U.S. Navy Cmdr. Joseph B. (Joe) Hornbuckle 3rd is feeling deeply thankful this week. Mr. Hornbuckle, 38, who earlier this year returned from spending six months in Southern Afghanistan, shared his stories of travel with Chilmark schoolchildren on Tuesday. It was also a time for him to say hello and thanks to all his Island friends.

Approximately 12 times a year, the Vineyard is treated to the glory of a full moon dominating the night sky, spilling its light across farm fields, ponds and ocean when the weather is clear. Nov. 13 was the full moon for November, tagged the Beaver Moon by the Old Farmer’s Almanac, that trusty yellow handbook now in its 217th year.

I like the Old Farmer’s Almanac and continue to hold it in high esteem. But the naming of the full moons got me thinking recently, about our beautiful night sky on the Island, inky and unspoiled by light pollution.

The scene of justice for now 150 years — where Island chicanery, plunder and families torn asunder are presented equally before law — the Edgartown courthouse commands a certain grandeur.

So when Dukes County superior court begins its 150th year there, Sheriff Michael McCormack, like the 21 county sheriffs before him, will open the session wearing a tuxedo with tails.

Don’t be fooled by the lush, new green grass at Veterans Park in Vineyard Haven. The park, the first place football was played on Martha’s Vineyard, is off-limits for football this season. It will be off-limits for soccer and softball games in the spring, too, and still for teams next summer. It’s “Keep off the grass” until next September.

The Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust announced this week that it will buy and preserve the Norton property on the Edgartown harbor that includes the Osborn building, the oldest structure on the Edgartown waterfront.

The trust will buy the Dock street property owned by the Norton family which includes two buildings and a dock adjacent to Memorial Wharf. The boathouse was built after the 1944 hurricane. The Osborn building is much older and dates to the 1830s.

The Vineyard football team may be on the field for two and a half hours of game time tomorrow, but it takes days, weeks and a year of effort by another team to get them there. The Martha’s Vineyard Touchdown Club, a nonprofit organization, works to get those players onto the field for each of the 10 or more games they play each season. At least 100 students benefit directly from the club, including 72 football players and 28 cheerleaders.