The dance of the sprinklers is just that — a dance. From the front porch, to across the street, to the growing fields of Morning Glory Farm, I watch the sprinklers as they dance across the horizon, in the light, in the wind, in the setting sun, and back and forth as they intertwine their arms of spray, as they sashay in and out of each other, doing the rumba or the mambo or even a little rock and roll. Their rhythm is perfection as they water the crops that all of us will eat and enjoy. Talk about buying local; this is as local as local gets.

We have been years on this Island. We have watched it grow and change, and yet stay so much the same. There is still the feeling of small towns, all six of them, of people making it on their own ingenuity, on their own skills, of neighbor helping neighbor.

Look around at the window boxes and the beautiful gardens everywhere, from private homes to public spaces. Listen to the concerts on the greens, and the private shows in theatres. Read the local papers filled with every bit of information one could want while here on vacation. Read the ads of those independent artisans. Find the next great event or happening and read about the history of this great place. Traveling up-Island I ventured into the new Orange Peel Bakery, all natural and all outdoors. On the way back I had a lobster roll on the porch at the Galley where the fishing boats come slowly in after a long haul at sea. Their catch is always good for admiring and asking questions. Driving back along the road to Chilmark, there is a favorite spot where the lambs give birth in the spring at the Allen Farm, overlooking a vista very much like Scotland. I forgot to mention a stop in Aquinnah, where the benches hang over the Atlantic Ocean so you think you are floating somewhere in space.

As I look around at all the New Yorkers New Jerseyites, Connecticut Yankees, folks from Quebec, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and of course, Massachusetts, I can’t help but wonder how these people and their offspring see the Island. Can they see the things I see if they’re on their phones or texting friends? I stop in my tracks and wonder. Does so much of this beauty go unnoticed because of technology?

Beyond nature, there are lessons in inclusion, respect and understanding. Look around at all the towns now and see the different races, nationalities, languages and cultures, and you will see diversity. Here is where you create your own life, depend on your own resources and never miss a day of learning something new no matter the weather. Take a foggy day on South Beach when the air is as thick as pea soup. And when the sky is as blue as the sea, everything glistens.

Darkness falls, and the sprinklers still waft in the field across the way; in the changing light the sparkling water of diamonds cascades against the dusky sky. Suddenly it looks like streaks of snow blowing in a blizzard. And then it is time for them to automatically turn off. Until tomorrow.

— Sue Lamoreaux