Islands

Obsession of the moment: Hasami porcelain plates and bowls released in a new matte black finish by the Japanese design importer TGS, or Tortoise General Store, in Venice. The Hasami porcelain is beautiful in its spare simplicity and smart function. The pieces nest nicely for storage. Optional oak lids pair well with the stone bowls and can be used separately as serving trays. TGS co-owner Keiko Shinomoto says  the collection has a nice back story too: It's part of a project in the southern Japanese town of Hasami, where a pottery tradition that dates to 1599 is ailing because of -- can you guess?

The Catalina Island Museum has opened a window into a dark period of life on the island with an exhibition devoted to a pseudoscientist who looted Native American graves for profit eight decades ago. "The Strange and Mysterious Case of Dr. Glidden," which opened over the weekend, examines the life and times of Ralph Glidden, a hucksterish entrepreneur who in the 1920s and '30s excavated bones and relics from Tongva Indian burial grounds for sale...

Only one lottery ticket - sold in Florida - managed to nail all six numbers in tonight's $600 million Powerball jackpot. But two California players who guessed five of the six numbers will each win $2.3 million, lottery officials said. The winning California tickets were sold at 7-Elevens in Taft and in San Jose, said California Lottery spokesperson Donna Cordova. The winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22, 52 and Powerball 11. The lottery involves 43 states, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.

NEW YORK - It has been six months since Donna Graziano packed a barbecue into her car, drove 15 miles from her Brooklyn home to Staten Island, and began cooking for residents of a neighborhood ravaged by Superstorm Sandy. Her one-woman effort in a seaside park expanded into an aid hub that has drawn donations of food, generators, clothes, diapers and household goods, and has become the go-to center for locals seeking advice on everything from emergency aid to mold removal. Now, the city's parks department says it is time for Graziano's Cedar Grove Community Hub to dismantle its five tents so that the park and nearby beach can welcome summer visitors and begin a major dune reinforcement project.

No sooner had the Greyfield Inn ferryboat chugged out of the Fernandina Beach, Fla., marina when somebody popped the question. "All right, let's get this over with," said Jerry, a brash, 40-ish businessman on vacation from Atlanta. With a cold Busch beer in one hand and a bag of boiled peanuts in the other, he looked at the young woman in the Greyfield Inn uniform, offered a charming, crooked smile and asked, "Did you see any of them from the wedding?"

NEW YORK - The spring-summer 2013 Gant by Michael Bastian collection for men and women may have been shown Wednesday in a Lower Manhattan studio space during New York Fashion Week, but its heart was firmly rooted in a chain of islands more than 3,000 miles away in the Pacific Ocean. The inspiration: The Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. “The Gant by Michael Bastian man and woman are modern explorers, walking in Darwin's footsteps,” explained the show notes. “Their equipment: technical workwear and gear softened with organic elements collected on their travels.” Photos: New York Fashion Week celebrity sightings Bastian hasn't been to the Galapagos, he told us during the presentation, but credits Netflix - and Tilda Swinton - with introducing him to the remote island chain first made famous by Charles Darwin.

Less than half a mile of Intracoastal Waterway lies between the South Carolina mainland and its beachfront neighbors here, Sullivans Island and the Isle of Palms. But, in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo on Friday, that gulf had come to seem enormous. Across the water lay the hint of disaster: Nowhere had the mighty storm struck with such devastating force. Up to 20 citizens who had defied orders and waited out the storm on the oceanfront could be in grave peril. No one knew their fate.

When a 32-foot Sea Skip excursion boat from St. Lucia's posh Sandals Halcyon Resort blew up just off shore, killing an American honeymooner, the hotel's Swiss translator and two local dive masters, shock waves went through this tiny Caribbean country. Local police quickly ruled the blast an accident, even before they finished their investigation.

Too bad you can't afford to buy the Hawaiian island of Lanai, as the Maui News and many others say tech billionaire Larry Ellison is doing. But what if you had 4,000 Aloha shirts? Would you even need to visit the islands? If you had 4,000 Aloha shirts, maybe, in a way, you'd be there already. In bleak cubicle moments, you'd glance at the happy floral pattern draped from your shoulder, or finger the sturdy fabric and genuine island stitching at the point of your hip. Maybe, if you had 4,000 Aloha shirts, you'd proudly don another each day for a decade, and still have 350 shirts to spare.

Try: New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf islands Check out: The diverse and ecologically unique wildlife and flora, including the flightless kiwi bird and the kauri tree. Don't forget: Your swimsuit -- the Great Barrier island has some of the world's most stunning beaches and best surfing. Stop by: Waiheke Island and tour some of the native wineries.

