If You've Filled It, They Will Come

...the wee, greedy sparrows, that is...and they will bicker and spat like the Three Stooges with wings. They'll be so busy tussling, in fact, they won't even notice they're being recorded.

A New Leaf

Oh, look at that; I've been away so long Blogger has gone and changed the dashboard on me. Well, let's see if we can't get this party (re)started. The pond lily above posed for me at Longhouse Preserve on a recent Saturday roadtrip I took with my brother. We visited the South End Cemetery in East Hampton, where the caretaker powered down his weedwhacker long enough to talk about some of the interments and gossip a little about former locals like Lee Krasner, for whom he provided landscaping services. We also hit a couple of tag sales and stopped at the Big Duck, in addition to strolling Longhouse, which combines gardens with outdoor sculpture. Then we headed back and to the north, broke the fast with the Bode clan, and finally headed home. Stella Luna put on two hundred and twenty-five miles! (She's usually a homebody, but she loves to get out and kick up her hubcaps sometimes.)  

Something Old, Something New Year

It's nice to start the year with something new, which is what we got at Fire Island yesterday: icebergs! Icebergs floating past us as we walked along the beach below the lighthouse. Much smaller than the ones in Juneau, but much closer to home.

Here's a photo of Ken in front of the icebergs. For scale, of course.



The sun was out on the causeway, and so was the welcome wagon:




It was otherwise quiet along the shore, and barren but for some seagull's lunch wrapper:


We did see this fine example of the elusive "Moe Howard" variety of seaweed:



and the eversharp eye of Ken spotted this squee-ishly small starfish. Just look at it next to my monstrously large forefinger:


Anyway, Happy New Year. Hope everyone's year really "goes to eleven." In a good way.

Dig Out Your Snow Boots...

...then proceed to dig out everything else, because that right there is Fort Fiona, and the little kitter inside needs water and food and, after last night's howling winds, probably a lot of reassurance.

I will need boots. And perhaps, a plow.

I don't think there's a newspaper on that driveway, anyway, so let's not even consider shoveling that.

Almost there, honey. It'll just be another, um, half-hour or so.


I asked if she'd be going out today; she couldn't shake her head "no" fast enough. Okay, hon, I'll crack the ice on your water dish and warm up some Fancy Feast...you go on back to sleep...

70

This Dog Won't Hunt

He won't come when you call, either, but isn't he delightful? Sniffin' the breeze.
We were out near the beach today to look at my brother's new place. Leaving, we drove down a particular street to see a house under construction, and wound up going in the wrong direction. Serendipitously, the wrong turn revealed an ice cream place that had just been recommended to us, so we stopped and got a couple of cones and walked around the neighborhoood, where we stumbled upon this handsome guy.

Big Weekend

Weather by Disney: sunny and warm, clear blue skies all weekend. Saturday took us out to Montauk to celebrate the Marks patriarch's 80th birthday: huzzah! Lots of wonderful people, lots of good stories. A few of the grandsons dashed off a tune to mark the occasion. Click and watch!

Sunday morning, the vibe continued with more picture-perfect weather, so I took my bike out to the park. Leaving my house with the bike is quite a production, as I have to prop open the storm door, open the inside door, wrestle the bike down the five steps without it getting away from me, kickstand it, go back and lock the inside door, unprop and close the storm door, adjust my helmet, and get on the dang bike. It's a spectacle, I tell ya. So Sunday morning as I completed this routine, a neighbor walking by with his dog stopped to compliment me on the front yard, which is not-a-lawn. He introduced himself as Doug, and said that someday soon -"not today, and not tomorrow, but someday soon"- he'd like to come by and hear how I put it together. I thought that was very nice. A nice neighbor, and he likes my garden! Although I thought it was strange that he didn't introduce his dog. Or is it strange that I would expect him to introduce his dog?


Later in the day, we gathered at the Newmans' for Mike's 18th birthday. Sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln, where did the time go?


Only the tiki guitar god knows.