It was an unusual season on the water by all accounts. When the boat was first launched in mid-March, the pandemic was already beginning to have a firm grip on New York and Long Island. It was a scary and uncertain time. In many ways, it still is.

The completion of a second phase of renovation at Second House in Montauk, one of the oldest structures in the Town of East Hampton, coincides with a move toward historical landmark designation, the town board was told this month.

It's time to start decking the halls.

Break-ins, altercations, and maskless customers in the police logs this week.

No one was injured on the roads this week, but deer were very much crossing as rutting season continues.

With a pistol in his left hand, East Hampton Town police reported last Thursday, 20-year-old Cristian Chumbi of Kingston Avenue, East Hampton, "intentionally placed or attempted to place another person in reasonable fear" while at home around 6 p.m.

On Saturday evening, after David Weinzweig, 42, of East Hampton, driving a 2017 Hyundai, rear-ended Remigio Sinchi's 2019 Toyota on Main Street near Woods Lane in East Hampton Village, police charged him with driving while intoxicated, saying that he had failed roadside sobriety tests.

From online laboratory simulations to individual sets of science supplies to constant cleaning of equipment, teaching and learning science amid the Covid-19 pandemic has been one big experiment in itself for local educators and students. In normal times students would be able to work in groups, clustered around a table sharing lab equipment like beakers, burners, and microscopes — but these are not normal times.

The Bridgehampton School is anticipating approval from the Southampton Town fire marshal this week to begin using three temporary trailers for teacher offices and five of its newly constructed classrooms for educating students, even though the rest of the construction project is still in progress.

The Montauk Historical Society's popular lighting of the Lighthouse on the Saturday after Thanksgiving is on hold this year, not only because of the pandemic but because the tower on the 1796 structure is in the midst of a much-needed $1.3 million restoration.

About the size of a gumball, the gem most likely came from a batch of clams dug in Mattituck, according to Bryan Gosman, a co-owner of the fish market, who hopes to raffle it off to raise money for the Montauk Food Pantry.

Governor Cuomo and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone both said they expect another surge in Covid-19 infections in the 10 days following the holiday, and looked ahead to what they each said they hope will be a more normal Thanksgiving next year.

“One Last Lunch,” Erica Heller’s colorful compendium of essays, gives a number of writers the chance to share a repast with their deceased friends, lovers, colleagues, occasional alter egos, and notably fathers, from Saul Bellow to John Cheever to, of course, Joseph Heller.

This has been a sobering month so far for anyone who hoped that New York had seen the last of the coronavirus.

The Biden administration is already shaping up to be something different.

For a second-home seasonal resort economy such as ours, the winter months can be one of scarcity in terms of putting food on the table.

Southampton's Dr. George Schenck returned to his practice Thanksgiving week in 1918 after being ill with influenza for nearly a month. A 25-year-old whose parents lived in North Sea died at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. 

The unknown previous owner of my secondhand copy of “How to Marry a Multimillionaire: The Ultimate Guide to High Net Worth Dating” (2005) left penciled-in checkmarks next to the self-help points she found most salient and helpful.

Somebody once believed that gathering in offices was a grand idea. Now, post-pandemic, we may never go back.

We’ve made cardboard cutouts of family members so that Mary and I can be infused with the familial glow that has been so much a part of this holiday over the years.