Fire Island

It seems that at the tail-end of summertime, people party it up extra hard. All those weeks of ultrahot weather that made it impossible to roll out of bed without losing half your body weight in sweat are well behind us now. The prospect of it getting chilly soon inspires everyone to get out and do the things you won't be able to comfortably do in another month or two, and the people who they've been promising to get together with all summer long. Nothing motivates like a deadline.

A gorgeous day out on the water was called for. We headed out to eastern Long Island to play on Fire Island for the day. We are lucky to have our good friends and neighbors to facilitate. They are truly the most hospitable people that I the privilege of knowing. Also, they are the only people that I know that I was able to find a google map of where they keep their boat. Surprise! You can't get rid of me once I have the information.

After a false start because of a sinking jet ski, we were off across the bay to a remote beach.



Fire Island is a long barrier island. Most of it is a part of the National Seashore, so it's a long stretch of dunes and sand that isn't accessible unless you have a boat (or willing to walk for a couple miles). It all adds up to having a big empty stretch of near-private beach practically empty. It's wonderful, and a rarity to have a beach to yourself anyplace this close to the Hamptons.



Being on the water makes me super relaxed and happy. Growing up, most summery days were either spent on the beach or on the boat, so I always feel a little nostalgic motoring around the coastline.



After a long hard day of playing in the waves, it's nice to swim back to your boat and grill up some burgers.



This is Tom. Not only does he captain a seaworthy vessel and chef it up out to sea, he is a handyman extraordinaire who fixes my roof and faucet when it leaks.



And this is Cheryl, who took all these awesome pictures because I'm too afraid of what the sand and salt will do to my camera:



But she also does a much better job than I do getting good shots, so I'm happy to leave the photographs to her. I was really happy to find the place we currently reside in Brooklyn because she lives right next door. She's all sorts of crazy fun.



I also got to sit back and get a bit of work done on my Broadripple socks.





If you took summertime and distilled it down to its essence, this day would be a pretty perfect representation of what it's all about.

New Year, New Me!

Ha ha, just kidding. Same me.

I hope everyone had a fabulous New Year celebration and the hangovers have subsided enough for you to entertain the thought of once again sipping a choice alcoholic beverage.

I spent part of NYE out in the East Village with friends and then in Central Park watching thousands of runners zip by under a fireworks display.







This is just a "fun run", so people tend to get a little crazy. I loved this Zombie Prom Queen:




Even more entertaining was the annual Coney Island Polar Bear dive. Bry convinced the largest number of people so far to jump in with him, which brings the grand total to Three. The things people will agree to after having a few drinks is outrageous.












It's just so much fun to watch people's reactions as they attempt to convince themselves that having snow on the beach means it's a great day for a refreshing swim. It will cure what ails you.

This video is kind of long, but Bry rolls by all calm-like around the 7 minute mark:



I convinced people that taking pictures was my only job. I won't swim at Coney when it's 90 degrees out (it's dirty), so I firmly kept my boots planted in the sand. I wasn't alone and we did have a nice cheering squad going.

My goal is to have more adventures and take lots of pictures of said adventures this year.

Preemptively hoping that everyone has a great year!

Rather Predictably, a Post about Rhinebeck

NYS Sheep and Wool festival was a Magical Shopping Experience this year, as always. The weather was beautiful, the trees were ablaze with color, the company was excellent.

The fleece sale had some rather impressive selections:



Not all mine, of course. More on those later. It was refreshing to see other people fleece-crazed spinners haul off much more than that.



Also, anytime I think of telling regular everyday people that I go off on the weekends to paw through fleece, I'm pretty sure they get a mental image of this:


Therefore, it's best that I just stick with the story that I was "Upstate for the weekend with friends".

Perverse as it might be, lamb dishes abound and are delicious. The lamb chili is just what you need to take the chill off.



Afterward, the sheep give you disapproving stares, but I assure you, the guilt is totally worth it.


This was an Oxford sheep, which, incidentally, I find unspinnable, or at the very least, not a lot of fun to spin. Therefore, it's a meat breed. Guilt absolved.

This Lincoln Ewe was sweet as can be, and super-soft to boot:








I don't think I had ever seen karakul sheep in the flesh before, but as soon as I touched one, I was like, "Oh, it's a karakul".






Angora goats, reluctantly being shown. They were all like, "Don't judge me."







The yarns were beautiful-





These are gorgeous skeins of natural-dyed yarn from Hope Spinnery in Maine.

Best of all, it was great to catch up with friends.



They were good to have around- we talked each other out of several purchases, and yet somehow facilitated several more.


photo from KnithoudBrooklyn.

We all left a few dollars poorer, but richer in fiber. We are like bran in that way. It's really what makes the weekend great.

Oh, also: Uma Thurman was there, and she rear-ended someone coming out of the parking lot in her giant black SUV.


She was tall and willowy and very elegant looking, and not really handling the situation as I would have expected The Bride to (which is a good thing).

Maine

The weather this summer in New York left everyone absolutely miserable and house bound. Since the traditional sanctuary of the movie theater is now having bedbug infestations, the most obvious thing to do was to leave.


It was a long ride up, but we took mostly back roads and fun mountain roads, stopping to catch up with friends on the way.

What was unbearably sticky and sweltering in the city translated into warm, sunny and breezy a couple hundred miles north. Everywhere I went, people raved about what a fantastic summer they were having.


If this was New York, both woman and dog would have been sporting third degree burns right now.







It's always nice to catch up with family, hang out at the beach with a margarita and work up the bravery to take a swim.


We to tend to eat well, as always.



We also tried to pioneer new sports, like a rather soggy affair with tow-in kayaking.





Nothing else cures the summer city blues like a week in relative isolation in Northern Maine.