It is a jump-and-shout scavenger hunt. Turn left and find a canvas dog tote, turn right and snap up the wooden Bavarian candle chime, search the bin on the bottom shelf and discover an ice cream scoop with a pink pig-shaped handle.

The bouquets are gone from the rickety shelves and wicker chairs at the end of long driveways. Farm stand signs have been taken down. Clusters of people with name tag necklaces are no longer browsing the shops.

A bell sounds for the first of five short 20-minute lunch periods at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. It’s 10:45 a.m., two faculty monitors stand by the doors, and here they come, approximately 114 teens from all grade levels looking carefully planned casual in baggy layers, sweatshirts, sandals, sneakers, clogs.

And it all happens in slow motion.

It’s still where’s-my-coffee early and all is quiet at Howes House in West Tisbury. In 15 minutes though, the Council on Aging’s long-running Tuesday morning discussion group will convene.

For those who have visited parents after they retired to a condo in South Florida and sat around the pool listening to a group of seniors review the ailments of people no one knew firsthand or update the comings and goings of multiple grandchildren, expectations might not be high at the prospect of an informal discussion group for seniors.

Ray Ellis of Edgartown died at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital on Oct. 4 of complications from a stroke. He was 92. A nationally recognized artist whose paintings are in the permanent collection at The White House and museums around the country, Mr. Ellis sought out beauty in everything. He was an unwavering optimist and a romantic who imagined the best possible reality and then stepped inside and lived it. Born in Philadelphia on April 24, 1921, Raymond George Ellis grew up on Lismore Avenue in Glenside, Pa.

The day was all balmy breeze and blue-sky perfect, and Flat Point Farm and Tisbury Great Pond looked like a canvas painted by Ray Ellis. Island native Ryan Begley, son of Kevin and Patty and brother of Keegan, was about to marry longtime seasonal resident Adriana Stimola, daughter of Michael and Rosemary and sister of Aubrey Stimola Ryan. And as natural as wedding rings and heartfelt declarations, the Vineyard spirit infiltrated the ceremony.

Officiate Dr. Bette Kerr (a longtime friend and associate of the Stimolas from New York) welcomed everyone.