Looking east

 the sun setting over my shoulder 

 gulls came to rest on the beach

twilight beginning.

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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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South Harbor Beach

Saturday arrived with clear sunny skies.  It was just warm enough to ward off the bit of chill in the air and make a beach walk very attractive to us.  Amy drove so that I'd have the luxury of being able to look at everything and call the stops to check out sites of interest.  After meandering down around Great Hog Neck near Paradise Point finding some roads we'd never been on before, we headed a short way east then turned toward the bay on South Harbor Road.  Perfect!  The beach appeared to be a clean blank slate save for a woman and her dog in the distance.  In the small harbor reeds wore their fall color and the still, clear waters let one see objects on the bottom.  The small black ones are old snail shells now occupied by hermit crabs.

Nearby a cozy waterfront cottage was nearly hidden in the shore trees.

Walking around for awhile proved the beach to be anything but a blank slate.   

Amy called me over to show me what she'd discovered... a labrinth.

It was fairly large, made of found objects from the beach  

placed in neat rows that described a path...

eventually leading to the end faced by an all-seeing eye.

Here are a few labrinth details that I found interesting.

The Tao of the labrinth

A broken whelk shell placed on a rock.

Barnacles on an old wave-tumbled brick.

Not far off there was an echo... a mini-labrinth.

I'd like to credit and thank the labrinth creator and keeper 

who posted a sign in a baggie asking all to keep it neat.
I like that, whoever you are.

To see more beach art from a past posting click here.

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Dedicated to Anna

May peace be with you now at the end of your journey.

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5 AM July 4th and At The Close of the Same Day

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Getting up early in the morning is a gift I give to myself.   Everything looks so clean and fresh and made just for me as usually no one else is there with which to enjoy it.  The solitude mid such beauty never fails to put me in a worshipful mind that seems clearer than normal, more open.  Seeing what is before me on the horizon and in the water's edge at my feet brings the large and the small together as a unified thing.  This is my cathedral. 

 Mist rises from the far side of East Creek as a pair of osprey greet the sun with their new young.

Trumpet flowers frame a sailboat moored on the Great Peconic Bay between Cutchogue and New Suffolk.

Long morning shadows.

It won't be too long before many of the kayaks will be out on the water for a holiday paddle.

The setting sun provided it's own pyrotechnics before fireworks began.  Later, the rim of the bay was outlined by many displays as neighborhood groups came out to enjoy the color and balmy weather.

 

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The Days Are Getting Longer!

Every year after winter solstice I feel my spirits begin to rise knowing the time of daylight lengthens, darkness shortens and things in general are going the right direction for me, i.e. toward spring and ultimately my favorite time of all, summer.  A sunny day such as last Saturday can make me feel positively giddy even though the temperature was in the low thirties.  It was time to get out, look around, shake off that house-bound feeling and take stock of the current situation knowing that things will only improve.  It was okay to see beach houses still buttoned up...   that will all change in May, so for now the peace and quiet in the sun was like looking at a dormant summer which will begin to waken with the rains of spring.

 

 

 

 

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Sky Watch Friday - A Goodbye to Summer

It is so very, very difficult for me to say goodbye to summer. I'm at my happiest and feeling my best during the days of blazing sun and warm waters, early dawns and late sunsets, the natural progression of crops ripening each to be enjoyed in it's own turn. I preserve as much of it as I can for the months of cold when I need a reminder that this will pass. I cling to summer for days after the autumnal equinox has come and gone and rime frost has twinkled on the grass. At last my cold fingers just can't hang on anymore and I have to let go.

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North Fork Herons

These birds were all photographed in the early to midmorning and at considerable distance and with out a tripod which could explain why the shots are so grainy. Still, I wanted to share them. The Night Heron below was my first sighting of the species.

The Black-crowned Night Heron, sometimes referred to as Black Capped Night Heron. Click to enlarge, note the beautiful orange eye.

The Great Blue Heron.

The Green Heron.

The Great White Egret sometimes referred to as Great White Heron.

At the End of the Day

Sunday a group of us went to a Long Island beach on the North Fork just east of the Mattituck Inlet. The deepening evening light was beautiful, the sand still warm from a sunny day felt good on bare feet, the Sound was calm. Birds were winging their way to nests, once the sun was down a party boat full of fishermen headed back to dock, along the beach fires were being lit one by one. What a wonderful close to the day.

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