Thank you, Gwyn Skiles, for such a wonderful piece on Charlie Blair in last week’s Gazette.

Last week’s New York Times obituary for the chef Andre Soltner, whose mid-Manhattan restaurant Lutece was legendary, makes no mention of Martha’s Vineyard, but there is a connection.

On the second Sunday in December, we took the noon boat from Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole, and well into our car trip I realized that I’d left my sunglasses on the boat.

My 13-year-old son and I just completed our first round of on-camera Island interviews for a homeschool science project.

I had a flat tire on the driver’s side. My mood immediately changed and I thought I’d cry. Then, within five minutes, two good Samaritans stopped to assist me.

With the news on Sunday, Dec. 29 of President Jimmy Carter’s passing, many are learning more about hospice care and the comfort and dignity it provides at the end of life.