Honeysuckle and Roses

Hi! Summer arrives tomorrow, isn't that grand! Just in time for Fourth of July...

The afternoon storm has passed, moved off out to sea. Let's go for a walk.

See the funny dots and texture of the sand? That is from the hard drops of rain.

I stop at the top of the dune and take deep breaths of the scented air. I wish you could smell it too.

The air here in the dunes is laden with the aroma of honeysuckle and beach roses. No fancy French perfume can compare with the delicacy of the early summer air. Evocative: summer day, summer day, it whispers.

And look! This is new, masses of beautiful blue violet beach sweetpeas. They never grew here before.

The seeds must have washed up during the hurricane, a little gift from H. Sandy.

The sea grass is finally green and growing fast...

The mallards have rediscovered the summer pond, the dune swale.

Let's walk on down to the shore..

The air here is different. Strongly smells of salt, like a box of Morton's When it rains, it pours table salt. Crisp, clean, so fresh....

The water is exceptionally clear, due to the cold winter and chilly spring...

High solstice tide, washing my winter white toes. No treasures to beachcomb, just the pleasure of a perfect day.

Tomorrow I will pack a small picnic and head down early. Pitas, hummus, tiny tomatoes. Some icy cold lemonade. I plan to enjoy every moment of this precious season, to value all its faces, to stop and yes...smell the roses.

love
 
lizzy
 
gone to the beach....

A Red Letter Day

Hi! What the heck is a red letter day, anyway? Red might mean you got an F on your final exam...However I am using the positive point of view, a
 day of good things.

Very very early, each rare sunny morning, a bright red bird has been landing in the spindly locust tree. He rides up and down on the windblown branch at the very top...and he sings his little heart out.

Probably he is a cardinal, though in these pix, he looks rosy grosbeak-ish? The low red streaks of the sunrise keep me from seeing him clearly...but I love having him visit.

 The farmers market was so busy on this week's sunny Wednesday! Just bursting with shoppers and produce and cops giving out parking tickets. [I managed to evade.]

I stocked up on weekend snacks and appetizers....

Classic red radishes, crisp and tangy!

 

 

Just one perfect rainbow striped heirloom tomato.

Oh I must get more! It was so sweet and tasted like heaven, like no store bought tomato ever...

A fresh mozzarella from my friend the Brooklyn cheese guy, far right.

A loaf of fresh French baguette...and fresh tomato/ cheese stacks with black pepper, a dash of olive oil, and snipped herbs.

 

 another night, an antipasto with more fresh mozz.

 And June in NY bursts with strawberries. The whole market smelled like strawberries...

Again, so sweet, so full of sunshine and happiness.

I marinated them in a splash of amaretto, added some Splenda. [vanilla sugar would be yummier, but in my house we avoid sugar, so...] I'll serve them on peach gelato at the Father's Day BBQ tomorrow.

Let's hope it doesn't rain!

 love

lizzy

...........gone to the beach!

 

 

 

Monday, Monday.....

 

Hmmmm...I am sitting here, reading Susan Branch's lovely blog...and she is all about summer and gorgeous weather and sun tea. And she lives on Martha's Vineyard, not all that far from me, same-ish maritime climate and so on...and I am sitting here wearing jeans and woolly socks and a ratty old cashmere turtleneck, wondering why it is summer on the Vineyard and winter here a hundred miles away, at the beach.

No sun tea here. Rainy, rain, rain. On Friday it rained 6 inches! My palm trees floated right out of their deck crocks and begged to come back inside where it is cozy. The water [which has nowhere to drain to, we're only a few feet above sea level] was sloshing at the edge of my jeep's running boards. Nastily flooding my wellies too.

And it's raining again again today. The flooding is back. The swales have refilled finally. And you can see the dune grass is regrowing, a few dark green hardy bayberry bushes too. Maybe we'll have ducks and peepers after all? Even a blackbird or two?

We did have one nice half day yesterday. Took me quite by surprise. I was not organized for the flea market, having planned for rain. I just tossed my quilting into my beach bag and ran out looking for the sun....

Nowhere is better for fine hand sewing than a sunny beach. The brilliant light is unequalled. No halogen, no high tech lighting, can come close. I sewed almost all of the first panel of the Mr Sunshine quilt....I can sew tiny stitches, and so fast.

A few other people were out too...

The oystercatchers were out with their big teenage babies.

How fast they grow up! This group was the three eggs I showed you in May.

There are baby piping plovers running around in this area.

See them? No? LOL. I can't see them either. They are tiny dandelion puffballs, only visible if you wait and watch for motion across the matching sand. There at least six of them and a pitifully worried mom bird. She is tiny, like a sparrow, but crisply tan, white and black.

Not many gulls, most are nesting still. Only the second year youngsters are here, their ugly spotty grey feathers turning slowly all white and grey. They won't mate until next year...

But look who is here.
Gully.

Is it really him?
They do all look alike, and yet...he comes and stands. And stares. And is very tame. Next time I'll sneak him some bread.
No sanderlings. They are off to Alaska to lay their eggs in the tundra. But we have a new nearby colony of tiny Arctic and least terns. They've moved into the flat spot where the outer dune used to be. Off to the very far left.

 

They're so mean! One of them attacked me! I wasn't looking and was just hiking along on the boardwalk path. It flew into my face then it pooped on me! Eeeew. I'm a little scared of them...

By dinnertime it was too cold and windy to BBQ. But a good day, with hopes of more sunny days ahead...and some fresh brewed sun tea.

love

sunny

......gone to the beach