The annual winter concert is a showcase for students in the All-Island elementary strings program, from the very young with their pint-sized violins to older students on cello and viola.

Port town coffers are helped thanks to 50-cent ferry embarkation fee. Money is used for everything from summer traffic cops to harbor dredging and public safety budgets.

Shortly after 11 a.m. on Saturday a large flock of buffleheads, common goldeneye and scaup floating on the southwest side of Sengekontacket Pond began to move as a unit towards the frozen marshes on the shore of the pond.

At 4:30 a.m. on Saturday the day's newspapers arrived on the Quickwater, better known as the Patriot Boat. So did boxes of bagels bound for Espresso Love and Mocha Motts after being boiled to perfection at Cape Cod Bagel in Falmouth.

This weekend, at the annual alumni hockey games, it was once again time for the old (and not so old) guard to dust off their skates and once again hit the ice at the Martha's Vineyard Arena.