I thought you might enjoy hearing about my cousin Diane's first year of retirement on Martha's Vineyard with her husband Brad and their dog Max:
After reading Mary's blog, I started to look around with new eyes on the Vineyard. This is our very first year living here full time. We have been here to close things up for winter, but never for the whole transition from summer to winter.
Mostly, I had been thinking about the human transition, as the island slowed down and emptied out -- moving from its summertime population of 105,000 to its year-round population of 15,000! What a dramatic shift. Parking spots appear on Main Street. Most of our immediate neighbors are gone. Our dog Max and I walked on the beach that is barred to us all summer. It's lovely and very dramatically different from summer.
We live in the woods on this island, not the water, so we don't see the kinds of changes you do. Several times we have turned onto our road and had to stop suddenly because of deer. They were as surprised to see us as we were to see them! The hummers seem to have gone (now that I learned from Mary that they migrate, difficult as that is to imagine). The leaves are not changing yet; I don't know if they get colorful or not. Our woods are mostly populated with what people call "scrub oak" trees, and on our quick visits in the past we saw only brown.
A couple of days ago, the acorns began falling. They come down violently, as if someone were sitting in the trees throwing them at us. Even the porches aren't safe, as acorns bounce around there, hitting the walls and anything else in range. Brad suggested we get padded hats. Since we have few squirrels, this must be the woods repopulating itself. I wonder if other animals eat the acorns. I know that, come spring, I will be pulling many tiny oak trees out of the garden.
When Max and I walked up to the point of West Chop, the white caps were coming in at a sharp angle, one right after the other. It felt so clean, as if the air, the water, and the land had all been scoured. It is so very wonderful to be here. Much love, Diane
