Oak Bluffs seasonal resident Neil Rolde for 16 years was a representative in the Maine state legislature and the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from that state in 1990. He has long been concerned with what it means to be in governmental office.

Last Friday I visited my son’s teachers at the 
 regional high school. He is in a special education classroom where he focuses on vocational training, communication and how to cook and care for himself, in between fashioning impressive works of art, including a fine ceramic salsa and chip dish I opened last Christmas.

I lied. How best to make a clean start for part three of my trilogy on the boxes in our basement? Honestly, I totally miscalculated the number. I thought we had two dozen, but neglected to open another door down there to reveal another roomful of boxes.

Old-timers speak of the days of their youth and childhood; how the Island picture has changed since they can first remember, and how people and things seem like those of another country entirely, so complete has the transition been in the span of a single lifetime. They do not exaggerate in the least, but it is truly amazing to consider how very different the present picture of Vineyard life is compared with that of a half-century ago. And especially is that difference noticeable when the autumn descends upon the Vineyard in all its glory of green, scarlet and gold.

Your Nov. 8 article about Benjamin Hall Sr. and the future of the Capawock Theatre (the Vineyard’s oldest movie theatre) is a sad commentary on a possibly missed opportunity.

On my last visit to the Vineyard, in September, I was shocked at the condition of the Mayhew Chapel in Christiantown: windows broken, exterior shingles rotting, bird droppings on benches inside, weeds taking over the burial ground.

Really?! Thirty per cent of Island children are overweight or obese? Really?

Your recent article Food Stamp Cuts Hit Home does a good job of showing how the Vineyard is not immune to the food insecurity challenges that affect the entire country, as cuts to government programs like SNAP make difficult situations even more difficult.

Patrick Ahearn and Marsha Ahearn purchased 7 and 9 Oxcart Road in Aquinnah from Richard S. Lee for $1,700,000 on Nov. 6.

I broke the last of my 2013 New Year’s resolutions yesterday: I waited to the last moment to drain our summer house pipes. But where is the adventure in battling with wrenches and pliers with hands that have feeling in them? No, I choose to live the frontier life . . .  and then go inside to watch the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

I thought I had found a rather large and sparkling diamond on my lawn this morning, but it was only a chunk of ice left over from yesterday’s sleet. Oh nature, why must you taunt me so?