Fall is a sort of second summer. One with shorter days, it’s true, and cooler evenings. But the water in the ocean and in the Sounds is warmer than in July. The local produce so beloved in August is, if anything, more plentiful, as are most of the fishes. There are not just bass and blues now, but blistering explosions of false albacore and – could it be? – bonito. There is a fair chance in September and October of clean waves sent our way by distant (one hopes) hurricanes, and the beach guards at the usual access spots have gone back to school.
Paul Schneider
When I heard recently that the Discovery Channel is coming to the West Tisbury Dumptique to shoot a series about the famous giant sword maker of Martha’s Vineyard, I was filled with remorse and fear on multiple levels. What if those worn-in, but not worn-out Spanish boots of Spanish leather I left there not long ago get discovered and are worth a fortune?
Paul Schneider
It’s not widely known yet, but birds are infiltrating the world of humans at levels never before seen. This movement is not driven by preference for our company, but by a perception among birds that few other choices remain. Their habitats gobbled, unable to beat us, they have decided to join us. Literally.
Wes Craven
My friend Ed called recently to say he is looking for a house to rent on the Vineyard for a few weeks this summer. These calls from off-Island are one of the surest signs of spring, as reliable as the pinkletinks that crawl up out of their cold, muddy beds and into the trees to start their nightly peep-peep-peeping for love and happiness.
Paul Schneider
The moment I told my friend Ed that I was soon to take a job at the helm of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine, he launched into one of his characteristic reveries, this time about the sentences Iwould write in my new position as what he called “a country editor.”
Paul Schneider
For the love of food and the fear of the bogeyman.
Margaret Knight
To harvest beach plums, jelly makersScour endless Island acres;When the picker is the eater,Beach plum jelly’s all the sweeter.
D.A.W.
Circumnavigating Martha’s Vineyard in a day.
Dana Gaines
