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!