I’m back. I finally moved to Martha’s Vineyard . . . forever. Hooray! I’ve been asked why, as “a woman of a certain age,” I chose to sell, trash, or giveaway most of my possessions and move to the island. I think this photo says it all.

Okay, I know. It’s Charlie Brown. Anyone who’s on Facebook is no doubt sick to death of seeing kids and adults and cats and dogs in Halloween costumes, so, for this, I am sorry. But this Charlie isn’t like others you might have seen knocking at your door with a plastic bucket thrust out in search of Kit Kats. This Charlie Brown speaks to why I decided to make the Vineyard my new home.

As part of an annual fundraiser for Martha’s Vineyard Charter School, scarecrows have popped up all around the island. Not just ordinary scarecrows: they are recreations of favorite characters from children’s literature. (Literature! Books! Love it!!!) Charlie showed up on Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Another of my favorites is Jack and the Beanstalk, the 8-foot recreation that stands down by the Chappaquiddick Ferry. Harry Potter is, of course, popular, and I love a wonderful replica from Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree.

What a great place to live, where creativity is as fluid as the tides, and where inspiration appears on every street corner for young and old alike . . . and for folks “of a certain age,” which I like to think of as somewhere “in between.”

Stay tuned for my island adventures!