Summer's End

Labor Day....

The moment to hang on to the last joys of summer

and remember walking in the woods of Long Island

and the delights of diner food on the day of a flash flood.

Summer flowers from our son's garden.

The home to the city and thinking of next year's flowers. (A very old plate from Morocco with a beautiful glaze.)

And walking in Central Park where there were a large number of rats in The Ramble. Pied Piper needed soonest.

Some progress in my latest project - a tapestry from a photo of folk art  from a chicken seller.

And Union Square has cheerful flowers

sweet mini plums

and both yellow and white peaches.

HAPPY LABOR DAY

The Giant Puddle at the Beach

The Last Day of August. Sob. Where has this all-too-short summer gone? (Though September  beach days can be extra sweet).

Robert Moses, our favorite beach, had pretty wild surf last week, so it's fortunate that there is a super-giant puddle for the small fry to play in.

In Henry's case, leap in

and lie there luxuriating in the tepid water

a very happy starfish indeed.

There are shells in the puddle too.

and castles to build.

Ice cream is used as a bribe to encourage young people to leave the delights of the sea shore. It gets very melty and drippy.

All too soon the sundresses will be put away for the winter.

Beach 2/Robert Moses

Those of you who read this blog pretty often will recall many happy days at Field 3 of Robert Moses State Park. So this post is just one in a series taken through several years.

However, Hurricane Sandy really caused some fairly significant changes. For one thing, the pitch or angle of the beach is altered.

The dunes on the west end of Field 3 look rather battered.

The beach is now somewhat flatter which is lovely.

Instead of the sand being all pure beige or 'sandy', there are now some washes of darker sand which seems lighter - and floats to the surface. How clear the water is!  The posh word is pellucid.

One thing Sandy did was wash away one lot of sand and replace it with another. (Well, the Corps of Engineers helped). People who have those little wands to look for metal treasures are miserable... 

but shell-collecters are thrilled.

How sheeny and shiny the wet shells are - and how dull they get sitting in a jar or on a shelf at home. 

The birds were out in force...

doing bird things like taking off and landing.

The people were there walking

or just hanging about in the waves.

My shadow was there looking like some odd Edwardian traveller.

Lori's beach bag from Morocco was there too.

Porches

One of the things I miss in the city are porches.

They are standard pieces of equipment in older towns and villages on Long Island.  An indoor/outdoor extra room to decorate, play on, hang out on. The meeting place of the public and the private.

And I miss black walnut trees. So very messy and ugly and charming.

A porch is a useful place to suspend ghosts from.

photo courtesy of Robert Schmid

And speaking of spooky, the green slime on the pond in Heckscher Park is pretty special.

Irene Aftermath/ Long Island

All state parks are closed so instead of going to the beach

 we went to visit a friend in Huntington

where lots of families are still without power, so the bagel shop was extra popular.

A big tree had fallen in Heckscher Park  -- one of a huge number of trees all over the place.

The guys sawing it up were pretty keen to have their photo taken.

On the village green the usual gaggle of Canada geese

wandering near toppled trees and fallen branches.

We passed by the little old house where our children grew up

and pondered the maple soaring above it.

ps Doesn't Irene Aftermath sound like a novelist who specializes in romance?

The May Delights of a Long Island Garden

I used to live on Long Island, and go back there often to visit friends.....and their gardens.

I frequently write about The Jarvis house my friend Lori's place. I always wander about imagining what I could swipe if I still had a garden and lived near by.

Yesterday, I just took pictures.....of the hydrangea

 a dandilion, that bane of people who think lawns have to be perfect.
To my mind, a few dandilions  are infinitely preferable to tons of chemicals.

Ah! Apple blossom

and a slightly past it hyacinth amidst the wild geranium.

Apple petals in the hosta

and the azeleas in the almost woodland.

May is arguably the prettiest month of all on the Island.

ps: For the most amazing photos of the Easter bonnets in New York, go to my friend Susanna Gordon's blog here. To my mind she's the best photographer in Blogland.