Next Saturday is the day many of you have been waiting for.

Last Sunday evening hunters cleaned their shotguns, laid out their boots, set their early morning alarms and slept with visions of 10-point bucks dancing in their heads.

Whether you celebrate Winter Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or another holiday, Thanksgiving sets the tone for giving to and caring about others.

I can smell the pies baking — warm cinnamon and apples, pumpkin with a little nutmeg and gooey pecan ready to be topped with a little vanilla ice cream.

Paul MacDonald and his crew of Johnny Osmers and Tim Sauer on the Shearwater returned to the dock with a 109-inch giant bluefin tuna.

KATIE CARROLL

508-627-1786

(squidrow@vineyard.net)

Halloween is an evening for our towns’ children to gather for food, sweets and a parade of costumes.

This past weekend wrapped up the 73rd annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass & Bluefish Derby.

This past weekend, we were surrounded by bare feet, salty hair, buckets of bait fish, convertibles with their tops down and children with ice cream.

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”