Thanks to the years-long work of the Massachusetts Estuaries Study, a clear picture has begun to emerge of the biological profile of the Vineyard’s saltwater ponds and embayments. And the picture is far from pretty: left unchecked, nitrogen overload threatens to upset and eventually ruin the fragile ecosystems in many Island ponds.

Estuaries study reports are now complete for Sengekontacket Pond, Edgartown Great Pond, Farm Pond and Lagoon Pond; others remain ongoing.

The sun began setting at 4:11 p.m. on Dec. 2 and will continue to say good night, locked down at this same time, until next Friday. On Saturday, Dec. 15, bedtime for daylight nudges forward to 4:12 p.m. Not a major shift, and yet for many a reason to celebrate. The days are getting longer, even before the winter solstice arrives. It is as if the Vineyard hungered for light so deeply it couldn’t wait until the official day. In truth, it is latitudinal characteristics that tell the tale rather than desire setting the agenda.

As a sparkling, almost balmy Thanksgiving weekend drew to a close, cold air moved in to chill the bones, a reminder that winter is indeed on the way. Daylight comes to an abrupt end by late afternoon now, and the edges of the sky are brushed with the colors of twilight: pale gray, lavender, translucent white. The ocean, too, has lost its summer hue and taken on shades of deep winter gray.

On a cold, gray November morning the warm sounds of Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt and John Hiatt pour out the of radio at 92.7 on the FM dial, punctuated by a report on the Steamship Authority (calm seas, boats are on time) and the morning movie quote. Periodically the sound of jingle bells comes on and the deejay stops to announce another winner whose name will be added to the raffle of a giant stocking filled with merchandise and gift certificates, set to take place just before Christmas.

What is Island character anyway? It’s not something easily defined, or even consistent from one place on the Vineyard to another. Yet it is exactly what the voters of Dukes County and the Massachusetts legislature sought to protect nearly forty years ago when they created the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and charged it with finding a way to preserve the Vineyard’s “unique natural, historical, ecological, scientific and cultural values” while promoting “the enhancement of sound local economies.”

Just when a nasty election campaign threatens to fracture us all into percentage points, a good northeaster blows in to remind us of what binds us together. When the second storm battered the Northeast last week, neighbors and strangers responded as they often do with acts of heroism and kindness, large and small. Though the Island was spared the worst of the storm’s anger, there was plenty of cleanup to be done.