Razed

Eleven months after fire ravaged one of the loveliest Victorian beach cottages on the north shore of Long Island, it was finally demolished.


This was the scene on August 7 2008 after a severe thunderstorm caused a lightning strike, sparking a fire that rapidly spread through the home. It soon became apparent that the house could not be rebuilt and plans were made to raze it and start afresh.


On July 6 2009 the wrecking crew moved in. Most of the structure came down in a day but the chimney remained for a final twenty-four hours, the patterned wallpaper a poignant reminder of the beauty and charm of the old house. Soon a new house will be built, and a year from now maybe I'll be able to post a photo of the phoenix that has arisen from the ashes.

(Follow Friday - Go see what Hooked on Houses is up to... and Heidi wants to know what YOU are up to this weekend)

Still in Vacation Mode

Normal service will be resumed unless I find a way to join this boat on its voyage to... who knows where.....

Dusk on the Dock

a little fishing


one last pass before night rolled in


the intense pink and deep navy sunset
Click to embiggen!

More birds... all around

Skimming the water


Diving


Drying off


Flying in formation (Canada Geese)

Osprey in Flight

Sometimes you happen to be in the right place - the deck of the Beach Association, for example


on the right evening - calm, sunny, with a bizillion tiny fish in the bay that attract the Bluefish


and the right lens on your camera

Egret on a Rock

Not much of a sunset last night at the beach but there were compensations... more bird photos to follow...

Baycrest Beauty For Sale*

Remember this tour and this slideshow of historical houses in the Incorporated Village? Both featured the wonderful domed towers and windows of this Victorian (1887) shingle-style beach cottage. It's been on the market as a rental for a while and is now for sale. If I had a yen for an older house I'd seriously consider this one. It's architecturally charming, the views to the Bay are lovely and I could fulfill all my Rapunzel fantasies from the turret.

4 Bedroom Guesthouse

The 1.6 acre property features a guesthouse and a barn plus all the desired amenities (pool, tennis court, beach rights). I can vouch for the roof being new, as I watched the shingles being stapled not so long ago, and I could hear the thwack of balls last summer so the tennis court is probably in good shape but there are no pictures of the pool, and all I know about the interior is what I can see on the agent's website and that doesn't include any shots of the kitchen. Red Flags!

*The list price is very fair for the size of the house and the area but the taxes might make you choke on your breakfast cereal... so put down your spoon before you click here (or here) for more details.

Another Evening, Another Sunset

Suffice to say every one is different and every one a winner.

This is from Saturday. I had let the battery on the Canon rebel run out and I didn't think it was going to be a stellar sunset so I only had my iphone. It turned out pretty good regardless - a little Turner, a little Rubens - pinks, orange, purple and grey-blue. Click, as always, to embiggen.

Check List: Monday PM

bees: hunted

weeds: pulled

beach: walked

weekend: complete

So far...

the weekend has had...

a little of this

a limited amount of that

one of these...

and a lot of...

House Voyeur

Yesterday's voyeur tour was so popular I'm feeding your habit again. More Incorporated Village Housevoyeurism here:

Beach Walk

Yesterday was a lazy day.  

The kind of day when taking the time 

to walk on the beach with someone 

who sees beauty everywhere

could lead to discoveries 

mundane and marvelous. 

 

Finding beauty in the remains of a pier 

 

or a gushing drainpipe

 

sea life

 

and shells 

 

ospreys soaring over the pond

 

ending with the promise of summer

Warm Weekend

On one of those perfect weekends that came to cheer up Spring; there was sand and summer breezes


sitting on the deck of the Bay, Friday evening watching the sun set behind Lloyd's Harbor



spotting piping plovers on the shore Saturday


a few chores like sweeping sand between the bricks on the path


celebrating the breeze with open windows and newly-hung flowing white muslin curtains


admiring the cherry blossom


and rewarding ourselves with a Bloody Mary and fresh spicy guacamole, Sunday brunch in the backyard

Orange Glow

Sunset on the deck overlooking Nathan Hale Beach, Huntington Bay, Long Island. What had started out as a warm evening with a not terribly promising sky transformed into this magical moment. Un-retouched, uncropped; just as it happened around 7:30 PM on Friday April 24. I can hardly believe this is New York in late Spring.
Click to embiggen.

Earth Day 2009: The Beach Edition

I'd defy anyone to walk along the beach this morning and not be inspired


by the remnants of last night's mist swirling off the Sound


by the random pink shells amongst the wave-smoothed pebbles


or the assembly of worms washed up on the shore

Real Estate Round Up: Easter 2009

Time for another real estate go round in the Incorporated Village, or at least a walk around the block.


First off some evidence of the housing price downturn. This completely renovated Tuscan style house was sold last summer for $1,675,000. It went back on the market for a similar price in the Fall but recently has been substantially reduced.


This red Dutch-style house also for sale last summer was sold in short order. We were afraid it would be bulldozed but hurrah, it got a sympathetic remodel, including a front huge extension and voila - a bigger, brighter Dutch farmhouse. We have to wait for another couple of weeks to see the inside but apart form an odd window placement (picky, picky, I know) it's looking good.


For sale, coincidentally enough, for the same price as the first house.


Lastly, this house was also sold September 2008 but within a few months had been re-listed for a trendbucking extra $249,000.
So there you have it, three houses in one block radius of the Village Hall, all sold late July to early September 2008, now on the market again with similar asking prices. The difference between them is their markedly different styles. Do you have a favorite?

If a tree falls...

Made a HUGE mistake in walking up the neighbor's drive to chat. Sorry, that came out wrong, the chat was very nice, as is the neighbor. No, the mistake I made was to look at my yard from the north side, the side of neglect, an area that we cleared of debris and dead shrubs wrapped in burlap a couple of years ago but that we have done nothing to since then. Because we don't rake the leaves here, allowing them to smother the weeds and enrich the soil, the ground is about 4" higher on our side of the fence; there are a few branches that fell during the winter and many twigs. Generally the area looks unkempt but the source of my dismay was a huge conifer that has fallen sideways and is being propped up by the fence. If it were to fall completely it would probably take out the fence too...
As the tree is still green we guess it's still alive but half its roots are out of the ground. We've no idea how long it's been like that, whether the roots have frozen in this season of frigid temperatures, but we have to try to save it. So the mission for tomorrow is to dig around the side of the rootball and see if we can prop it up, then brace it with stakes. That's the plan anyway. Of course the whole venture could go horribly wrong, the tree could fall on the person supporting it...
So many scenarios, none of them good.

I might as well be in the frozen north...

While the rest of the country is enjoying the first week of Spring, the north-east is stuck in some sort of permanently frosty winter: icy blasts, temps in the 20s and 30s, occasional snow showers - I could be in northern Canada.


Speaking of which, I layered up yesterday and walked to the beach where a line of Canada geese were surveying the waves on the Sound.


If I had been on my own they'd have stood on the sand patiently but I had the dogs. So up they flew.


And landed maybe 6' nearer to Canada in the safety of the surf.


Nice job Sadie!