The idea of creating a regional police department surfaces from time to time on the Vineyard, most recently in Tisbury and Oak Bluffs, where last y

Thimble Farm has been rescued once again from possible sale into private hands. And a collective sigh of relief went around the Vineyard farming and conservation community this week at the news that thirty-seven acres of friable farmland in the center of the Island will remain in active food production, hopefully this time forever.

It began in June of 1929. That was when the publishers of the Vineyard Gazette made the announcement that the newspaper would begin publishing twice a week.

Twice a Week for Summer

They're cascading over fences, shedding their petals along the edges of sidewalks along downtown streets and villages like so much fragrant, lush confetti. They come in all colors — shell pink, lemon yellow, deep scarlet, creamy white.

Like a teenager who seems to grow a foot overnight, change has a way of coming slowly, then presenting itself all at once.

West Tisbury, the town that has been the symbol of the Vineyard’s agricultural heritage for hundreds of years, has been absorbing population steadily since the 1970s, but seems suddenly to have lost some of its rural character.

West Tisbury at a Crossroad

Like a teenager who seems to grow a foot overnight, change has a way of coming slowly, then presenting itself all at once.

West Tisbury, the town that has been the symbol of the Vineyard’s agricultural heritage for hundreds of years, has been absorbing population steadily since the 1970s, but seems suddenly to have lost some of its rural character.

It often begins with tears, the dropping off of a young child at preschool. In the classroom it is the little boy or girl whose tears flow. Later, in the car, it is mom or even dad who cries, the strongest of souls moved to mush at this new beginning. The end, high school graduation, is so far away at that moment as to seem impossible. But as every parent knows, it all goes by so fast.