The Vineyard has been treated to a second summer this month, with warm, clear days stretching on as if they might have no end, inviting long beach walks and swims. The pace of life is unhurried now, and Islanders can stop a minute to catch their breath and also catch up with friends and neighbors — in coffee shops, on soccer fields and on the waterfront where derby fishermen dot the shoreline in their trademark waders and tall boots. There is a settling in to new routines. We turn our faces to the sun, as if to soak up every last bit before the season turns another corner.

The fall equinox is Monday, marking the official start of autumn.

In the natural world, late summer wildflowers are having their curtain call, succeeded by native fall asters in shades of purple, cream and white. Seaside goldenrod and feathery groundsel bush thrive in the salt-blasted back dunes and other coastal areas. Many of the old apple trees that still dot the Island landscape are loaded with fruit, a welcome note for foragers who reported only scant blueberries and beach plums in July and August.

Perhaps this is the year for apple butter on toast instead of jam.

In Island gardens the tomatoes are going, going almost gone, while winter squash and onions cure in the sunny, dry September air. Meanwhile, zinnias are staging an all-out protest against the end of another season. Call it zinnia pride, but there’s no denying the days are numbered for the tried-and-true garden annuals. The sun sets before 7 p.m. now, dictating earlier suppertimes and end-of-day dog walks as colder air sinks into low-lying areas around the Island.

Soon the first frost will arrive. Time to rescue the pretty pot of late basil that was planted in August on the west-facing porch, and the rosemary that began as a small specimen at a farmers’ market and has now grown to a tall, gray-green centerpiece. Maybe it will flower in time for Thanksgiving.

Atop the Gazette office in Edgartown the handsome weathervane crafted by the late Island metal worker Travis Tuck has swung mostly from southwest to north-northeast. You can hear it groan a little as the prevailing winds change their tune.

An editorial in this newspaper some years back took note of the shifting rhythms of September:

“Acorns seem to be everywhere on the ground. The squirrels are not yet at work collecting provisions to get them through the long Island winter. The fable of the ant and the grasshopper extols the virtues of planning ahead, but perhaps, at this moment, the squirrels know best. Although cooler air greets us each morning, it is wise to remember summer has just ended. There is no need to do anything quite yet. Far better to remain suspended for a while, like our planet, before tilting toward the next phase of life.”

Some things never change.