As the sun sets on 2011

I literally wanted to see the sun set on 2011 so I took advantage of the spring-like weather and cast off onto Smithtown Bay. The water was like glass! It was like someone was saying to me, "Beach Lady, you have no excuse to not drag that 60-lb kayak down to the water and go out paddling!" If it's this warm tomorrow I will have to put my money where my mouth is and go for a New Year's Day Polar Bear swim. Happy New Year!

When you walk through a storm...

I think I saw the Port Jeff ferry hiding out in Smithtown Bay. I am not kidding! What other huge white vessel could it be? It was way off course, I'll tell you that much. I think it may have tried to cross the Sound and then headed towards the bay to wait it out. You couldn't pay me to take the ferry across the Sound today! I walked to the Big Rock and was almost blown away. The crashing waves reminded me of a disaster movie. It must be a helpless feeling to be on a ship at sea when the wind and water are trying to kill you. I think I will go back down to the beach just to make sure that the ferry didn't ground itself. I know I call myself the Guardian of the Bay, but this might be more than I can handle.

Christmas Eve Eve

A beautiful sunset and balmy evening. I am looking forward to my best friends coming here tonight for drinks and laughs and of course PRESENTS! I am declaring Christmas Eve Eve an official holiday.

Use your imagination

Hello to my Smithtown Bay Blog followers. I have some bad news. My camera broke and so it is off somewhere in Illinois being repaired. (No doubt having a grain of sand removed from the lens at a cost of $89, but that is the price of doing business here in a sandy paradise.) So you will have to use your imagination tonight. Today I was down at the beach for sunrise to meditate. Do you know when you have your eyes closed, sometimes the water and waves can sound like the traffic off a major highway? What is Mother Nature trying to tell us? Despite the similarity in sound, I am glad when I open my eyes I see the water and not a bunch of cars! The sky was gray and overcast today. It was pretty wavy and not a kayaking day. I shared my breakfast with some seagulls. They always make me laugh. I swear I will be coming back as a gull in my next life. They just look like they have so much FUN! A little plane flew over and I waved and it actually waved back with a dip of its wings. I found some bones in the sand over by the dunes. They are big! Could be a deer, of course, but nonetheless, I am bringing them into the medical school on Monday to see if they are human. How cool is that to be able to bring bones to work and have someone there who can probably tell you what the deal is. I like working with smart doctors! The photo is an old one. Like a rerun.

Wheels turn slowly

I finally got validation this week from the County of Westchester who runs the Mamaroneck Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). They definitely underestimated my tenacious personality and the fact that I LOVE MY BEACH.
In March 2011 the WWTP in Westchester, across the Long Island Sound, released thousands of little plastic filters into the Sound. The filters, which look like wagon wheel macaroni, are used to remove nitrogen from waste water. The plastic filters reached our shores here. I was angry because I felt that the authorities did not do enough to clean up and they were never fined. So in May I collected about 250 of the wheels between West Meadow and Crane Neck and I shipped them back to the plant with a letter. I asked officials why they never removed the garbage. I never heard back from them.
Throughout the year I continued collecting and saving the wagon wheels. Then about a month ago after a storm, hundreds more washed up on our beaches. I wrote a second letter to the WWTP’s Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Facilities Thomas Lauro. I asked for some answers and enclosed about 200 more wagon wheels in a box with the letter. Mr. Lauro finally wrote back to me.
I have a few comments about his letter. First, despite the fact that Mr. Lauro never says “Thanks for taking the time to pick up nearly 500 of our plastic wagon wheels from your beach,” I really do appreciate the fact that he wrote back to me.
He calls the plastic wagon wheels, “media” which, even though I work at a medical school and people assume I am scientific due to osmosis, I still had to look up the use of the word. It’s “water-filtration speak” for a “filter.” He states twice that the release of the media was NOT due to carelessness. Okay, but I still think the WWTP should have been fined. He also states that he was unable to come onto our beaches because there was no public access at the end of Old Field Road. Come on. They are the government. Couldn’t they have called someone in Old Field and asked “Where’s a good spot to go down to the beach?”
I am personally inviting Mr. Lauro and his cleanup crew to come to my house. They can park in my driveway and I will escort them down to the beach so they can finish cleaning up the “media.” Then, I will be satisfied. Because, Mr. Lauoro. I love Smithtown Bay and it’s the right thing to do.

Meteor shower! Tonight!

GEMINID METEOR SHOWER:  Earth is passing through a stream of debris from near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon, source of the annual Geminid meteor shower.  Forecasters expect meteor rates to reach 20-to-40 per hour when the shower peaks in bright moonlight on the night of Dec.13/14.  The best time to look, no matter where you live, is between 10 pm local time on Tuesday, Dec. 13, and sunrise on Wednesday, Dec. 14th. Check http://spaceweather.com  for more information and live audio from a meteor radar.

My dangerous life

Why do I relish Saturday mornings so much? (see photos) Well, for one thing, this has been dangerous week for me. Saturdays are so calm and peaceful, but the work week has been dangerous. The other morning the security gate at work tried to kill me when it came crashing down on the roof of my car while I was passing under it. (It wasn’t my fault, I swear!) The loud noise almost gave me a heart attack and thank goodness my bike rack protected my car. My only solace is that I noticed the gate is warped now. Ha ha. Then last night on my way home a log fell off some truck on 25A and I ran over it. BOOM! It was like a fireplace log but I knew one thing--it wasn’t good for the underside of my car. Heart attack #2. Then after stopping off for some wine at my favorite store, I headed down to the beach. I said to myself, I will dress warmly, sit in this chair and maybe start a small fire with my fake Duraflame log. I sipped my cocktail and looked out at the water and then a spark from the fire hit me in the eye. I’m blind. I’ve been blinded, I thought. That’s it. I wasn’t really blinded but I did have to go up to the house and wash it out. I finished my drink and went to the movies. Vampires and wolves seemed a lot tamer than my dangerous life.