Winter arrives at 10:59 a.m. Tuesday, marking that turning point in the calendar of winter solstice and the shortest day of the year.

The rural reaches of the Island are cloaked in deep quiet, and native holly and winterberry stand out in sharp relief against a background of gray bare-branched woodlands. In village centers from West Tisbury to Vineyard Haven, this is the best season for chance encounters on the street with old friends.

Christmas is at hand. It is always hard to name the best season on the Vineyard, but surely this is one of them.