Night falls on Chappy. With it, falls rain. A mother and child run over the grate of the ferry landing, hopping puddles to the parking lot, where their car beeps a welcome unlocking. A captain waves goodbye and hopes for more CNN and less SUV. Mostly though, we are indoors now. We are stirring sauces. We are cleaning lint filters. We are watching the flames behind wood stove doors. We are working. We are playing. We are resting. We are, as we will be more and more, inside.

MEANEST GRINCH

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The meanest person on the Vineyard is the grinch who stole my handicap parking permit from my mirror in my car at the Vineyard Haven post office.

Olga Hirschhorn

Vineyard Haven

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BLOWING HOT AIR

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Do you ever get drawn into reading the little blurbs of “news” and “entertainment” that the home page of your computer distracts you with as you are on your way to your e-mails? They catch your eye while you are actually in a hurry and thinking of something else. For instance, how a major star “died on the operating table” — and was brought back to life by a gifted surgeon. Then, “the upset of the season” of a tennis favorite. You move on. But now comes this: (just a quick thumbnail, but enough to trip you up).

Message for Mr. Bowles

Stop the clock and restore full jurisdiction to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. This is the message that a delegation of Island selectmen representing every Island town intend to deliver to Ian Bowles, the state Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

That is, when and if they can meet with him.

Counting Scarecrows