Our dog Cloverdale was run over by a delivery truck on Oct. 17. My husband was present at the time and immediately called for emergency help to the Comcenter.

We have been coming to the Vineyard in October for the last 28 years, due to the generosity of my husband’s cousin and the use of her small home.

The announcement by Cape and Islands state Sen. Dan Wolf this week that he is ending his bid for governor in 2014 came as little surprise. But his strange imbroglio with the Massachusetts Ethics Commission over the last few months has left more questions than answers, particularly about his future as a legislator representing the Island.

It started with a headline. Two young Islanders won the derby. That was something to celebrate. Then on the Gazette website conversation stirred. They weren’t really Islanders, one reader said. Wrong at least on one count, replied the grandmother of Sam Bell, age twenty five, born and raised on the Vineyard.

As avid readers know, books can take you anywhere. Travel is broadening, so another axiom goes, but watching tourists amble down Edgartown sidewalks or wander around the Field Gallery’s statues, I wonder how well they’re getting to know Martha’s Vineyard.

Well, we had the “I’m Sorry I Called You That Terrible Name On Broadway In July But I Was Stressed Out Dinner” last Thursday. It’s an October thing, a let-down thing, a healing thing, slow, a little uneasy at first, and without energy.