The upcoming Thanksgiving holiday marks the end of one season and the beginning of another, but this year there is a distinct sense of procrastination about it all. Suddenly we are in no real hurry for winter with its hard freeze and slate-colored sea roughed up by whitecaps.

Nature agrees, and on the Vineyard autumn lingers like two friends over coffee; no need to rush to the next appointment on the calendar. Lawns are still green, herb gardens redolent with rosemary, farm fields freshly turned. Nantucket Sound is navy blue and the salt ponds lie still in the evening hush with a thousand stars splashed overhead.