Longtime Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy died last Tuesday at his Hyannisport home after a 15-month battle with brain cancer. On Nantucket, the Town flew flags at half-mast and at St. Mary's, about 75 people attended daily Mass on Wednesday, where the senator was remembered. More...

T here was something almost reverent about the way Neeltje Westerlund smoothed her hand across the surface of a soft, felted landscape she is finishing on commission for a patron. The tender appreciation she showed for the piece is not surprising. More...

As summer goes, this summer was punctuated by weather. It rained so hard during the month of June that many of us thought our cottages would collapse like wet cardboard under the sheer weight of the water. Summer was just starting to heat up in August when at the end of the month, we were thrust into two dramatic tropical storms that delivered more pelting rain. More...

I thought I had successfully avoided the dreaded question all summer. I tried. I isolated myself, surrounded by family and friends who knew better than to ask. I immersed myself in work to minimize other human contact. I was willing to risk social ostracism. I considered wearing a surgical mask to warn away people who might venture near. More...