First Picnic of the Year

We stopped at a Sound Beach in East Marion.  The sky was so clear and blue.  The sun seemed to pick out every pebble and stone and gave each one it's own place.  Across the road on Oyster Ponds the little boat house and crab shack seemed to have settled more than we'd remembered while on the calm Sound gulls gathered by the dozens in a Saturday flotilla.  Before long an SUV pulled up near us.  A mother and her five kids got out, opened up the back and pulled out everything they'd need for a picnic on the beach.  It was still cold, in the very low 40s and there was some wind to add to the chill but none of that dampened their spirits.  The picnic basket was opened and they got right to it hunkered down in a bit of low place.  Soon done they chased each other around laughing for a few minutes then loaded it back in and were gone just like that.  What a wonderful way for them to make a memory of March 6, 2010.

Autumn Comes to Dam Pond Maritime Reserve

Dam Pond Maritime Reserve, an area of 36 acres in East Marion, is best known for birders during early spring, mid fall, and winter migration as a place to see over-wintering land birds and water fowl. There is salt scrub and grass, hardwoods and now a grassland restoration project. It is a wonderful shallow tide pond that exits into Orient Harbor. A very narrow sandbar is all that separates the pond from Long Island Sound, yet it has been there through storms and tides as long as anyone can remember. It's a unique spot... well worth a visit.