Last week the Gazette published a story about Island Entertainment moving across the street to save on rent. Other than this nod to the current difficult climate for video stores, the business looks to be in good health.

This summer the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore moved across the street for similar reasons and reported an increase in sales of twice the previous summer. Edgartown Books, which nearly closed down last year, was resurrected at the last minute.

Some say the Island shifts after Labor Day, with roads suddenly quieter and Five Corners again a place of corners rather than complaints over traffic and long waits. Others point to Columbus Day as the moment of reckoning. More stores close. Leaves change color and bid adieu to their branches, echoing the slump and slide of a shoulder season on the wane.

The country has been roughed up by politics but the Northeast even more roughed up by storms in the past week, as if nature was sending some kind of furious message about who’s really in charge.

The Island was scoured by the northern edge of Hurricane Sandy early last week and then this week a ripping, two-day northeaster cancelled ferries and planes and flooded roads and beaches for the second time in ten days.

On Tuesday Vineyard voters will join the rest of the country in going to the polls and casting ballots for President of the United States and an array of state and local contests. By any measure this election will be historic. After months of listening, reading, and no doubt at times wanting to tune out the rancor and high-volume messages blasting from every media outlet, voters have a deep well of information on which to base their choices.

For the past nine months the Chilmark planning board has been working diligently on the question of how and whether to regulate very large houses in town. In-depth research, listening and open dialogue have marked the work of the subcommittee assigned to the task. Much information has been collected, and drafts and re-drafts of sample bylaws have been put on the table for discussion.

As Islanders late this week kept a close eye on Hurricane Sandy moving up the East Coast with a possible fury, a small group of world-class speed sailors patiently waited out the news. While everyone else was making mental lists for battening down hatches, the sailors were excited at the prospect of gale-force winds, perfectly timed for the 2012 North American Speed Sailing Championships taking place on the Vineyard this week and next with the top-ranked speed sailors in the world.