The gibbous moon appears close to the bright planet Jupiter on New Year’s Eve. It is even closer to the big planet on Monday night. The two appear high in the eastern sky after sunset and high in the south by midnight.

For a moment, he forgot the feathers. Even the renowned bird guy couldn’t resist the gorgeousness of these magnificent mammals. Although it was likely just a moment, John James Audubon put down his binoculars to watch and wonder at the dolphins.

After seven months of efforts to create a stable future for the Thimble Farm property, the fate of the prime farmland is still in flux, leaving the owner disappointed but not discouraged.

Reached by telephone this week, property owner Eric Grubman said he has not given up on an Island coalition of farmers and conservation agencies formed to explore alternatives for the property, but he’s seen little progress to reassure him there is enough interest from the community to take the farm out of private ownership.

Please Adopt Us

Sadly, Santa wasn’t able to find homes for any of the animals at the Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard, and now our cages are filling up quickly.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

Dec. 23 55 41 .78

Dec. 24 45 30 .02

Dec. 25 36 22 .00

Dec. 26 48 36 .11

Dec. 27 47 26 Trace

Dec. 28 56 45 .25

Dec. 29 50 24 .00

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 47º F.

In a story about a Vineyard Haven resident’s efforts to protect the view from the Tashmoo Overlook (Citizen Campaigns to Save Tashmoo View, Nov. 18), the Gazette misstated the ownership of a parcel of land visible from the road. The land is owned by Payette Vineyard Realty Trust, not Thomas and Ginny Payette. The Gazette regrets the error.

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission conducted a proper review and acted within its authority when it approved the roundabout traffic project earlier this year, the commission said in a formal response to a lawsuit seeking to block the decision.

The response, dated Dec. 23, was filed in Dukes County superior court, where the towns of West Tisbury and Edgartown sued the MVC earlier this month.

A new restaurant may be coming to Main street Edgartown in the coming year.

Brothers Patrick and Ted Courtney told the Edgartown selectmen at their meeting Tuesday that they have preliminary plans to open a restaurant in the space currently occupied by In the Woods, which is closing this weekend. The Courtneys will lease the building from the Hall family beginning Jan. 1.

With Edgartown noticeably unrepresented, the Islandwide group responsible for negotiating a new franchise agreement with Comcast turned its attention this week to Vineyard neighborhoods other than Chappaquiddick that lack cable television service. Areas at issue include Indian Hill Road and Seven Gates in West Tisbury, and Quansoo, Middle Line Road and Meeting House Way in Chilmark.

The state’s highest court this week rejected a wide-ranging challenge to a power contract between Cape Wind Associates and the utility National Grid.

In a pair of decisions, the Supreme Judicial Court sided with the state Department of Public Utilities, which last year approved the contract calling for Cape Wind to sell 50 per cent of the wind project’s power to the large utility that serves millions of consumers in Massachusetts and three other northeast states.