Colorful Start of Summer 2014

Happy Summer Solstice and may all have  a great summer ahead. It was a beautiful weekend here in the northeast with great weather and events happening all over. The summer solstice fell on Saturday this year, so the longest day of the year had to spent outdoors as much as possible, especially with this gorgeous weather of temps in the 80s but with low humidity. 

 

Ah, Coney Island!

It looks like a parade of something...

Mermaids on land?!

Where are these two happy maidens going? Hey, nice conch!

They're looking for some good seamen

A mermanish and his four maids

 
I know spring and fall are also very pretty with their colors, but summer is colorful too. Part of it is colorful attitude I see in people. Longer days make more opportunities to do stuff outside. I think creating memories--even small ones--is what life is about. The more chances we have, the more creative we are, the better. Find opportunities every day to do something interesting, fulfilling, memorable.

I'll be back here this summer as I've dusted off my dslr, got a new zoom lens and will be shooting.  See ya soon.

Summer's Gone (for practical purposes) But Memories are Reinforced by Pictures (isn't what many pictures do?)

Marconi Beach by the Atlantic ocean where erosion from last year's storm ate lots of the cliffs. The Marconi station is long gone, swallowed by the sea, but the pavilion was removed earlier this year as it hung close to the cliff. Cape Cod has been shaped by the retreating glaciers (23,000 and 19,000 thousand years ago) and by the ocean currents and the fierce winds.

Very few places on the Eastern seaboard of the US get to experience sunsets over water, but Cape Cod has it. This is Rock Harbor beach at high tide. At low tide you can walk for a mile or more from this vantage point.

These "trees" mark the channel into the harbor but it's passable only when the tide is high enough.

Rock Harbor

Wellfleet

Wellfleet

Lots of places to kayak all over the cape. You'd need several summers to say you've done most of them.

Some of the rustbuckets in Wellfleet harbor. Fishing and clam harvesting is a staple on the cape.

The Glorious Days of the Beginning of the 2013 Summer

There many things I like about the summer and one of them is the long days. I like it when I have to wear sunglasses past 8 pm! Even though it's been oppressively hot and humid the last several weeks, the summer days are enjoyable. I have more free time to do so many activities that create worth-while memories. 

I haven't been keeping up with this blog, but I've got lots of new pictures from some new places and some new places. If I like something, it doesn't get old for me. I'm there, immersed, experiencing, living the moment.

There's time to read books, peruse scientific journals and posts, listen to favorite podcasts, and work lots around the house. As a homeowner there's no perfect state--always there's something that needs fixing, improving, and just being busybody around the house.

Oh, the earth just reached the farthest (perihelion) distance from the sun in its orbit. But we're having the hottest days of the year. I know. It's not the distance but the angle of the rays hitting the surface. Our planet is wobbling like a drunkard, some 23 degrees off the axis. Oh, and the moon is going away at about one inch a year. Even though most of the galaxies are moving away from each other, our neighbor Andromeda is on a collision course with our milkyway.

Before I become too philosophical, let me show some pictures from this summer so far.

New York harbor, looking north. Lady Liberty on the left and the new WTC tower almost complete.

The above picture is from a recent (and almost frequent) sailing around the harbor. This is one experience that won't get "old". The harbor is busy and this picture doesn't include the areas of Brooklyn and Staten Island. 

There are strong currents with the tides. The navigation channel that goes up to Albany is deep, 50 feet and more. Yet, outside of it, the waters are shallow. We're probably floating on 12 feet. Even by Coney Island it's 12-18 feet. And, yes, there are lots of wide and high waves past the Verrazano bridge.

The Main Stage of the Clearwater festival in June 2013.

The two-day Clearwater music festival was well attended, even though its pricey--some $80 a day--at the Croton Point park. Lots of music, and, as expected, progressive activism. I saw several bands and of course a national treasure--Pete Seeger. I feel fortunate to see him 3-4 times a year, performing. He lives nearby, a few miles north by the Hudson river.

Clearwater Festival

Speaking of the Hudson and summer, here's what I see many times a month as I go down by the river, a stone's throw from my house:

Notice the bench were I sit frequently (bottom left)

Hudson sunset at the widest point of the river

On the closest Saturday of the Summer solstice, the annual Coney Island Mermaid parade takes place. This event began 32 years ago as an improvised event. It kept growing. Now it has grown to some one thousand marchers and 700.000+ spectators. There were fears that it wouldn't happen this summer as CI was devastated by Sandy. But, it did happen and here are some pictures.

This is a fun event for all ages. Get your shades, lots of sunscreen, comfy shoes and loose clothing, and enjoy the colors, the costumes, the socio-political commentary, and inhale some ocean breeze. Coney Island is getting better I think. Give it a try.