At this time of year there are a lot of people shopping in downtown Sayville. It’s a beautiful place and there are lots of cool little shops. One of my favorites is Down the Rabbit Hole Wine Boutique.
Because of its small size you can easily walk right by and never know you passed it, so keep you eyes peeled for the bright blue awning right next to the Sayville Chocolatier (I know you know where that is 🙂 ).
In this tiny little shop is a large selection of wines hand picked by proprietor Suzanne McDonald. Describe what you like and Suzanne will suggest a wine to fit the bill. Tell her what you’re cooking and she’ll suggest a pairing. It couldn’t be easier, or more fun. Suzanne is informative, unassuming, and smiles a lot.
I’ve seen a lot of people peek their heads in the door and then walk out scared because it’s a wine shop. I always encourage them to go in and talk to Suzanne. She’ll put you at ease and you’ll leave happy.
Read more about Down the Rabbit Hole Wine Boutique.
Anyone catch the spectacular sunset we had on Long Island last night?
Not only was it beautiful, but there was a sun pillar too. Sun pillars are caused by falling ice crystals high in the atmosphere.
Here the sun is below the horizon and the pillar is the vertical stripe to the right of center. Of course the photo does not do justice to the beauty of this scene. You had to be there.
The town of Cold Spring Harbor really does the holidays well. I was there last weekend and had a great time shopping, eating, and hanging around with pirates, actors, horses… I almost felt like a Charles Dickens story.
Here are some pictures and a flyer detailing the events for this weekend and next. If you like Christmas, don’t miss it.
Read more about cold Spring Harbor here.
Grasso’s Restaurant is one of my favs and right on Main Street. Read my review here.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted here in the Long Island Blog. I like to keep the blog fresh with good material that I think other people would enjoy reading and that’s usually pretty easy when you write about Long Island.
However…
In October one of my children’s friends was killed—murdered senselessly in a drive-by shooting—and that knocked the wind out of my sails.
She wasn’t the target. With bullets flying everywhere, everyone was the target. Several people were hit; she’s the only one that died.
I barely knew Danielle, but she was my son’s best friend and very close with my daughter. There’s still a message from Danielle on our answering machine. My kids were devastated. I can only imagine how her family must feel.
As for me, I don’t know. Something like this makes one question everything, and there’s not a religion or philosophical tenet that can answer the big question that everyone asks: why?
How can someone born with every gift, who meant so much to so many, perish under such senseless circumstances? There’s no resolution here. Time will numb the pain and reveal the silver lining, if there is one, but the damage is done and there will always be scars.
So how does one cope? I tell my kids to remember and honor Danielle by living the kind of life she would have wanted for them. Don’t be depressed, just get up and go the same way she used to.
Because if you don’t, then you become another victim of this utterly senseless crime.
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.
A quick post to let everyone know that I just finished a short guide to the Nautical Mile restaurants. All 18 restaurants, the Italian ice shop and the ice cream shop are covered. So get out there and eat!
During my, uh, “research” for the restaurant article I had the pleasure of running into Rocco Abbondola again. I’ve received some email from readers wondering if he was still alive. Well, not only is he alive, but he’s as rambunctious as ever. If you’d like to meet him yourself he’s usually at Otto’s on Saturday afternoon/evening.
Rocco Abbondola at Otto’s, August 2008