As a winter-long discussion begins in Chilmark about the impacts from overly large houses on the landscape and character of the town, it is ironic to see the Coast Guard refusing to budge much on its plan to build an overly large replacement to the historic boathouse that burned in the July 2010 Menemsha fire.

Edgartown selectman Michael Donaroma has a good suggestion for resolving the endless and potentially costly bickering over the roundabout: put a nonbinding question on annual town ballots Islandwide this spring and find out what the voters really think.

What began as a reasonable debate over the merits of the project has now devolved into a procedural squabble. Will we feel any better if a judge tells us it was — or wasn’t — approved in strict accordance with the law? Not likely.

The moon was an otherworldly blood orange Monday night as it lit a shimmering fuse along the waters off the Oak Bluffs town beach. It was so spectacular that nearly every car and truck pulled off the road so its inhabitants could stare . . . and reflect.

Who doesn’t love a poet?

Chaucer for his keen observations. Frost for his spare elegance. T.S. Eliot for his dark insight. Billy Collins for the sheer joy and privilege of sailing around the room with him.

Cribbing a famous line from an infamous late U.S. president, it is public enemy number one in Southeastern Massachusetts, although this time the enemy is not drugs but nitrogen. Nitrogen poses a serious threat to the health of our coastal ponds and saltwater embayments that were once pristine and are now in alarming states of decline. Eelgrass beds are gone or disappearing, and along with them the clean shellfish that both provide a rich source of food and form a key cog in the local economy.

What follows are some cuttings from Gazette nature editorials in the year 2011:

January: We know where we live this winter for sure: This is New England, no doubt about it, the place where if you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute and it will change.