Mastic Beach has a baker's shop!

Lots and lots of fresh bread, in real loaf shapes.

The shop is right next to Paradise (ice cream) on Neighborhood Road. I hope it does really well!

I can't eat bread because I have to eat a gluten-free diet. That does not stop me wishing for a fresh baguette, or a hunk of English cottage loaf with lots of farmhouse cheddar and a little real butter... or Italian bread dipped into olive oil... or middle-eastern bread with that salty, sage and sesame powder whose name escapes me... zatar, that's it, you can buy it on the streets of Old Jerusalem, by King David's Gate; fresh bread and a twist of zatar to dip it in.

One day I will find a gluten-free bread that tastes just like that. One day. Maybe..

Peaceful picnic

This is the picnic area at the mouth of the marina. Beautiful day today for a lunchtime dog-walk; temperatures above freezing, sun shining, everything calm.

Just a few kids "playfully" tapping the buckets in the marina... with a baseball bat.

Mastic Beach real estate--waterview and waterfront gems

Can't believe the houses that are standing empty, waiting for someone to love them... and to live in this beautiful place.

Go to realtor.com and search on zip code 11951. Sort them from low to high, and you'll see what I mean.

It did it again

A new visitor: a thrush?

He is large--as big as, if not bigger than, a blue-jay. He looks like an English mistle thrush, but they don't live here. He really enjoyed the stale bagel! His eyes were yellow, his tail long, and his beak long and curved slightly down.

This is the first time I have seen this bird.

Another day, another sunrise

The sunrise over the Great South Bay are magnificent at this time of year. Unbelieveably beautiful.

And from the outside!

Now doesn't that look better? And it is insulated, and the rotten frame has been replaced, and it shuts properly too!

Some touch-up painting needed but I have to wait for a dry day where the temperature is above freezing for a few hours for that!

Front door: the first view

From inside... the first glimpse. A real front door, at last!

Landing zone

Winter wonderland part II

I am so enjoying the cold... call me weird.

Winter wonderland

Though not so cold overnight, the morning dawned rimed with frost and snow... a winter wonderland; sun rising misty into turquoise, a mist over open grass, the dried hibiscus masquerading as pussy-willow, every branch and twig outlined in pure white.

A solitary, small-deer track down the driveway. The truck doors were gently frozen shut.

Seen at the No. 1 beach

Ice Age

Amazing, natural ice sculptures. Most of the bay is covered with a layer; some smooth, some etched in lines, some erupting, some waving. A few clear patches; one where two swans embrace, another with wading seagulls.

Really cold, but in the sunshine the temperature doesn't matter. But we're not dressed for a fashion show today!

If the sunflower seed is buried in snow, get digging!

He has been working for his dinner today.

We all need extra insulation today

Before going out for dinner: inflate your feathers! It is very cold out there today!

Winter road trip

Had a nice day yesterday with Dylan.

The weather was cold, but beautifully-sunny. Started off visiting Osprey Park and then Mastic's Forge River marina. Then heading east through Moriches to Speonk (SPEONK, S-P-E-O-N-K, SPEONK as you'll hear on Long Island Railroad trains.... SPEONK!!!!, not a name you'll ever forget after being on the train). Then out through Westhampton Beach, across the first bridge, and back westwards to the very end of Dune Road and the beach house, where we were greeted couple of squirrels hungrily gnawing pine cones. Saw the dredging operation from the other side; two big, workmanlike boats plus something that looks like it escaped from War Of the Worlds; a large tripod-like structure which seems to be roaming along the coast.

A strange visual effect on the ocean; although the sea was flat and calm, the distance seemed covered in huge waves, with a wobbly horizon. Must have been a freaky optical illusion.

Then we drove east along Dune Road, past the huge ocean-facing mansions, wondering if anyone stays there through the winter (and why not? they are only a little more exposed than my house... but the risk is probably exponentially greater) . The only people around were working on houses; some new buildings, pillars of wood like beheaded trees ready to support the new structures. Many homes for sale; many signs for handymen.

And then back to the main-land across the long bridge that seems to curve into the sky near Hampton Bays.

Later we headed to Riverhead, and called in at the Polish deli on Pulaski Street, part of Riverhead's Polish Town. The shop has a wall hung with many kinds of kielbasa (Polish sausage), all fresh and traditionally-made in a variety of sizes and colours and lengths and levels of dryness, not plastically-packaged and sterilized in a supermarket. We bought a big pot of bigos for dinner, kotleti, a jar of sour cherries, and a bag of krowki. Bigos has to be one of my favourite dishes of all time... it has to be made at least a day in advance, and gets better over time. (I don't put mushrooms in mine though--may not be totally authentic, but everyone's bigos is slightly different.) It's a really warming meal for weather like this!

City in the snow

We went to the English shop Myers of Keswick, in the west village, to stock up on things like Golden Syrup, lapsang tea, HP sauce, and stilton cheese. They also sell pork pies, Cornish pasties, all sorts of English sausages, Walkers crisps, Ribena, Vimto, and just about any English food that an ex-patriate yearns for. Occasionally, if not every day.

(You can buy HP sauce at Stop'n'Shop, but recently they've only had the fruity version. They sell Aero too and Heinz Tomato Soup.)

Early Saturday morning

Already, the sun starts to rise earlier.

Yesterday the sunrise was beautiful. Everthing was totally silent--even the heating furnace had shut off for a while. Two blue herons hunched on either side of the creek, so patient, feathers fluffed against the bitter cold. I love seeing these guys when I wake up.

