Linda Thompson, who endured several hurricanes when she lived on St. Croix, sent along some hurricane-related advice she picked up along the way. To protect your treasures, Linda suggests taking paintings off the walls, wrapping them in plastic and sliding them between the mattresses and springs of your beds. Dishes and glasses should be placed in the dishwasher. Also put your important papers in the dishwasher, and close it as it has a tight, waterproof seal. On your way out the door, unplug everything and toss your lawn furniture into the pool so it can’t fly away.

It’s unlikely — but not impossible — that we need to worry about a hurricane the rest of this year. But who would have expected all that damage in Asheville?

While watching the frightening storms happening in the south, which are winter homes for so many island families, I consciously felt more attentive and more grateful to be here during these gloriously clear and perfect days.

Here, the grasses and treetops have been sprayed with bronze, and so are the plump pinkish hydrangea bushes that are holding on to their blossoms through the fall. One particularly eye-grabbing shrub sends out its snowball blossoms at the curve and rise along State Road where it meets the Edgartown Road, at the seemingly-vacant house that I think belongs to the Woods family.

New England autumn is Rockwellian with its pumpkins, drifting leaves and warm jackets, and is nowhere more earnest than the upcoming Harvest Festival at the Agricultural Hall Sunday, Oct. 20, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

If you have children within your reach, bundle them up and take them with you. You may lose them in the hay maze, or they may eat too much too fast in the pie-eating contest. But the rural festival offers pumpkins to carve, farm animals to ride or admire. Bakers will bake pies, people with skills will demonstrate, and the library will bring its seed library along with experts to teach you how to save seeds. All the while, the Flying Elbows entertain with foot-stomping music.

Also bring your kids’ outgrown costumes to swap for a suitable size or a more outlandish expression this Halloween.

Speaking of scary things, Saturday, Oct. 19 is the first day for early voting in the general election.

Happy birthday to Caroline Flanders, Emmet Athearn and Alice Early all on Wednesday, Oct. 23. Happy anniversary to Laurie Mazer and Brian McManus this Saturday, Oct. 20.

Annabelle Brothers and Huck Moore were home this week for a break from college classes. Several dogs jumped up and down with glee.

Katryn Yerdon and Rob Gilbert have arrived home after cruising the seductive ports of the Mediterranean. One big dog jumped for joy.