The Chappy Ferry Captain and Crew appreciation potluck supper will take place at the Chappy Community Center as per tradition on the first Wednesday in December. Appetizers begin at 6 p.m. with the buffet line forming up at 6:30 p.m.

With more than a hint of winter in the Chappy air, I am reminded of the yin and yang of this particular season. Gone are the afternoons swims, but also missing are the horseflies and mosquitoes, Chappy taketh and Chappy giveth away.

As the leaves fall and the woods open up, my neighbor’s lights are once again twinkling through the trees. I have a feel for what’s occupying the inhabitants, such as which ones are more likely to be reading than watching TV. I see who turns in early and who stays up as late as I do. I know that some homes across Chappy are quieter now with the departure of grown children. In many instances I remember the days when those couples were first setting up house. From the perspective of the present looking back, those were such simple days.

You know those days when it is just plain awful to travel the 20 yards from the awkward exit of the Stop & Shop to your car in the lot? The days when it is raining and blowing so hard that you feel a primordial fear for your safety?

A couple of weeks back, I mentioned half-jokingly the horror of depending on just one ferry boat to service Chappaquiddick Island. We’re on pins and needles the whole time that one of the boats is out of service.

Once again, the Chappy ferry has spawned a union of love. Becca and Jeff — captains both — were married last weekend. On the ferry. A beautiful sight, even to this grumpy old man.

As the 69th MV Striped Bass & Bluefish Derby draws to a close I like to review the leader boards for the names of Chappy fishermen.

Big week for this author and, by obvious extension, Chappy itself. Firstly, I turned 51 — a glorious affair replete with my usual vacant stares and wistful yearnings, but with room left over along the edges of my psyche for hopeful anticipation of life to come.

Eleanore Benedict Hoar loved stormy weather, so it is very fitting that her burial in the Chappy graveyard on the shore of Pocha Pond was accompanied by a blustery nor’easter.

My mother and brother just wrapped up their whirlwind world tour with a stay at the Big Camp. I’m not sure how it compared to their other stop on the tour — the Marlborough rest stop Dunkin Donuts.