Sunset: the sky is on fire

It was a run-and-get-the-camera-quick-before-it-disappears-forever kind of sunset.

The snow has all been washed away by yesterday's rain: mild day today, but winter is on its way back.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Bella wishes every one of you a Very Merry Christmas... from the comfort of her new bed!

May your days be full of health and happiness, fun and family. May the New Year bring you good things!

Cold and sunny morning

This is what I call "ice blue".

Winter sunset, Mastic Beach

Sun setting on December 22nd, 2009, snow still piled high from the blizzard.

Little Red Riding Hood/Wolf

It keeps her warm in the snow and ice. Custom-made by WarmWags.

The swans are breaking the thin layer of ice on the creek

Sunrise: beautiful, as always

Winter sunset

Snow. Free. Come and get it.

Cold and white and beautiful.

Snowshoes needed. Where are my tennis rackets?

Oooops!

Not the first to go in there and probably not the last... but maybe the coldest and nastiest day to do it with the longest wait to get out again. I think the driver and his mate were sitting and waiting in the truck for about three hours before the yellow bulldozer came to rescue them.

Everyone.. if you cut the corner at the south end of Park Drive, the ditch gets you. OK?

Mastic Beach: we live in a beautiful place

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Ever wonder where a Great Dane will sleep during the day, given the choice?

... on the leopard chaise longue, of course!

Getaway cottage in the heart of it all! All for 159K$!!!

This cute cottage is ready for you to move into--you don't need to do a thing! Located minutes from Long Island's beautiful ocean beaches, and by road too: no need to wait for ferries or water taxis, just take the car and within minutes you can be at Cupsogue or Smith Point beaches.

With easy access to both Sunrise Highway and the Long Island Expressway, you will be able to head east to Montauk or the Hamptons, or west to Manhattan and the international airports, with ease. But you'll want to head for main street, Center Moriches, to explore the cute shops and dine at the variety of restaurants. Take a look at some of the local businesses. Walk through the shark's jaws for fish and chips!

The cottage's kitchen is newly refurbished, and ready for you to prepare your weekend meals.

Beautiful hardwood floors in the living room shine like the summer sun that you will enjoy in Center Moriches. What better than relaxing here after a day on the beach or boat, or hiking in the Fire Island Wilderness?

And to top it all, you'll have a lot of property to enjoy! Imagine the barbeques and fun to be had here in your own fenced property! Plenty of room for expansion!

NOTE: This is a short sale and price is subject to bank approval. MLS #2240896

Alison Toon, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson, Century 21 Sparrow Realty

Results of "Christmas shopping" trip

I did intend to go Christmas shopping, honestly. Struggled through traffic jams on Sunday. Ended up going to Medford and taking a quick detour to Wood Kingdom to check out their sheds... and this one was just sitting there, waiting for me! It is the exact colour that I plan to paint the ground floor of the house. And it was the right size, the right price, and they could deliver it this week.

Sorry kids, I spent the Christmas money on the shed. (Kidding... I maxed out the credit card instead.)

It arrived early this morning on a trailer behind a large pickup truck.

Neighbours: at some point in the spring the house colours will match the shed. Sorry if they clash for a while. And the back of the shed will look nice very soon!

Who'd have thought a simple garden shed could make someone so happy. Now I'll have to find something else to rant about.

Sunshine after the storm

Huge rainstorm this early-morning and morning: snow fell in New Jersey, but here on Long Island it was just rain, and lots of it, hurtling parallel to the ground. (If it snowed, it did so when it was dark--though the noise woke me before 4 a.m. I really didn't want to look outside).

Now we have some afternoon sun... reflecting on the tidal water that is now covering the wetlands and parts of the street. Bella had a short paddle instead of a long walk.

Silver sunrise

Another beautiful sunrise. The swans were silver, reflected on a mirror-bay.

If you still think mute swans are silent, come and hear them chattering early in the morning as they breakfast in the shallows.

