A couple of weeks ago things were so garbled on the sports page that Mary thought some readers might think I was senile. “Don’t worry,” someone in the front office said. “People have been saying that for years.”

On a winter drive with my husband one Sunday afternoon, we started to list all the people we’ve known from the neighborhood who are no longer here — their absence struck a powerful note.

A $19 million sale in East Hampton Village? Another on North Haven for $6 mil? Welcome to the Hamptons.