After a decade of renewed participation in Jewish life, I see the new year celebration not as a misplaced jolt of spirituality but as an integral part of the religious calendar, a culminating event and a fresh beginning.
New real estate transfers.
The Big Duck is a nonagenarian.
Although the life expectancy of a duck in the wild is 8 to 12 years, a big one from Long Island has managed to stay afloat until the age of 90. The Big Duck, located in Flanders, has been a Southampton landmark and legend since it was built in 1931. (Just to clarify, this one is made of concrete, it does not quack, and it has a store inside it.)
Joan Butler of Brooklyn and Tenafly, N.J., who had a long career in finance administration, died on Aug. 30 surrounded by family at the home of a daughter in Carmel, N.Y. A lifelong summer visitor to Amagansett and East Hampton, she had been ill for a year with cancer. She was 67.
