Welcome to August. And to the August people, many of whom are renters, I think.

I no longer know anything about the summer rental business or who rents what, but back in the last century, Tim and I turned into summer landlords.

One advantage to being older is that the mortgage is paid off and we no longer resort to renting out our house to pay back the bank loan.

We surrendered our house for 17 summers. Most of those years, with fingers crossed, we dealt with kind and thoughtful people who realized that they were depriving us of our hallowed home. Not that we had to camp out in the state forest. In fact, we had a well-equipped and cozy renovated barn to move into for the duration.

As well as the income from the rentals, one of the advantages of becoming landlords derived from leaving the house as clean as a fancy hotel suite for its new occupants. Generally speaking, the house continued to stay clean until we moved home on Labor Day weekend. The corners and shelf-tops just didn’t get that grimy in two months. The older I get, the more I miss that, um, cleanliness.

Out of curiosity I looked online at a list of current vacation rentals on the Island. The list started with the grandest of opportunities; weekly rentals from $35,000 to $60,000 with extra charges of $1,500 to $2,000 per week for cleaning, plus 11.7 percent tax.

Then I looked at the bottom of the list and the first one I could find with an end-of-August vacancy was a mere $3,650 a week with a $325 cleaning charge, and tax.

Then there’s everything in between.

I would express dismay about the staggering prices, but our landlord days all happened so very long ago. And I am grateful just to be here, free of charge, you might say.

Diantha Eisendrath reports that her son and daughter-in-law, Noah and Nancy, organized their annual family reunion picnic this past weekend, celebrating 50 years of the tradition at their home on Middle Road. The numbers have grown to such an extent, Diantha said, “there was not a square inch of floor left in the house,” and one guest happily slept in a tent in the yard.

Dr. Florence Rossman, professor emeritus of Wheelock College, has died at her home in Rochester, Minn. Florence was born with spina bifida, one of very few of her generation who survived to adulthood and she led a vibrant and successful life in Boston. A number of former students live on the Vineyard.

Congratulations to Paul Karasik for the honors bestowed on him recently. Paul was awarded the coveted Inkpot Award while attending the San Diego Comic Con. You are probably familiar with his cartoons in the Gazette, or the New Yorker, or the New York Times, Washington Post or The Nation. He has published five books, not all of them graphic novels, and in his spare time he teaches.

The town officials have announced a special town meeting for Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. at the school. Write it on your calendar.

Happy birthday Friday, August 8 to Nettie Kent Ruel and Matt Pelikan. Birthday balloons (imaginary balloons) fly high in the sky for Amelia Smith on Tuesday, August 12. And joyous birthday wishes on Thursday, August 14, to Bea Whiting, Christine Gault and Bonnie Menton.

Congratulations and happy wedding anniversary Friday, August 8, to Tim and Elaine Barnett.