Just in case you haven't yet heard Alexandra

She was the recent winner of the UK's "X Factor", similar to American Idol but with contestants who can actually sing (sorry, couldn't resist).

Here's her single: Hallelujah

So... the raccoons are not the only guilty party

Crows will raid the garbage, too. This one was shredding a closed plastic garbage bag to get at the contents.

I have had the ledges where the raccoons bred last year closed up. We had one night with a lot of noise as they tried to get back in--they succeeded in pulling away the new cover from one of the four ledges--but since that was repaired, firmly, they have not tried again. While Rocky was very cute (search this blog for "Rocky" to see the story), I really do not want them living right below the floor...

Birds that are enjoying the failed banana-nut bread

Cardinals, male and female. Sparrows. A mocking bird... and about a million starlings.

Gluten-free in Mastic Beach

It's not so easy to find quality gluten-free foods around here. However, I have found a few sources and will share them with you in case you are searching.

- Stop-n-Shop in Shirley has a selection of gluten-free foods, including some really good granola and rice crispies. However, all their GF cookies contain chocolate (except for some really bland ginger cookies), and not everyone wants chocolate (I don't). The one GF bread mix they sell cooks up like cake. They have GF pretzels which taste like the real thing.

- King Kullen in Shirley on William Floyd Parkway has a decent selection of Red Mill GF mixes, including the multigrain bread mix which cooks up well and can even be used untoasted for sandwiches. Be aware that the GF bags are mixed in with the non-GF Red Mill products, make sure the bag you buy says Gluten Free! Also, what is on the shelf is all that is in stock until the next Red Mill delivery. (As a side note, King Kullen seems to be the only local supermarket that sells my favourite 0% fat Greek yogurt, Stop-n-Shop have replaced it with one that tastes gross. In my humble opinion.)

I am in search of the GF flour replacement that will allow me to bake cakes, pastry, and most importantly, Yorkshire Puddings. I had a total failure this weekend with a GF "baking mix" that I used to make Banana Nut Bread. It did a good impression of a volcano inside the oven, then deflated like a sad balloon but faster, and produced two big ziploc bags full of crumbs, which the birds are enjoying. Needless to say, while the experiment was interesting--particularly the lava effect--that particular "baking mix" has gone onto the Fail list.

Seal!

Here he is. Apologies for the photo quality; my zoom wouldn't zoom any further, and he's way way out in the middle of the bay. I could see this "thing" in the water from my window and had to go see what it was.

Anyone see this before? Is it a sign of a really cold winter to come, or just of a seal making use of easy transport? Does this happen every year in the Great South Bay?

Seal on an ice floe heading towards Smith Point Bridge!

Big, fat seal sitting on a block of ice and slowly drifting east-to-west in the Great South Bay. Just passed No. 1 Beach in Mastic Beach. Will post pictures in a few minutes but posting this in case you want to run and see it like I did!

Midnight lights--mystery solved

Strange, crane-like structures have recently appeared far over to the east of the house, across the water beyond the William Floyd Estate and shore... together with some very-bright lights at night. Was wondering what was going on... someone building a giant house? Midnight football under floodlights? Someone's over-zealous security system?

No... it's the work that's being done on Moriches Inlet. It is being dredged, and the sand is going to be used to restore and protect Smith Point and other local beaches.

Sunny Sunday in January... Smith Point

Amazing how much ice has built up, even though we have had some time above freezing, and lots of sunshine. Particularly amazing because the water is brackish and so shouldn't freeze as quickly as fresh water.

It freezes on the shore, and then the rising tide lifts it to float like mini icebergs in the Great South Bay.

Today I fell in love ... and now heartbroken

(UPDATE Monday 5th: I called the shelter, and he has been adopted and left for his new home this morning. Good to know he has found a new home!)

Jade wanted to go see the dogs at the animal shelter. Like a fool, I said yes, knowing that Fury is not keen on other dogs, that I don't really want two dogs, and that it's not a good idea to see all those wagging hopeful eyes that turn sad the second you pass them.

Half way through the tour, there he was.

A Great Dane/English Mastiff cross by the looks of him. Tall and strong and gentle-eyed. A stray, now up for adoption. (They said he was a stray, and I was worried that they would adopt out a dog before the real owners claimed him... but they have had a while to find him, and surely you'd miss a dog this size pretty quickly? How can someone just "lose" a dog the size of a small horse???)

We met him in a "meet and greet" room, just us and a handler and the big guy. He learned to sit after a few tries, and then he gave his paw, and then sat back on his haunches and gave his other paw too. When he stood next to you he leaned on you. He wanted to go outside. He walked on the lead but when he pulled, my arm nearly came loose.

So we came home and fetched Fury, to see if this could be the friend she'd been waiting for.

Then we arrived at the shelter, and one of the handlers brought the big guy outside to meet Fury. She started to sing like she does when she sees a friend. He came closer, and they sniffed each other, and all was OK... and then he stood a little too close to her, his big head over hers, and then one-by-one the hairs on Fury's neck started to stand up, and her lip started to curl, and then that was it. She made sure we knew that no, she didn't like this at all.

Poor big guy. Not a murmur or a snarl or even a hackle-raised from him. Just a real gentledog.

Jade took Fury back to the truck. I said goodbye to the big fella, and the handlers took him back inside.

I hope someone gives him a really nice, loving home very very soon. I am so sorry I could not.

If you are looking for a dog who will adopt you, he was still available at Brookhaven Animal Shelter after 4 p.m. today, Saturday.

Happy New Year everyone!

Wishing you all a very happy, healthy new year. May 2009 be the best yet!