We occupied Martha’s Vineyard, which wasn’t difficult as we already lived here. Unfortunately nobody thought of OMV until fall when the infamous one per cent had already left on private jets. Someone suggested that we set up a camp, but with hunting season upon us, and most of us being older, camping didn’t seem safe.

The quiet lead up to Christmas on the Island was shattered this week with the revelations that gross mismanagement had led to allegations of fraud at the Edgartown wastewater treatment plant. A criminal complaint has been issued against an Edgartown septic hauler, who admitted to police that he took advantage of a system that was extremely lax, with little or no oversight or checks on how much the haulers were actually dumping at the plant.

Birds play games. Of course they do. At Sepiessa Point a cluster of black birds moves about the air like a school of fish. They change direction as one and shapeshift at will; a jellyfish, horse’s head, grandma Jane, the patterns becoming lighter and darker depending on the density of the flock.

A smaller cluster of birds hovers at the treetops edge. The groups merge and then disappear beneath the horizon line, the whoosh of their exit the only sound on an otherwise still afternoon.

HOLLY NADLER

508-274-2329

(hollynadler@gmail.com

A saga’s been developing in our environs that, should Disney decide to option the story, could be a kind of Milo and Otis movie — without Otis. This one involves a 10-month-old puppy named Waylon, a springer/Labrador mix that may also have some border collie in him for extra I.Q. points. He’s got white front paws and white zigzags on his chest, but otherwise he’s black, with some of that raffish fluff that appends itself to youngster dogs.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

Dec. 16 56 48 .14

Dec. 17 50 30 Trace

Dec. 18 48 29 .00

Dec. 19 33 17 .00

Dec. 20 49 32 .00

Dec. 21 51 31 .00

Dec. 22 57 51 .29

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 51º F.

If the weather cooperates, there is a rare opportunity to get some help seeing the distant and hard-to-spot planet Mercury close to the horizon tomorrow morning.

JUNE D. MANNING

508-645-2574

(lthslnks2004@yahoo.com)

Santa arrived at the Aquinnah town hall on Wednesday evening. He was glad to see all the young children of Aquinnah and handed each one of them their specially selected gift.

Congratulations to Paul Henry Jeffers-Mayhew, a freshman, and Faith Smalley, who achieved the honor roll at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

New Man in Blue

The Oak Bluffs Police Department welcomed its newest full-time officer on Tuesday, Dec. 20 when Derek Back took the oath of office in front of family, colleagues and friends.

Dredging is nearly complete at the Joseph Sylvia State Beach. For much of the fall, the Edgartown dredge has been pumping sand out of Sengekontacket, deepening a channel on the Oak Bluffs side, with the spoils trucked to Cow Bay for beach nourishment.

Norman Rankow, chairman of the dredge committee, said last week that the work in the area is winding down. The dredge will be removed from the pond probably by mid-January.

Lauren Bagnall of Edgartown has been named to the fall 2011 dean’s list at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga.