Let the Games Begin

 

Calm Before The Storm

Unpredictable summer schedules made it difficult for us to plan a vacation in advance and

last minute travel was further hindered by crippling inflation.

We took a big gamble and settled on an extended Fourth of July weekend in the desert.

Mid summer temps can soar above 115 which would be difficult to manage.

I'm praying for low triple digits and shady afternoons in the pool.

Goodbye Roe

 

NINETY ONE

 Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

 

Goodbye SI

When I lived in Manhattan I had an aversion to The Hamptons.

The mass exodus on Friday afternoons to weekend shares perplexed me.

I imagined packed houses cluttered with too many people in perfect summer attire,

drunken parties, expensive restaurants and pretension.  

I didn't have the money to entertain a summer vacation house, but

I also didn't comprehend the beauty of these beach towns.

I  certainly never anticipated a place, untouched by time, like Shelter Island.

I found you late in life and unfortunately, while living on the other side of the country. 

You are not easy to get to, but you are worth the fifteen hours door to door.

You make me forget and remember all at the same time.

Until the next time.

Sunset Beach

Uncomposed Jestures

 In 1945 Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner did the unthinkable.  

They left the art world in Manhattan for The Spring on Long Island.

Even though the house was cold and drafty in the winter and hot and humid in the summer

this decision had an immense impact on their lives.

Space, light and a view of the creek profoundly influenced their work.

Pollack famously converted the barn into a studio where he perfected his drip technique.

Although his paintings are a series of composed jestures the floorboards

in the barn document his process.  

Random layers of house paint evoke his most famous works.

After his death, Krasner took over the space, protected the floor with masonite 

and hung her canvases on the walls where her energetic brushstrokes 

splattered the walls.  

Even if it's for sixty mere minutes,

I've always had a desire to breath the air where something noted happened.

I listen to the murmur of the walls and the rustling of the leaves 

as if I can share in their secrets.  

I get a jolt of energy from sitting under a tree where they contemplated, 

touching a door handle they turned,

and looking at a view they knew intimately.

Sylvester Manor

In 1961 Nathaniel Sylvester, a Brit,

bought acres of land on bucolic Shelter Island and moved his teenage wife

and slaves

to what became Sylvester Manor,

a provisioning plantation for the Barbadian sugar trade.

To this day the property remains in the same family

and is now a nonprofit educational farm with the mission to

preserve, cultivate and share the land, buildings and rich history behind it.

The once formal gardens are untamed

but the land remains magnificent although stained with the story of slavery

that existed in the North.

Strawberry Moon

The water lapping against the sand is like a lullaby.  

Evening bonfire on Hay Beach to watch the strawberry moon command the sky.

 

Epic Effortlessness

When you're on vacation Monday is just another word for Saturday.

I jump started the day with an invigorating 7 mile trek in Mashomeck Preserve.

The leaves were so heavy with yesterday's raindrops that I thought the weather forecast 

was wrong and another storm was moving through.

In LA I'm always surrounded by people so it seemed especially odd and a tad bit unnerving

to have the trails to myself, but I quickly adjusted.

Afternoon hours were spent at Wades Beach with friends.

We ushered in the evening with a picnic at Sunset Beach watching the golden orb

sink lower in the sky. 

Ultimate Vacation Day

My favorite vacations are a combination of conversation and silence, 

activity and idle limbs, cooking and eating out

and an ease in which these opposites find their place in an unstructured day.

Even though the forecast called for rain

a friend of a friend lead a yoga class on a deck overlooking the water

followed by a long, languid brunch at Marie Eiffel's.

We were undaunted by the intermittent raindrops that fell from the sky.

A late afternoon walk with my camera,

an AMAZING impromptu massage on Sunset Beach, 

followed by live jazz and dinner at The Ram's Head Inn.

I couldn't have asked for a more magnificent day.

Transformation

The first and last time I visited Shelter Island was three years ago 

in the summer of 2019 when it was impossible to know that in six months 

the world would careen off a cliff.

The pandemic's reverberations are evident in this remote bucolic community.

An increase in year round residents and the migration from large cities to off the beaten path locations

have created a surge in construction and inflated real estate prices. 

The haves outweigh the have nots and I wonder if balance will ever be struck again.

In spite of these changes, the island's charm and magic is everywhere.