Mom and Dad:

It has been a long time since I swam over to the Island, leaving you guys in the past. I meant to write to you sooner, but I’m a deer, so it’s been tough for me to find the time or the means to get a message to you. I met a Canada goose last fall who promised to pass along this message in his travels, but I never saw him again and am not sure he ever found you. I hope you are all right. I know food was getting scarce on the mainland and those coyotes were making themselves very comfortable in your parts. I hope you have remained strong and healthy.

There is always something interesting in the natural world, especially in the garden if you are paying attention. Last weekend was so beautiful I spent quite a bit of time in the vegetable garden. What started as a day to put things in order for the coming winter turned out to be simply a day of continuing maintenance.

By the time this is printed, we will be at the beginning of turkey leftovers. I do not mind leftovers, in fact, I’m down right fond of them. The only problem is I’m not crazy about them for many days in a row. It has long been my habit to make too much food. I guess it is from years of cooking for hungry children and teenagers.

When pulling carrots out of the ground these days, I am overwhelmed by their smell. I grab as many green tops as I can and yank them out of the ground, revealing many brilliant, orange magic-marker sized carrots caked with dark brown soil. The handling of the tops gives me the first tease of freshness, while the disturbance of the roots once out of the ground lures me in further, making a clean and muddy combination of aromas. Carrots pulled late in the season are masculine and tender.

I must say the past week’s northeaster was pretty darned remarkable. There were a few gusts that made me fear for life and limb. I made the mistake of going out at one point. It’s astonishing that my car door is still attached.

Sadly, my vegetable garden experienced its first frost of the season right before the big blow.

I lost a beautiful row of late-planted green beans. They were bug-free and blooming like crazy. I managed to eat several tiny beans while admiring them the day before.

I spent an extraordinary amount of time watching television this past week. The footage from the hurricane aftermath was so amazing and scary. I don’t think any photograph could do it justice. We certainly dodged a bullet here on the Vineyard. Violet and I went to Lucy Vincent Beach on Tuesday morning. We got a small picture of the ocean’s power. The beach was barely recognizable.