We find ourselves in the midst of October and with the leaves beginning to make their change. The 77th annual Derby is about to come to a close. I love listening to stories of working the rod and reel and landing a good one. I even enjoy listening to stories of the one that got away because, even then, the stories are so animated — especially amongst the teenage crowd.

Teenager Lathrop Keene has, as the say, been on fire this Derby. After nearly a month, he was the first junior participant to land a share bonito. At the time of my writing he was still the only one to have done so. At the time of my writing he was also the only junior angler to have weighed in his triple crown — a bonito, a false albacore and a bluefish. Lathrop, along with buddies Aiden Olsen, Westley Wlodyka, Grey Graham and a few others, has certainly put time in on the jetty.

Lost phones on the jetty have been a regular occurrence recently. I am pleased to say both Aiden Olsen and Evan Hammond miraculously retrieved theirs at low tide. I am also pleased to say that somehow they still work.

Dave and Kathleen Wright took advantage of the long weekend and traveled to town to do a little fishing along with some rejuvenating in the weekend’s sunshine.

Suzy Keene made her way to town for the long weekend. Although we didn’t connect in person, I felt as if we had after viewing her photos on Instagram. Her snapshots always capture the beauty of the moment.

Linae and Bob Schroeder, along with fluffy Golden Magic, have hauled their center console in preparation for their return to Connecticut. They’ve been regular coffee crowd participants who look forward to seeing their five grandchildren. It’s been too long since they’ve wrapped their arms around Samantha and husband Luther’s kiddos who make their home in South Africa.

Ezra Levy, teenage son of Julie Tischler and Ed, brought his rod and a few lures and took to the jetty and shoreline. The three caught up with family-like friends and nature and waited until the very last moment on Monday night to head back to day to day life in Newton.

Katie Vincent, Nick and daughters Natalie and Vivian Persons made a mini-vacation trip from Niskayuna, N.Y. to the Lucy Vincent family home. Beach walks, sunsets and lots of laughs with the gals who just turned double digits. Happy weekend. Happy birthdays.

When I heard about Sally Cook’s death last week I said to myself, “but she just rode by with a big smile and tossed me a wave a few days ago.” She was one of those amazing humans with an Energizer bunny personality whom I will miss having chats with. My heart goes out to Peter, Caitlin, Annie, Liz, Peter and their extended family and friends.

Welcome home to Alicia Knight who road-tripped from Chilmark to Los Angeles with daughter Olivia. Opportunities for one on one mother- daughter time don’t arise all that often, but when they do jump on them. Olivia has made the move to the City of Angels where she will reside with friends, work and make her mark.

Graham Stearns traveled home from Colgate University to do a little fishing, grab hugs from his folks and maybe run a few loads through the washing machine before returning to his studies in upstate New York. Parents Sarah Doyle and Bret were, of course, thrilled to have Graham in the house.

I spotted Tyler Shipway home for the long weekend as well. Parents Sarah and Charlie, along with their recently-added puppy, were quite thrilled.

Welcome aboard to Anna McCaffrey who was recently offered the position of administrator/inspector to the board of health after longtime position holder, Marina Lent, retired. Anna will assume the duties towards the end of the month so be sure to welcome her and also wish Marina well.

The Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust will host a meeting for Vineyard commercial fishermen on Thursday, Oct. 20 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at John Keene Excavation. Please spread the word and email mvfishermen@gmail.com with questions.