BIG picture of the beach at South Hampton!

Finally, the Reason for the Road Trip!

 

How I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the OCEAN and WAVES and SEAGULLS! These photos were taken at South Hampton, and as you can see, I got there when two large dogs were playing in the sand. They were almost as happy as me as they chased each other and the ball their owner was tossing around. One came up to me, and gave me a chance to throw the ball. So I got my dog fix in, too.

I walked around the beach barefooted for a half hour with the wind in my hair and the cool bubbly water sneaking up on my toes and rolled-up jeans. Then I took stroll on the rock pier. People were fishing at the end of it, and I also saw some men in water suits surfing. I stayed until I got enough while my husband stayed in the car. He's not a water person and could see just fine from his vantage point.

This was the highlight of our weekend in the Hamptons!

Long Island Road Trip More Bad Service

 

I told my husband the morning of our second day in "the Hamptons" I'd found a place to eat breakfast. I Googled the address and entered it into my iPhone. I looked at a map to get an idea of its location and STILL I took us to the wrong place! So I was angry at Apple, Google, and myself when we finally decided on this place in Bridgehampton.

Once again, the wait staff ignored us to the point of being ridiculous. When we did get our order in, I asked if the potatoes came with my meal, and the waiter snidely remarked, "Yes, that's what it says." I want you to know that I got SIX pieces of potato that were the size of a robin's egg! It was comical. Best part about this meal was asking the waiter's name in French and realizing he understood me. Ha ha!

More on Long Island Road Trip

From Greenport, we took two $15 ferries to Sag Harbor where we had made reservations at the American Hotel. The best part about this town was the beautiful display of potted flowers. There were some shops, but you could see they were beginning to close up, and it was still early on a Saturday.

 

Our dinner at the American Hotel was not great. When I asked if they had any specialty drinks, the waiter lifted his chin and said "No, but of course we have a full bar." Then my husband asked for a wine list and the guy dropped this, I kid you not, 3-inch thick 3-ring binder with a hundred pages of wines listed in tiny print. For that, we decided to not order alcohol. Our bill still came to over $100 for unremarkable food. We also were seated in a kind of hallway. Granted the place was crowded and small, but that could have been ignored if we'd been treated better.

Road Trip to Greenport

Greenport is located on the north-eastern tip of Long Island. The town was having a little street fair with arts, crafts, food and raffle booths last Saturday. There was a little parade going on that the crowd hardly seemed to notice.

The Scrimshaw Waterside Restaurant pictured above was recommended to us, but it wasn't open for breakfast. We found another place to eat then walked around the exhibits. You'd think a town this close to New York City would offer amazing arts and crafts at their street fairs, but no one was selling anything I hadn't seen before in the Midwest. Midwest arts and crafts shows ROCK! I'm just sayin'. (-:

The Hamptons Road Trip

These pictures are from the Bidell Winery in North Fork on Long Island. We stopped and had a tasting and purchased two bottles of red. The wineries have developed a brilliant way to sell their goods with tastings, in my opinion. There's no way you're going to walk away without making a purchase after bothering someone to pour you a sip or two. There were wineries everywhere along the way to The Hamptons. It was like driving through Napa Valley.

Road Trip Out of the City

 

My husband rented a car and we had an invitation to use his friend's summer house in South Hampton! It took us about two hours to drive. I'll post more tomorrow.

Visiting a Buddhist Ceremony

We were invited to a Sunday morning Buddhist ceremony by a young man we have met many times at our favorite restaurant. If he'd only invited us once, we would have nodded and said we may just do that sometime. But Ryan would text us three Saturday nights in a row after his initial invitation. So we went. (-:

The Soka Gakkai International or SGI (Community) Center is located in Forest Hills, NY, in Queens--a 20 minute subway ride east of Manhattan. Our friend was waiting on the steps to take us in. As we entered, people were chanting rhythmically in a monotone that you could almost tap your feet to. In fact I ended up tapping my feet as it continued for 20 minutes. 

Next there was a sharing from a young woman who attributed her chanting practice to many good things in her life, one being her efforts to increase lawyers in her firm doing pro bono work. There was a lot of clapping and laughter during her talk. (I like it when there is laughter in any religious setting.) Ryan leaned over and told me this was his favorite part of the service.

After that, a group of women sang a lively song called "When Love Takes Over" accompanied by four female dancers. This could have been placed into any Christian service. There was a speaker then a video was shown of their Sensei in Japan about the importance of appreciating workers "behind the scenes".

Overall, it was an interesting experience. If you want to hear how the chanting sounded, I found a good example on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNbU2-9YcGI.

Morning drawing

It's easier to draw cups and notebooks than skyscrapers.

Petting Zoo in Central Park

 

You don't need to buy a ticket to the Central Park Zoo to see some of the animals. Just peer over the fence along 6th Avenue.

 

My son's new dog, named Zayne, is part pit bull. She's the most gentle of creatures! She lives with his owners in Columbus, Ohio. She is fond of picking up my daughter-in-law's 6 in. heels and walking around with them in her mouth just to get attention. She has never chewed on them--just trots around and shows off what she's found. I love this dog.

Subway Culture

There is a lot of art in the subway tiles. Who would have expected that? Do we still put the extra effort and money into public expenditures to add a little artistic flair? I don't think so. Everybody complains about spending too much public money, but public art is important. Think of the many people this whimsical piece touched.

 

A piano student plays for the public in Washington Square Park. I took a video, but I can't get it uploaded. Grrrr. I think he was playing Shubert. My mother would know. She knows her classical music like no one else.

Sketching

I've decided to start sketching and see where it leads me. This is the view outside my bedroom window. I don't like putting in detail, and that's about all there is to drawing buildings -- windows, windows, and more windows.