April begins her departure, a stage setter stepping aside now for May to make its grand entrace.
April begins her departure, a stage setter stepping aside now for May to make its grand entrace.
On the Edgartown Harbor there is always some activity among the white caps and circling birds. The search for bay scallops and oysters is for the rugged, as the winter winds blow and the boat plows forward for one last tow.
Those of us who remain enjoy our reduced numbers, note the closed cafes and coffeehouses, and take a walk on the winter beach by ourselves.
As much as ancient sayings are to be revered, there's a lot to be said for March settling in like a lamb.
They are the commuters traveling for work, Islanders heading off for appointments on the mainland, or others just getting an early start.
These days and weeks of a slow Island pace, with the hours of daylight gradually increasing and the bite of winter balanced by the foretaste of spring, are perfect for solitary pursuits.
Now the path of the new year leads us into February, another month that has its whole being in the season of winter.
Resident winter birds are plentiful in February during the stretch between winter and spring, and northbound migrants begin to arrive.
The light lingers well past five o'clock now, and the late day sky is streaked with fuchsia punctuated by scudding, slate-colored clouds.
All was calm as snow fell on the Vineyard Thursday and Friday, turning the Island into a Currier and Ives backdrop.
So far the Vineyard winter has been manageable – hardly mild, but certainly less intimidating than some in recent memory.
As snowstorms go, this one was well timed, arriving before the Super Bowl with generous warning from weather forecasters.
Who says you can't downhill ski on the Vineyard?
The Sunday snowflakes danced with the statues at the Field Gallery, covered stacked lobster pots in Menemsha, and clung to sheep's thick wool coats.
Snow is the companion of open fields and peaceful land, of hearthsides and the gray shingle of Island homes, of sledding hills and stonewalls up-Island, of the coastline that is our boundary with the sea.
Snow has a way of inviting us to see anew as it opens new vistas, which it seems to open up even as it decks them in white.
High tides and storm surge inundated the Island on Tuesday, washing over coastal dunes and forcing road closures after Monday's winter northeaster.