A few days ago

... it was calm and sunny and just-like-this. It is not like this right now!

Muffin is a basket case

She is telling us winter is here--it's the only time she sleeps in her basket. And yes Jade, she DOES fit!

Park Drive gingerbread

Over the past year, several of the houses on Park Drive have become homes to young people who seem to be spending all of their weekends and evenings making their homes nicer places to be, carpentry and yardwork and everything else. And now as winter draws in, Park Drive is lit up with pretty lights as old and new homeowners add their decorations.

It is like a street of gingerbread houses!

And it goes to show that everyone doing their bit in their own small corner makes a huge difference to the community.

Now I must go out and find some new lights for the front yard... and replace the polar bear who lost his head last winter!

Sunrise House

I have decided to give my house a name.

It is now "Sunrise House", because no matter what the season, no matter the weather, the sunrise is always amazing. From the first hint of light through the silver and turquoise and orange and pink to the burning orb reflected on the water.

Just beautiful.

Mastic Beach Christmas Tree and Menorah lighting!

Sponsored by the MBPOA (Mastic Beach Property Owner's Association): the Christmas Tree will be lit on December 5th at 5 p.m, at the Gazebo on Neighborhood Road. Santa will be there! Bring the children!

Sunday morning, very early

Been awake since silly o'clock; possibly the flights (though I don't believe in jet lag), possibly the (too-many) diet Pepsis drunk in an attempt to quench a raging thirst (bet that came from the plane). Sky turning from dark star-studded to peach. The bay is turquoise. It is going to be a beautiful day.

Busy days

Looking outside, I think it is late March rather than mid-November. The sky is blue, the birds are singing happily, and all signs of last week's nor'easter have faded (about 48 hours of non-stop high winds, very high tides, and some rain led to huge puddles and floating garbage cans, but it's all back-to-normal now).

Plants are confused. The bulbs I planted deep in the window boxes are already showing green, as are those in the big containers. Baby crocosmia have sprouted from this year's seeds already. New green grass is growing at the roadside. It's all in for a nasty shock... but we're enjoying the mild autumn while we can.

Yesterday evening, we witnessed a beautiful, wow! sunset over the mirror-calm bay. Smith Point was hidden by a bank of mist, and it was as if the water went on forever.

New bird?

Saw a "new" bird yesterday, perched on one of the pilings at the marina. In sillhouette, he looked like a giant kingfisher, or an Australian kookaburra.

Maybe a Belted Kingfisher?

Laundry and mud

Slowly but surely, the laundry room/mud room is coming along. The washer and dryer will be behind bifold doors, with room for shelves on the right. As the ceiling is so high, it allows for a large storage cabinet above, behind sliding doors.

Then the door into the garage has to be finished. Then I have to paint everything and work out what to do with the floor (maybe garage floor epoxy with bits in when I get the garage-turned-workshop finished?)

Is a house ever finished, or is it like painting the Forth Bridge?

And today's entry in the best sunrise ever competition is...

It was a stupendous sunrise. And it really does happen every day!

November the beautiful

A crisp-but-not-cold, clear, blue, beautiful November morning.

Bella decided I needed a workout. She did nothing but pull, pull, pull. We will fix this. Don't know what got into her... maybe the hour difference, and the later breakfast waiting at home?

Local election time... but how to make an informed decision?

When I became a citizen, and registered to vote, I had to declare an allegiance to one political party, there and then, that minute. I think you have to do this too if you move registration districts (rather than becoming a citizen). What this means is that in the run-up to the local elections that will be held tomorrow, I have received "information" from one, and only one, political party.

That seems totally whacko to me.

Where is the persuasion? Where is the information? Where is the data that will allow me to make an informed decision?

I would have expected to receive information from Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Greens, Monster Raving Loonies, etc. etc. etc. I would have expected to see information and data, not backbiting and insults. I would have expected candidates from all parties to come knocking on doors and introducing themselves, or their party workers to come round and give out info, especially as a newly-registered voter may need help in making up their mind.

