Vacation tide has long rolled out. Tourists have evaporated into thin air and been replaced with thin ice.
Welcome to the trenches.
Vineyard winter’s repetitive theme is one of enduring, plowing through, and concentrating on the Illumination Night at the end of the tunnel. It doesn’t have to be a slog, though. Sure, you could be the Detroit Lions and simply “get through” it. Or you could be the New England Patriots and steamroll the heck out of this season.
Below is a list of Island situations historically viewed as hardships, and how to easily spin them to be the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of Winter on Martha’s Vineyard.
Ice: Ice is dangerous. But so is fire, and ice is far easier to control, shape, and share with your peers. That’s right, winter is the ideal opportunity to pick up ice sculpting. Express yourself in a sub-thirty-two-degree kind of way and live in the (frozen) moment, then wax philosophical when spring comes and melts your entire body of work into Oak Bluffs harbor.
Dead Landscape: It doesn’t matter how beautiful the Chilmark property; don’t trust what anyone says about his or her love of gardening. Watering plants is the worst. Many plants need daily care, requiring a huge time commitment. Conversely, basking in the winter reality that everything is too dead to be watered is never a chore. Take a moment each day to actively not water your plants. You’ll feel rejuvenated every time.
Restaurant Closures: Favorite eateries might be shuttered until May, but this makes them more accessible – as long as you’re flexible with “al fresco freddo style” dining. Bundle up, fill a picnic basket, invite as many friends as you want, and boast to everyone about how
you showed up to l’etoile with a HUGE party, NO reservation, and waited ZERO minutes to eat!
Tourist T-Shirt Drought: Finding a commemorative Martha’s Vineyard T-shirt in the warm months is as easy as hailing a cab in Manhattan, but this search becomes close to impossible in the winter. That makes it the perfect scavenger hunt. Form a league and see who can unearth the most shirts. If you collect enough of them, you won’t just get bragging rights, you’ll also be able to start your own T-shirt thrift shop kiosk next summer!
Solitude: Massive crowds and boisterous beach parties are entertaining, but they’re also distracting. It’s hard to work on yourself when you’re preoccupied with complex scientific processes like Ag Fair Small Talk and Norton Point Sunscreen Reapplication. Many times during the winter, the only one available to talk to you is you. This kind of solitude is the perfect environment to take up healing activities like meditation. Even better, it’ll be a breeze to concentrate on your breathing, because this is a cold solitude, so you’ll be able to see all that breathing.
