Whit Manter and Tim Spahr drove beneath a full moon in the very early hours of Saturday morning, heading for the State Forest. It was 3 a.m. when they arrived at their destination. As soon as they stepped out of the car, they heard an unmistakable sound. Hoo. Hoo hoo hoo.

If you want to know how the year in weather was on the Vineyard, ask the farmers, who had plenty of warm sunshine during the day and just enough rain at night for their crops. Ask the swimmers, who were in their element in the warm ocean water all summer. Ask Island children, whose sleds stayed high and dry for most of the winter.

Aquinnah voters will decide in February whether the town should begin steps to take ownership of the historic Gay Head Light.

The town selectmen said at a meeting last week they would schedule a special town meeting for the first week of February.

“We should have permission from the town to spend time on this, particularly if it comes down to acquiring it,” selectman Jim Newman said.

When the stars come out on New Year’s Eve, you can expect the gibbous moon to rise in the east at 8 p.m.

I seem to go round and round on this. My conundrum, like its source, is never-ending. I love wreaths. Certainly they are very natural, very creative, and very beautiful. However, for me, the wreaths we see decorating homes and businesses have an interest apart from any religious significance that might be attached to them. The tradition of wreaths predates Christianity. Their precursor came in ancient times. A head decoration, called a diadem, was worn to indicate royalty or importance.

The Vineyard birders will be up at O’dark-hundred tomorrow for the annual Christmas Bird Count. Sunrise will be at 7:08 a.m. and we have to have eaten breakfast, organized our optics, bins (binoculars) and scope (spotting scope on tripod), made lunch to include all the Christmas cookies so we won’t eat them later, fill plenty of water bottles, and drive to the first location where we are going to count birds.