For people who frequent land bank properties, the experience is more than just getting some exercise, it’s about getting back in touch with the core character of the Island — what made people fall in love with it in the first place.

Winter birds are settled in on the Vineyard, and feeders are busier in January as birds look for reliable sources of food in snow and cold temperatures.

Snow has a way of inviting us to see anew as it opens new vistas, especially in the deep woods, which it seems to open up even as it decks them in white.

There's novelty in snow that falls overnight, squeaks underfoot in morning and yields to broom rather than shovel. In the glittering sunlight of early morning, the snow blossoms sparkled down from trees in puffs of breeze until it almost seemed to be snowing from a sky of brilliant blue.

The calendar points to the moment of Tuesday midnight, to the tolling of the Island bells, to that time in our lives when old becomes new and we wonder what lies ahead.

The year began with an emergency birth, as six-pound, 15-ounce Solstice Hannagan came into the world just short of the Tisbury drawbridge - the first Vineyard baby of 2019.

Winter avian residents arrive and the occasional rare birds move through the Island in December, as winter begins.

The moods of the Christmas season are many and wondrous. They speak of joy and of hope, of laughter and of love, of warmth and of peace on earth, good will to all people.