Chilmark enjoyed a true winter this past week. On Sunday we were watching skaters on the local ponds and we saw one intrepid winter sports enthusiast trying to sail his iceboat on Squibnocket Pond. But today, mid week, the weather is very warm and mild.

Chilmark is a very quiet place this week . . . unless you count the coughing and sneezing. Almost every family has someone down with a flu-like bug. Some have the real thing but it is hard to care which is which when you are suffering.

Chilmark begins another year. The town seems to take the advance of years without much trauma. It survived 2012’s abuse of a hurricane, northeasters, the end of world threats, cliffhangers and big houses and promises to be here to do it all again. As the times change the town itself seems to remain more the same than different. The harbor gets a new dock that will look mostly like the old one, the scallops still come out of the pond, some years in a goodly supply, some not. The houses get bigger but dirt roads still lead to most of them. Three selectmen still run the town, as they have for over 100 years. And, every year, the ocean takes some of the south side away and adds some to the north shore.

Chilmark welcomed Santa to town on Wednesday last . . . a warm and mild day for December, but filled with the wonderful joy of young children and their enthusiastic parents — the way it should be for all our towns. We send many messages of condolence to all the grieving people of Connecticut and across the land. We all hope that through this we can make it a better world for us all.