If you live on Long Island seeing the sun rise over the Great South Bay is a relatively common sight, but I can never get enough of it.
I was up early this morning and took the scenic route to work. I was lucky enough to catch this rower just as he crossed the reflection of the sun on the water.
This almost looks like a sunset, but it is not. This is the sun at 7:08am this morning, 28 minutes after it rose. Today, the Autumnal equinox and also the first day of fall, the sun rose directly in the east and set directly in the west. Yes, you can set your compass by it.
I would love to have been the guy in the boat, but even just catching a sight like this was a great way to start a new season.
Just 2 weeks ago we Long Islanders were complaining about the end of summer. How it went so fast and there wasn’t enough time, blah, blah, blah. But cooler weather has its rewards (aside from not sticking to the sheets at night).
One of those rewards is my second favorite cookie of all time: Mallomars.
Fig Newtons are my #1 fav, but Mallomars are so close it’s practically a tie. Fig Newtons are available throughout the year, but on Long Island we can only get Mallomars in the cooler weather. They just melt too easily during the summer.
The limited availability exalts these cookies, and this might sound odd, but there’s a box of Mallomars in the cabinet for 2 days now and I just can’t bring myself to open it.
I’ve waited this long, they’re in the house, and rather than tear open the box before the rest of the groceries are put away, I’d like some quiet time to sit down and really savor the first Mallomar of the season.
Does that makes sense to anyone else or I am just nuts?
The trees are starting to change color, a sure sign that summer is leaving us and fall is leading the inevitable march towards winter. I spotted this tree on Saturday and it really took me by surprise.
I thought it was too early for this, but nope, September is when the trees start changing color on Long Island. The colors will grow more intense in weeks coming and will be past their peak by about mid October. Keep your eyes open and don’t miss any of it.
Here’s a YouTube video that I made while lamenting the end of summer. I’ll spare you the rant because I did that last year, but I like the video. Not so much the me part, but definitely the music.
“Sunday,” a melancholy instrumental from the album Great Balls of Fire Island, says more about that post Labor Day feeling than I could ever write.
Even though it’s Labor Day I’m not going to say that summer is over. However, when I start seeing temperature inversions on the Great South Bay I know shorter days and cooler weather are on the way.
Check out this picture of the Ocean Beach water tower on Fire Island. See how the entire island seems to be floating above the bay?
This illusion is caused by something called a temperature inversion. It sounds technical, but the concept is simple: The air is much colder near the bay than above it.
Normally the opposite is true and everything looks fine, but when cold air settles in overnight and then warm air comes in to replace it, a thin layer of cold air is trapped just above the water’s surface. That cold air bends light in such a way as to make things look higher or taller than they really are.
So now you know…
Oh, and one more thing. As far as I’m concerned, here on Long Island the De facto end of summer should be Columbus day not Labor Day.