Clumps of Starfish......

This morning my daughter and I discovered that at low tide....part of our beach was a tide pool....purple red starfish.....crabs....snails....and little fish darted in clear basins of water.

We also found about a dozen starfish stranded on the beach....high above the water line...since some people come by and collect them....we decided to gather them up and place them back in the cool ocean tide pools....given them another chance ....to ....well....be starfish.

End of the Week........

It's almost midnight and I am dog tired......my day started with an early morning walk on the beach with my daughter....included a job interview over the phone at mid day....and it's ending with me trying to stuff two weeks of sea shells...interesting rocks and a few t shirts....gathered here in NY into luggage and bags....which appear to bemutliplying like reckless rabbits in heat.

Tomorrow....Saturday.....we spurce up the house.....go for our last walk on the beach......and drop my hub off at the airport....he's heading for home.

It's startling... to think....that time has gone by so quickly.....he's already returning to our real home and real life. We've had so much fun the last few days....cooking....beach walking....and just being a complete family again ... it's hard to believe.....we start unwinding....this perfect carefree arrangement already.

After I drop Hub off at the airport......I'm heading into the City with the kids for a couple days.....then send them off too....in different directions...one to go home ....two to spend time visiting family in Chicago.....

Hard to believe.....next Friday night it will be my turn to pack up and leave for home.....

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The Kids are Here...the Kids are Here.......

I can't tell you how excited I was to see them all get off the plane.....it seems like forever since we were all together.

We hopped in the car ...tossed in duffel bags....and started on our way to our rental house......wait....oops.....what's that.....smoke coming out of our engine!!!!.....really.....an impending radiator blow out....so we turn around ....keep our fingers crossed and smoke on back to the airport.

Of course they didn't have any more mid sized cars....so ....we pulled out of the rental car lot in some type of SUV.....that probably gets 2miles per gallon....and gas ....out here on Montauk Point....is running 5.00 a gallon. Well...it was that or walk....lol

As soon as we arrived we hit the beach......and how fun.....to see the kids running away from cold water waves....looking for shells....and fooling around with each other......and laughing.....that was the best thing.....to here them laughing....

Tomorrow more beaching......more exploring and hiking.....a trip to the light house....and dinner as family again.....how sweet some small simple things are.....

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On to our second casa.....this time on the other side of Long Island

We're at our second casa......the rental house on Montauk....which is at the tip of the ocean side of Long Island. It's quite a cultural jolt....to move from what feels like a quaint town in New England to the"Hampton Scene" on the other side of the island.

I think we were both disoriented by all the bodies and cars.....and the change in attitude......in Orient.....we were the "outsiders".... tolerated guests......but here....this is a tourist culture and although I know there's an "innie" crowd.....the famed Hampton folks.....its much more of a free for all.

Our house is located in "Digger's Ditch"....which is a small cove of beach....known for it's huge waves......and surfers.

Hit the beach yesterday afternoon.....and I could hear Beach Boy music in my head as I watched all those guys and girls in their wet suits on their boogie boards. I actually thought (for just a second) ....hey I bet I can rent a board here.....but then I realized they have to give me ...arm floaties ...those inflatable little tufts they put on the arms of toddlers..........cause I don't think my natural swimming talents are good enough for the tough waves and surf here.

There's another beach down the road....which I call...."the flat beach".....it goes along for miles.....in either direction.....beautiful....fierce waves.....thundering sounds....and all sand.....in fact....you can hardly find a pebble or a shell on this baby...quite a change from the last beach. We walked for miles on this one last night.

A woman on the beach told me yesterday....that it was 100 degrees in New York City....I couldn't believe it....I thought she was joking....as we had temperatures in the 70's on Orient....but sure enough I googled it...and she was right.....this morning....I opened our balcony door.....and whoa....it's feels like its 90 degrees....and its only 9am....

So all I can say is.....it's time to hit the beach!!!

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Surfers......or boys in skin tight rubber suits

No zoom on the iphone....unfortunatately.....

I'll have to see if I can get a better pics of these boys....(although please note....in all fairness....there are girls in skin tight rubber suits.....and I'm sure under his sunglasses my hub's eyes were glued there)

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Full Moon.....at the end of Long Island.

I am sitting right now on a small blue couch in a beach cottage at the end of Long Island.

It's windy out....white roses clustered on the bush underneath my window are dancing back and forth in the steady breeze.

I've cranked the tall picture window wide open......so I can hear the thundering surf.

Crickets are chirping non-stop....trying for one last mating before their life and time is ended..... hub has gone to bed already.

I feel like I'm the only one keeping vigil with the surf....there are no cars on the two lane road that runs next to the cottage....no people moving about.....and only a few porch lights are turned on...in the cottages surrounding mine.

I met this part of the ocean a couple hours ago....we pulled in from a day of exploring....and a nice dinner next to the harbor...there are tall bushes on the other side of the road across from the cottage....I could see a break....a small opening and a thin sand trail.

I followed the narrow footpath...grateful for the moonlight.... nervous about what might be in the bushes.....and hoping the trail went to the beach instead of over a cliff.

It ended at the beach.

The beach here is long and narrow with soft soft sand...in the hazy light I couldn't see anything or anyone moving on the entire stretch of sand....which must have spread a mile in each direction.

There were fresh tire tracks close to the water so I assumed the police or some other agency patrols this section of beach. I thought a saw a man laying on the sand in a sleeping bag....but it turned out to be a long dark log.

The wind off the ocean was damp and cool and fishy. It turned my sweatshirt slightly soggy and made my hair feel thick and sticky. The 3-4 foot waves crashed on the beach with such intensity....I wondered if there was a storm "out there" and the waves were sending a warning for tomorrow's weather.

I sat down on a wet cold ridge of sand a few feet from the surf and watched the wedge of moonlight dance on the wild waves. Sometimes....I had to lift my feet up ....to avoid the cold slap of salt water from a big wave. The tide was obviously coming in....and I realized that soon the ridge I was sitting on would be taken down by the waves.

The longer I sat there....the more amnesia settled in .....it's almost as if the surf was an eraser....wiping away my identity ....clearing me of a past and future......making my little thoughts and petty hopes and hurts insignificant in contrast to the primordial majesty in front of me.

Even my heartbeat forgot its own rhythm and seemed to synchronize itself with the powerful beat in front of it .....slowing down...pounding harder....realigning itself....to the master blueprint.

I wondered if people who lived next to an ocean were more enlightened that the rest of us.......would you be calmer? more steady? smoother? if the waves tumbled you every day ....if the ocean erased everything but the present?

Perhaps there were Buddhas living in these condos and cottages along the coast......perhaps the night policeman who drove his car back and forth across the dark shore was one of the happiest men on earth....perhaps there were saints in the making...right here on Long Island.

My wet feet and soggy clothes started sending chills through me....so I dusted off my butt, picked my way up the path......came back to the cottage....

....where I immediately starting worrying about whether my suitcase hit the 50lb limit with the last book I bought....if I brought along a copy of the itinerary for my class reunion this weekend....and if....

But I did google the sunrise.....

Sometimes we don't have everything we want or need or dream of....but I'm here ....next to a magnificent beach and a frisky ocean....and perhaps I won't attain holy card status with a few hours of amnesia....but maybe I can smooth an edge...fill a crack....plant a seed.

Tragedy is saying no to opportunities.
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