But no. No-one and nothing but the party I signed up for. And one lonely candidate shaking hands outside a supermarket.

And this is democracy? How can people be democratic, if they don't have the information to make an informed decision?

Beautiful autumn day

Leaves are golden and falling in a warm breeze. Sun shone most of the day, only now, near five in the afternoon, fading to grey. Children came to gather candy and chocolate from my doorstep, and stayed to chat and see the bulbs that, confused, are already pushing their thin green noses through the soil. I'd better find some mulch to protect them.

I saw a pink gorilla on Neighborhood road.

October 24th mini road trip!

Lunch at Tony's in Moriches, then through Westhampton Beach to Cupsogue Beach, wild waves, warm salty air, one guy fishing amidst a cloud of seagulls.

Open Houses on Dune Road. They are beautiful; the water views lovely; but are they really worth five or six times a similar-quality home just a few miles away?

Leaves turning, falling... time again

Today is beautifully orange, red, yellow, gold... a lot of green still, but overnight it seems so many of the trees have changed clothes, and some already gone naked.

Shades of sunrise

Every day is different. Don't tell me that this colour and that colour don't "go" together: they do in nature, any which-way you like.

(Doesn't mean I'll be painting the kitchen pink and purple any time soon though!)

I thought Thursdays were for funerals

But today is Wednesday. And today says a formal goodbye to two more good people: my auntie Muriel, and my son's stepmother Fiona.

Auntie Muriel was my dad's older sister (he was the youngest of eleven children). She was born in May, 1909, second child to Fred and Sarah Elizabeth (nee riley) Toon of Syston, Leicestershire. Like her older sister Marjorie, she was one of the women pioneers in the world of business, supporting one of the most recognised businessmen in the city of Leicester. She waited for the man she loved, Uncle Rex, our "magic man", and they were married when I was still a child (a teenager?) Auntie Muriel took me to the opera--I didn't enjoy the show much, couldn't understand what was going on, but I loved going with her. She and Auntie Marjorie would feed me one evening a week, after school and before orchestra practise, and I so much enjoyed being in the Toon family house on the Green in Syston, with its servants staircase to Aunty Dora's bedroom, Kim the dog in his fiercely-guarded corner bed, and grandad's strops for sharpening cut-throat razors hanging from the kitchen mantle.

Last time I saw Auntie Muriel, she was physically frail, but still with a robust song and the Toon sense of humour where you have to blink and think, "did she really just say that?"... or maybe it is just that magic moment when someone who has always been there for you transforms before your eyes from "Aunt" or "Uncle" or "Doctor" or "Teacher" into the real live human being with a thousand dimensions that you have been blinded to through being years younger.

I will miss you Auntie Muriel. Thank you for being part of my life. Please give a kiss to my dad, I still miss him and always will.

The second funeral today is a memorial for Fiona Popowicz, my son's stepmother, who fought a brave battle and who is now gone from this world, far too soon. She was an artist, she was spiritual, and she cared very much for Dylan.

I am sorry I did not know her better.

Mirek, Dylan, I am thinking of you and all of the family. I know you have been through a lot. Just remember the love... it is what matters.

And I always thought Thursdays were for funerals...

And then it was gone

Monday. Sun is shining, air is crisp, sky a beautifully-calm blue. The bay is still and reflecting the sky. Not a ripple except for when a cormorant dives. The water is back where it belongs, apart from one or two roadside puddles.

It's like nature has put her innocent face on, and is saying, "What? Me? No, I didn't do that, it wasn't me!"

High tides, high seas

Saturday: high water, no rain

Saturday

Sunday: wind from the north-east, driving rain, water still rising. People drive to the end of my street, see the water, then turn back. You can't see how deep the water is on the street.

A wetlands garden... the japanese lilies are loving this.