The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank reported revenues of $32,248 for the business week ending on Friday, Dec. 27, 2013.

The First Congregational Church of West Tisbury is renovating the historic sanctuary and in preparation for the work the pews were removed and will be stored at the Grange Hall.

Traveling to Martha’s Vineyard in the 1930s one had to go to New Bedford where The New England Steamship Company provided ferry service. The trip to the Vineyard cost $1 and took two hours. Taking a car cost $5 to $8. A trip to Nantucket cost $2.20 and took about four hours. To fly to the Vineyard, summers only, the flight from New Bedford to the Vineyard cost $5.50. Sightseeing busses were available in both ports, and “hard surfaced roads encircled [the] islands.”

On September 14, 1778 British Major-General Grey left Vineyard Haven after raiding the area.

Foul play is not suspected in the death of an Edgartown man found in his home Friday, Dec.27, police said.

From the Vineyard Gazette edition of Jan. 5, 1940:

It was New Year’s Eve, and Vineyard Haven slept or celebrated according to time-honored practice. All was still and peaceful out of doors, beneath the dark winter sky. Not a breath of wind stirred and little traffic moved along the snow-covered streets. Suddenly a strange, thrilling sound filled the air. Starting at a low pitch at first, it grew louder and more thrilling. Young men, bailing out a noggin of lemonade, leaped into the air and cracked their heels together.

Delays in supply deliveries sets Oak Bluffs fishing pier completion back.

My son Dan was sick for 16 years and in those 16 years he got to know me as a human not just as his mom. From his hospital bed perch he spent a lot of time watching me running, doing, planning, phoning and he’d say with that grin of his, slow down, turbo.

It was just after Christmas a few winters ago, the family still visiting and the kitchen still in holiday mode with tins of cookies and jars of homemade jellies tied with bright ribbons, when I noticed what looked like a piece of black rice on our white windowsill. On closer inspection, I found it to be mouse droppings. I was determined to take care of the matter, while at the same time show respect for the preciousness of life in that mouse.

Well, December has gone into the record books as one of the warmest ever recorded. The only snow was a few scattered flurries on two occasions. Last year this time we were dealing with several inches of snow that had stacked up and froze solid. We don’t have to wait for the January thaw as there isn’t any frost in the ground. The weather to begin the New Year was cold.

Well, yes, my column was available last week but due to the stress and strains of holiday publishing, it was only viewable online, not in your old-fashioned newspaper. I didn’t even know how to find it. Unfortunately, I am used to making mistakes. Fortunately, this one wasn’t mine!