There is a southeast gale blowing through today. Morning rain has let up for now but the wind continues to gust over thirty. It seems pretty tame after last Saturday's storm. That one even had a name, Noel. I battened down whatever hatches I could find on Friday. That day was beautiful, calm and sunny. Actually, I left a few things out in the hopes they would be blown away. Storm warnings were posted with wind gusts over 70 and 20-foot seas. All the skiffs were removed from the beach as a precaution. The rain and wind arrived as predicted and we seemed to weather the storm without any major damage. By Sunday it was sunny and breezy with only the cloudy stormed churned ocean to remind us of how bad it was further off shore.

In case anyone is keeping track, I haven't written a column since June. As usual I was sucked into the vortex of running the store as well as keeping up with the boys' summer activities. It was a gorgeous summer, hot, dry and dusty. The boats were full and everyone was busy keeping up with demand. The trails were parched and the ice pond was as low as I've ever seen it.

Fall was busy too with a great migration for the birders and nice fall light for the artists. Now that the boat schedule has changed to Monday, Wednesday and Friday most cottage owners and visitors are gone. The town water however is still on until the first true cold spell.

The kids are back in school with their new teacher, Jessie Campbell and Ed. techs Donna Cundy and Tara Hire. There are seven kids in the school at the moment. Jake and Heather Nunes are here until December and have enrolled their children Hadliegh, Emmet and Ada in school. They join Wolfie and Nate Boegel, Dalton and Quinn Burroughs and Gabe Church. We just had a busy and fun week at the school starting with a lip sync/pot-luck supper followed by an Open House and then Star Wars night. The kids and their teachers put a lot of effort into each and everyone had a fun time.

After that it was Halloween. We had a record number of kids this year. In the cute kid truck there was Wyatt Bracy, Camryn Rollins, Ada Nunes and two of Maryann Blanchard's grandchildren who were visiting. The other truck had the aforementioned school kids dressed almost entirely in black. Not present but still on the island was Solomon Rollins who was born this past July and Margaret Chioffi. With the way she is now walking up and down the road I think she will be ready for next year. The teacher's pumpkins were duly stolen and the big kids were properly scared by Kole Lord and Tara's haunted house.

In a place that loves not to change we have had to deal with two big changes this fall. The lobstermen petitioned the legislature to lengthen the season last spring resulting in Trap Day occurring on October 1. This was after two devastatingly poor seasons. They are however limited to three hundred traps each. Only time will tell if this will be a good move for the lobster industry on Monhegan.

After the building that housed Carina was put up for sale this summer Bill Payne decided to retire and closed for good on Columbus Day. I must say Bill seems very happy about his decision. Others were not but we all will have to adjust. I am doing my part by opening every morning at 6 a.m. and keeping the coffee pot full. I have brought in some benches for the winter. I am also trying to carry some of the products Carina carried such as Atlantic Bakery bread and pastries and Curtis meats.

The sky has darkened again and the rain is starting to fall once more. Time to check the coffee pot at the store and order beer.