Many many late October Saturday evenings ago a nicely dressed couple came over from Chappy and headed into town. They had been summering on Chappy as long as I could remember. They had recently retired, winterized their Chappy house, sold their off-Island house and were settling in to enjoy Chappy year round. They were back at the ferry in less than 10 minutes. As they handed me their tickets, he asked in an astonished tone, “Did you know that the yacht club closes down for the winter?” Even though I’m not a member I did know that the yacht club closed down for the winter in those days. Even the movie theatre was open only on the weekend. So to survive the loneliness of off-season Chappy this couple made many off-Island sojourns that winter, one of which was a trip to Florida to buy a condominium. The following Labor Day they waved goodbye from their tightly packed car with Florida license plates and cheerfully called out, “See you in the spring!”

It’s pretty quiet around here in the winter. We don’t have the same vast array of entertainment options as we do during the summertime. So you won’t want to miss out on the few activities available.

The next Chappy Community Center Potluck is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. Please bring a dish to serve six. The hosts this time are Joanne and Bill Brine. You too can be a host by signing up at the next potluck or calling Lynn at 508-627-8222.

If you are willing to venture into town after dark here is another suggestion. There will be a Celebrity Waiters Spaghetti Dinner to benefit PeaceQuilts, at the Federated Church on Saturday, Nov. 5, from 6 to 8 p.m., at their parish house on 45 South Summer street in Edgartown. The cost is $15 per person, $10 per child, or $35 per family. The dinner includes a salad, a spaghetti dinner, garlic bread, desert and a beverage.

One of several mission events held by the Federated Church, the proceeds benefit the Haitian quilting co-ops started by PeaceQuilts, whose members travel to Haiti to train Haitian women how to make sewing projects financially supportive for them and their families.

Individuals volunteer to serve as waiters for the event and will costume themselves as a famous or perhaps infamous celebrity. They will serve dinner and provide extra service for tips, including singing or not singing. There will also be a number of handmade items from Haiti for auction.

If you have any questions, please call 508-627-4421, email at admin@federatedchurchmv.org or visit their website, federatedchurchmv.org.

I spoke to Edgartown highway superintendent Stuart Fuller regarding the upcoming work planned for the dirt portion of the Chappy Point parking lot. No definite date has been set to commence the work. I’m just letting you know now because that area will have to be free of vehicles for the project to proceed. So don’t go leaving your car there while you go off-Island for a week. I’ll mention it in this column and I’ll put up signs to let you know when Stuart has determined a starting date. Hopefully you will have at least a week notice. The project involves the placement of a network of a plastic honeycomb grid that holds gravel in place so you don’t end up with puddles and the need to keep regrading.

Next time you’re at the grocery or hardware store, remember to get enough new batteries to replace those in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. The fire department recommends replacement at the beginning and end of daylight saving. There are few things more annoying than having a smoke detector beeping in the middle of the night because the backup battery went dead. And there are few things more dangerous than having dead backup batteries when the power goes out and the detectors don’t work at all. Come to think off it, while you’re there, get a couple of new flashlights as well. The new generation of LED flashlights are very bright, use small batteries and the batteries last a long, long time. I’ll venture to recommend that it’s better to buy a new LED flashlight than to buy new batteries for your old flashlight with an incandescent bulb. I like redundancy, so I’d buy two. The next time that you stub your toe on a chair leg in the dark think of me saying I told you so!