Artistic landscape

The Beach Lady is back after a long hiatus. The Smithtown Bay shore at low tide is full of nature's sculptures, paintings and performance art. When the water recedes I feel like a five-year-old exploring the tide pools,baby mussels, fish eggs and other unidentified sea creatures. The sunset was hidden by a veil of clouds tonight. The bugs gave me a reprieve

. Bless their little blood-sucking hearts.

A new kid in town

Sometimes the rainy nights at the beach yield the best surprises. I went down in the rain to check on the water (make sure it was still there). It was low tide and the gulls were sweeping by in the air clutching spider crabs and mussels. But there was a new visitor. I have never seen this bird before. I knew he wasn't an egret and the funny thing about him was that when he saw me, instead of flying away, he inched closer. Sorta like I looked like his mother or something. He was not afraid of me, but rather wanted to get closer. (I don't make this shit up.)He liked people. I moved closer to get a good look because I knew that later I would want to ID him him in my bird book. It was a Yellow Crowned Night Heron. Which explains what he was doing out at 8 p.m. He is a bird with a lot of personality! Smithtown Bay seemed to be taking a respite from all the boats, fisherman and beach goers tonight. I heard it heave a sigh and say, "Peace and quiet at last!"

Prime time

As Billy Joel says, "These are the days we will remember." The summer has been filled with perfect beach days and wonderful company. Friday night was an evening with "the most interesting women in the world." We philosophized about the Higgs Boson, compared notes about personal lives, went for a swim and then whipped up an amazing meal. Oh, and then there was also dancing! How fortunate I am to live here and i give thanks every day.

Clouds and lace

The second storm of the day gave me a reprieve so that I might go down to the beach to just conduct a quick horseshoe crab patrol. All is well, but the clouds and rain were still threatening from over i n Connecticut. That research ship is still anchored out in my bay. And to think they never even asked permission! I would have said yes, but it would have been nice if they had asked The Beach Lady. The Queen Anne's Lace is beautiful and the sun broke through the dark clouds for just a minute.

Wheels keep on turning...up

In the continuing series of what I like to call "Beach Lady vs. Big, Arrogant Water Treatment Plant," I recently mailed more than 350 plastic wagon wheels back to the Mamaroneck plant. This is the third delivery of the water filtration devices that I have mailed back and I think that makes well over 600 of in total by now. Six hundred of anything is a lot. Here is my letter, below and a photo of the contents of the package before I mailed it to Mr. Lauro. I will keep you in the loop when I hear back from Mr. Lauro. Thomas Lauro Commissioner, County Department of Environmental Facilities 270 North Avenue, 6th Floor New Rochelle, NY 10801 Dear Mr. Lauro, I am sure you remember me from last year. You wrote back to me in December 2011 about the wagon wheels I have been finding (and sending to you) on West Meadow, Crane Neck and Old Field beaches. You said that you couldn’t access the beach in Old Field, but I thought that was a weak excuse for not cleaning the plastic garbage up. I am enclosing 364 more wagon wheels that I have picked up from the beaches since my last delivery. Obviously the problem still exists and I think you need to come here again, speak to the mayor or Old Field Public Safety or whomever, and do a thorough clean up (Finally!) of our beaches here. For goodness sakes, it’s been a year and a half since the accident. I think the oil leak in the gulf was cleaned up faster than this. Please let me know when you and your crew will be arriving because I can be very helpful in showing you the worst places where the wheels show up. They really turn up after a storm, so maybe you want to plan to come on a day like that. I await your reply, as done everyone who lives in this area. Thank you and I am sure you’ll do the right thing. Sincerely, Carole Trottere Cc: Christine Sampson, The Patch Cc: Old Field Mayor Michael Levine Cc: Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn

My First Fish!

I caught my first fish tonight. I have been trying for a few months now, but with no luck. Tonight, I thought to myself that this would be the time to sneak up on them when it's raining and they think I am in the house watching "Ellen." I hooked a sea robin on my first cast, then every time I cast I got another. After three of those creepy little winged bastards I stopped. I returned them all to the sea, but when I put one back in the water and he turned around to back at me like he was really pissed off. Those fish look like the ones you see in on PBS shows that sprouted legs at the dawn of time and started walking on land. They gave me the willies. The tide was exceptionally high tonight. Little breeze and lots of gnats.

Who? It's Bamboo!

Nature never ceases to amaze. This is a new shoot of bamboo coming up along the path to the beach. Not even Martha Stewart could come up with colors like this!