard Gazette last week urging a boycott.

But, if the Gazette's Friday editorial is any indication, the tournament may not be around much longer anyhow. "Participation... is well down this year, partly due no doubt to the state of the economy," read the editorial. "But it also feels as though the shark tournament's place in the world of game fishing, where conservation and catch-and-release are the prevailing mores these days, may be slipping. ... Reports are circulating that the tournament may move to some other location next year. If that happens, the town of Oak Bluffs -- and the Vineyard -- will be no worse off for it."

The Cape Cod Times reported "(t)he winning fish, it turned out, was a 361-pound porbeagle shark hauled in on the Marshfield-based fishing boat Karen Jean II. The shark measured more than 7 feet long."

Of course, Martha's Vineyard will be forever associated with shark hunting, thanks to Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster "Jaws," which was filmed here. (Yes, there's a festival to celebrate that as well.) Many of the sights from the movie, such as the rustic homes and fishing boats of Menemsha, are still around 35 years after the filming ended; thankfully, the hideous leisure suits and polyester ensembles worn by many of the townspeople -- arguably the scariest element of the film for those who dread mid-'70s fashions -- are nowhere to be seen.

Speaking of the 1970s, that was the decade in which Carly Simon became a household name via hits like "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be," "Anticipation" and "You're So Vain." By that time, she was already a familiar face on Martha's Vineyard and nowadays she's a year-round resident. She still records, but she also has a successful store in Vineyard Haven called Midnight Farm, which sells upscale antique furniture, elegantly funky clothes and decorations (such as $200 mirrored pillows for the couch) and a prime selection of coffeetable picture books (including a hefty volume of black-and-white photographs by Jessica Lange).

It's the kind of store that people like you and I drift through while daydreaming of being rich enough to actually buy the items we're "ooohing" and "aaahing" over. I can't even afford the $84 Velvetmen shirts I've been trying not to drool over for the past six weeks, so Midnight Farm is a great place to go whenever I need a little ego deflatment. It's also a gorgeous store, though, and I know it would be a terrific place to pick out an offbeat wedding gift or a Mothers' Day present that would be sure to get Mom's attention. Like much of Carly's music, it's mellow but stylish, with a strong undercurrent of humor and nostalgia: Many of the eye-popping shirts and dresses look as if they arrived via teleporter from Haight-Ashbury, circa the "Psych-Out" era. I have yet to see Carly in the aisles, although I keep dropping in, just out of curiosity. And, I admit it, I keep looking those Velvetmen shirts, too. They would be worth every penny of their price, I know.