I’ve been a delivery skipper since the late 1960s. I’m not a chicken on the water, but other people on boats scare me. I never know if that boat heading at me has a competent crew or is the local ship of fools.

Martha’s Vineyard turned out en masse to celebrate the Fourth and seemed to remain constantly on the move from the evening of the third, when Vineyard Haven’s fireworks display and band concert started the celebration.

The days keep changing, the length of light withdrawing at an almost imperceptible pace now.

Last winter after an eleven-year-old child with measles visited a California theme park, the Centers for Disease Control traced at least one hundred and twenty-five other cases to the outbreak.

My favorite road on the Island is Middle Road. I love its hills and its lovely views. What I love the most is the view from Brookside Farm.

Friends say that now that I am older, I should no longer walk alone in the woods — even near Glimmerglass Pond in West Tisbury.