As I listen to the morning news reporting the upcoming milestone of 500,000 dead in the U.S. from Covid-19, I think of my mother.

Eureka. Last week, we had more snow days. I could follow deer and rabbit tracks in the snow. I could crunch through fields of snow. I was delighted.

I am being driven around the Island by my son Hardy, from Oak Bluffs to Edgartown, across to Vineyard Haven, then up through West Tisbury, Chilmark and Aquinnah.

Upon a Christmas of certainly another lifetime, the man who had time-shared my wife with me exercised his option.

Before there was sugar, there were parsnips.

The recent election of U.S. Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock reminds us that seven of America’s 11 black senators have strong ties to the Vineyard.