Look At The Sky

When I submit photos to Sky Watch Friday I usually opt for colorful, peaceful shots of sunrises over the Peconic Bay or sunsets above the Long Island Sound, but last Sunday afternoon our eyes were drawn upward by a rising column of smoke.  As we watched the smoke suddenly became black.  It was time to investigate.  We were on the west side of the Mattituck Inlet and knew that if the fire was on the other side it would take a long time to get there.  We ended up at the Old Mill Inn where a turntable bridge used to cross the inlet.  Directly in front of us on the east side one hundred yards away was the fire in plain view, the building no more than fifteen feet from water's edge.  The building was the Kaminski's storage barn where they stored supplies associated with their fish and lobstering business, 20 pound propane tanks among other things.  A very few tanks blew.  It could have been much worse had a full 3,000 gallon diesel fuel storage tank three feet from the building not been able to take the heat.  The Mattituck and Cutchogue Fire Departments responded very quickly and were able to save a house and several fishing vessels nearby.  I shot what I could and ended up with several interesting photos.  The sky reminded me of the Jimi Hendrix lyrics:

Look at the sky turn a hell fire red, lord

Somebody's house is burning

 down, down, down, down

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Indian Island Park

For our first hike of the year we choose a park we'd never visited before, Indian Island Park, a Suffolk county parkland of 275 acres.  One can normally drive around and through it but after a heavy snow barricades were up part way inside to keep vehicles off the unplowed areas.  It was a beautiful sunny day with almost no wind.  We walked the perimeter along the sandy shore of Flanders Bay to the white sand causeway then across to the picnic area where we had lunch at a picnic table in a sunbeam.  Descriptions of the park say the best times to visit are in the summer and early fall but the solitude of winter was perfect for us.  There were a few cross country skiers in the park and two kayaks on the bay but that was about it.

Shells as found...

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