An article by Joseph Chase Allen in the June 19, 1953 Vineyard Gazette entitled Oak Bluffs Was Definitely an Island Once described a rising sea level that even back then eroded land and beaches. Mr. Allen suggested that an ancient passage from the head of Deep Bottom Pond to the head of the lagoon was a water basin that may have been hundreds of yards wide at some points with a swift current. Eel Pond was joined with Sengekontacket and both were much larger. Old records show that the area encircled by these waters was known as Nantucket, and remained called that until just after the arrival of white people.

Ironically, the only thing Oak Bluffs (once called OgkeshKuppe by the original people) has in common with Nantucket today is our Black Dog stores. Murray’s of Nantucket discount store closed earlier this summer. Oak Bluffs may have been an island, but none of us is. Island life is about the weather. We check it on WMVY, channel 57 on cable and on Providence television channels (since Boston’s weather may as well be in Iceland if they mention us at all).

Weather is a frequent question from visitors, often prefaced by comments as to how cold it is here. It’s not. It’s an Island surrounded by water that rarely gets colder than 40 degrees. With average wind speed of about 12 miles per hour, the weather is usually pretty mild. Of course, when the wind’s blowing over 35 mph, no one is going to say that this is the tropics. In fact, the average annual temperature is about 51 degrees. We get about 45 inches of rain and 21 inches of snowfall in approximately 124 days of precipitation and have about 203 sunny days, which leaves 163 rainy or cloudy or foggy or otherwise overcast days that tend to place a pall upon people. For those days, it’s best to have something to look forward to, and sometimes it is the weather. Oak Bluffs people — indeed, Vineyard people — sacrifice the clamor of cities for the sounds of silence, fresh air, clear skies and sparkling seas — and those glorious 203 sunny days.

Interestingly, the Sept. 16 Sunday New York Times’ national section lead article about the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby comments that the derby “knits the local community of 15,000 full-time residents back together after they lived among a population that swelled to 105,000 at the height of the summer.” Our six towns described as a “local community?” I don’t know about that.

Tongue-in-cheekily responding to my earlier observation on Sept. 7 that there was no mountain on Mountain avenue, Philip Chapman, whose family has owned one of the only two homes on Mountain avenue since 1905, told me that the family named the house Hillcrest, since it sits atop an incline. Located in the Highlands, Mr. Chapman shared that the cross street to Mountain avenue reads Wendell avenue, but the sign on Massachusetts avenue (the line of demarcation between the Highlands and East Chop) reads Wendall. What’s funny is that Mr. Chapman noted that a new house built at the other end of Mountain avenue incorporated the street into its backyard and placed a shed exactly where the road once was. Not realizing this, the highway department identified a driveway on Highland avenue as Mountain avenue. I love that this can happen in Oak Bluffs.

Funnyman Marty Nadler showed up for Tivoli Day saying he was back to start trouble as he and cohort Dennis Redican of Tabor Trees ducked into Mr. Pugg’s Mugg coffee shop. I started to tell them they were at the wrong end of the street for trouble, but thought he might be setting up a story that Marty will tell later: “A tree guy and a comedian went into this coffee shop on Circuit avenue . . .”

Lobsterville Grill’s Leslie Graham says it’s been a great year — in part thanks to Chef Raymond Schilcher being back and, of course, Krazy Kap’s shucking skills. Their lobster grilled cheese sandwich stole the show at Tivoli Day Saturday. If you’d like to try one, Lobsterville stays open through Columbus Day.

To the certainly not shy youngster who, to the delight of hundreds, enthusiastically belted out Alice Cooper’s School’s Out at Season’s Tivoli Day Karaoke: check your calendar — school’s definitely in!

Congratulations to Paige Donavan who won the professional division of Jena’s second annual Ring Challenge at the Flying Horses on Tivoli Day. Paige, a former ring person, was able to catch 28 rings in four passes (averaging seven!), establishing herself as the record holder. In conjunction with the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust, proceeds are donated to the Jena Pothier Flying Horses Scholarship Fund. Contributions are welcome and accepted by the trust at P.O. Box 5277, Edgartown, MA 02568.

PikNik fashion maven Michael Hunter all but hijacked Monday’s Martha’s Vineyard Fashion Week’s opening show at Dreamland, elevating the runway to performance art as he accessorized his models from indoor to outdoor looks. Today there is a trunk show at Citrine, and the movie God Save My Shoes is at the MV Film Society’s new theatre. Both events are in Vineyard Haven. Tomorrow is the grand finale at Dreamland, with It’s a Marvelous Night for a Moondance fashion show and gala.

Oak Bluffs Beach Cleanup is 8:30 to 10:30 a.m tomorrow, from the Steamship Authority to the end of the Inkwell, with a rain date for Sunday. Free coffee and donuts from MV Gourmet Bakery and all the beach glass you can find.

Warmest congratulations to Summit avenue’s Jane and Phil Dietterich, celebrating 60 years of marriage on Sunday. The Dietterich children, Hans of Hingham, Heidi of Oak Bluffs (who works at the hospital in elder services), Gretchen Gillig of Frankfort, Ky., and Krista Andress of Omaha, Neb., have provided the couple with eight grandchildren and are delighted with their parents’ outstanding achievement.

Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, the Day of Atonement, begins Tuesday at sundown. “G’mar chatimah tova,” which means “May you be sealed in the Book of Life for a good year” in Hebrew.

We’re blessed with fond memories, and lots to have looked forward to in September, thanks to the Wind Festival, Best Fest, Tivoli Day, the derby and Fashion Week (the contra-derby?) on top of great weather.

The less than eye-pleasing property on Hiawatha off of Circuit avenue is for sale. The 26,500 square foot partially-boarded-up building never became a laundromat.

Keep your foot on a rock.