If you go THE BEST WAY TO CATALINA By sea: Catalina Express offers frequent daily trips of about one hour from Long Beach and San Pedro to Avalon and less frequently from Dana Point to Avalon and from San Pedro to Two Harbors. Round-trip adult fare is $72.50, $2 more for the Dana Point trip. (800) 481-3470, http://www.catalinaexpress.com. Catalina Flyer (out of service until May 8) makes one round trip daily between Newport Beach and Avalon, departing at 9 a.m. from Balboa Pavilion and returning at 4:30 p.m. It's 75 minutes each way. Adult round-trip fare is $70. (800)

Centennial Events Avalon will celebrate its 100th birthday throughout the year, but many events are taking place June 20-26 (www.catalinachamber.com/avalon100/) June 20 – Centennial Festival / Fair June 21 – Community Fish Fry June 22 – Xceptional Music Concert June 23 – Catalina Movie Night on the Beach (movies filmed in Catalina) June 24 – Community Picnic at Joe Machado Field June 25 – Local Band Night June 26 – Community Gala Dinner at the Casino A multimedia program showcasing Catalina's history will play at the Casino at specific times throughout the week.

AVALON - I'm standing at the railing, the late-morning sun warm on my face and hands, when the ship turns slightly and I see it, a rugged jumble of mountains jutting from the sea. We slow and enter the harbor, where a village clings to the hillside and colorfully painted speedboats flash by pulling water skiers. As we draw close to land, children swim out to our vessel yelling, "Throw a coin, throw a coin. " When I do, a boy dives, popping back to the surface clutching it and laughing.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Contrary to popular perception, this will not be the first Kentucky Derby ride for jockey Kevin Krigger. Maybe his fifth or sixth. Of course, when he got his first saddle as a teenager in the Virgin Islands, he didn't have the likes of racehorse Goldencents under that saddle, as he will Saturday, in the 139th Derby. "I think I got my first saddle when I was 13," Krigger says. "So, when it was time for the Kentucky Derby, I'd put it up on the couch at home, in front of the TV set, and I'd ride the race.

NEW YORK - The first hint of a bruise, blackish and glossy, appears under Reshat Mati's eye as he finishes a jujitsu workout. It seems that he took a knee to the face. Someone offers to get an ice pack, but there isn't time. Reshat hurries off to another gym, a storefront several miles away where the windows steam up from all the boxers generating heat inside. By 9:30 p.m., he has pulled on gloves and headgear to spar with a larger, more experienced opponent who likes to fight from close range with lots of banging elbows.

LAHAINA, Hawaii - "Here, take this one," Elisa said, lifting an orchid lei from her shoulders and draping it on Laurel's. "Aloha. " My wife, Laurel, and I were in the tender queue with Elisa, our "port shopping specialist," at Lahaina on Maui, waiting to be shuttled to Cunard Line's Queen Victoria for the final six nights of our 14-night round trip from Los Angeles to the Hawaiian Islands. Laurel had put off buying a lei and the vendors were sold out, so Elisa had generously given hers - a typically Hawaiian act of sharing.

Just a note of appreciation for your many articles about little-known gems such as the islands in Nino Lo Bello's June 15 story. These are the kinds of places I love to visit, especially since they are rarely crowded with other sightseers, like me. You might pass on to Lo Bello, however, that Quessant does not have the distinction of being "the nearest parcel of French soil to the United States," not by a long shot. In fact, not by the width of the Atlantic. That honor goes to the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon (the latter by a whisper)

I walked along a wild, isolated beach, my bare feet sinking into damp sand as I listened to waves tumbling onto the shore. A lone surfer was catching foaming swells and then disappearing into the sea, popping up later in another place with his board. I had seen no one else in the two hours I'd been walking. Earlier that day, a nine-passenger twin-engine Islander had deposited me here, bumping down on the grass runway at Great Barrier Island, 65 miles and a world away from Auckland, New Zealand.

Kaunakakai, Hawaii - A fire that raged through Hotel Molokai's Hula Shores restaurant last spring did not keep the kupuna - and their audience - from claiming their spots near the lapping sea and coconut palms. For more than a decade, at 4 p.m. Fridays, 10 to 30 kupun a ("elders" in Hawaiian) have gathered at the hotel to strum their ukuleles and sing the lost songs of their youth. Half of the kupuna had their backs to the audience; instead of performing they sat around card tables sipping wine, laughing and enjoying themselves.

Spam , beloved among Hawaiians, will be celebrated April 27 during Waikiki Spam Jam , one of Honolulu's biggest annual street festivals. Spam merchandise (such as T-shirts) will be sold, but the biggest draw is Spam itself. A dozen Honolulu restaurants that cook with the canned pork and ham product will dish up a variety of Spam-centric creations, including a Spam-on-a-stick frozen treat. A new offering for 2013 is Spam cheesecake. The festival stretches for several blocks along Waikiki's Kalakaua Avenue from Lewers Street to the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach hotel.