Observations from the Shore 7.6

I've been trying to stay away from politics as much as possible this week but I have to mention this. You know I love Paris and I love the French language but there are times I'm not so sure how I feel about France or the French in general. That being said there are times you just have to admire the arrogance of the French.

Every year on the 4^th of July the American ambassador to France holds a garden party. This year's guest of honor was French Interior Minister Manuel Valls who proceeded to lecture the attendees on the NSA spying operations. The minister said that "in the name of our friendship, we owe each other honesty. We must say things clearly, directly, frankly." He also said "such practices, if proven, do not have their place between allies and partners." The comments probably didn't go over well but I can't say they are totally out of line given what's been revealed. But this post is about French arrogance so I'll move on.

On the very same day Valls was scolding the ambassador's garden party Le Monde was published with this headline, "Révélations sur le Big Brother français." Yes it seems the NSA isn't the only organization spying on its citizens and allies. According to the paper's investigation the DGSE, France's equivalent of the CIA and NSA combined, spied on French citizens both inside and outside the country. It collected phone calls, emails and internet activity. It even spied on their Twitter and Facebook accounts. But the DGSE didn't just collect metadata for future use it used the data to "map" who was talking to who.

Meanwhile French President François Hollande has suspended talks on the EU-US free trade pact until he receives a full explanation of American surveillance operations. Hollande has repeatedly said that he "cannot accept this kind of behavior between partners and allies."

Maybe this is just typical French arrogance but it also raises a question. If it's not just arrogance is the French government extremely hypocritical or just incredibly naive?

A spokesman for the DGSE in Paris refused to comment on Le Monde's report.

7/7 update - This is on a related topic so I thought I would just add it to this post. The MIT Media Lab has finally released Immersion, a program that had been in development for a few years. When you grant Immersion access to your e-mail account (currently only Gmail) it creates a map of your personal network. Each collaborator, a person with whom you have exchanged at least three e-mails, is given a circle, which is connected to all the other circles in your big web of relationships. If you are interested follow the link for more information. Unlike the government databases all the info Immersion collects CAN be permanently deleted when you are finished.

Observations from the Shore 7.1

Iwan Baan for Arquitectura

I don't think I've ever had a dream house other than the one I'm currently sitting in but then I saw this one. "Casa Obsevatorio" was designed by Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco along with architect Tatiana Bilbao and is built on an isolated beach near Puerto Escondido in southern Mexico. The house is on the west coast so I can lounge by the rooftop pool and watch the sun set into the Pacific as I sip Coronas with fresh lime from the garden. It's my dream so I'll drink what I want but if you simply must have Bud Lite with Lime so be it. Just don't expect me to condone such a despicable habit.

One thing I would add is a large room with virgin white walls. Whenever I felt like it I could just splash paint on them.

Observations from the Shore 6.30

There is nothing like sitting on the deck after a morning walk on the beach reading the Sunday New York Times, even if it does happen to be the New Jersey edition of the paper. What makes it even better is knowing I'll be here for the week. I usually do spend a week here in the summer but last year I was going to Paris and times didn't work so I only spent a few days.

Before I forget, a quick note to the New York Times Company. I think somebody needs to build you a newspaper vending machine that takes dollar bills or, better yet, takes cell phone payment like in Japan. I don't mind paying the $6 for the Times but $6 is a hell of a lot of change to come up with in the morning.

I've been using this house for years and some of the neighbors are the same as when I was a kid. I had to laugh because when I arrived yesterday one of them yelled congrats at me as I unloaded and I had no idea why I was being congratulated. Than I realized, I'm the queer neighbor and it was because of the court decisions on marriage. For that and other reasons I have declared this week to be Fred's Gay Pride week. Eventually I shall have to inform the people at Fred's.

The time I spend here always feels like a recharge of sorts. I do a lot of walking on the beach and in town. Visit the same galleries, sit in Fred's, and eat at Sylvester's which happens to be the best seafood restaurant ever. Sylvester's is a fish market on the bay side of Avalon and it looks the part. I also eat a lot of peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, because that's what we took on the beach when I was a kid, and fresh fruit off the truck that drives around.

I also read, I read a lot, I was told I read too much because I packed four books for a week long stay. The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty, The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro, and The Future by Al Gore. I also have a stack of magazines with Moroccan pottery in them because I'm suddenly obsessed with Moroccan pottery, I have no idea why.

Most of all I like to do a lot of nothing whether walking on the beach or sitting on the deck watching lightning above the horizon. Doing nothing is an activity that gets harder and harder to do as one gets older.

Sunday Observations 11.25.2

Well I did find something, something I had been saving to write once I found out more about Sandy's hit on Stone Harbor. I never did use it but I do like it and finding a home for orphan paragraphs was the whole idea behind Sunday Observations. I don't remember where it was from or who wrote it but it's just a perfect description of why people feel how they do about the Jersey shore, the shore.

"There are parts of the Jersey Shore that, in high summer, are almost indistinguishable from California or Florida or some other sun-washed paradise. The difference here is that summer dies each year. It is briefer, and thus more precious, and Labor Day is the saddest day of all. That’s why we grasp the Shore so hard, why we hang on to it so fiercely. How much can we squeeze from this wave, from this romance, from this fishing trip, from this bar band, from this sun? How much more before it all chills and fades and we have to wait nine more months to try again?"

Before anyone texts me I know I could just google the first line and find out where it came from but that would take away from it no? Okay it came from a New York Times op-ed piece by Kevin Coyne.

One more thing while I'm thinking about The New York Times. What is up with the Styles section? Its been way too boring for months now. After three years maybe it's time Stuart Emmrich went back to the Travel section and left Styles to somebody new, preferably a woman after two decades under men.

Observations on Sandy 10.31

ghost on flickr

With power in the Village out for at best a few more days, and the temperature plunging into the forties, it just may be time to activate plan B. I hope my dad is ready for company because ready or not it's going to be there soon, probably for the weekend.

The photo above is one I took of a friend of mine during the storm. We were down near Hudson River Park and the visibility was atrocious so I really didn't think I had any shots worth keeping, including this one. But the more I looked at this the more I liked it, sometimes bad visibility is actually a good thing, the lesson being don't delete your shots on first impression.

The flooding in the subways is so bad that something called the "unwatering team" from the Army Corps of Engineers is in the city, I have no idea what it is but I like the name and I wouldn't mind having one of their jackets as a souvenir. Seriously, one of those blue jackets with "Unwatering Team" across the back in big yellow letters. No?

I haven't been online much because cell phone service is getting increasingly spotty around here. I think one of the reasons for that spottiness is mental; Monday was the day of the apocalypse, Tuesday was the day to look around and take a deep breath, and today was the day to get back into it (Ash started living on her cell again), whatever your it happens to be. Another reason is purely technical, the backup batteries on the cell phone towers are going dead and have no way to recharge. The truly ironic thing is that the POTS lines are working just fine, not that anybody has them anymore.

I finally had some news about Stone Harbor today. My dad has had no info and with the spotty cell service I couldn't find anything out myself. What video I had seen from the shore so sad, places I had been totally devastated. Earlier today I had an email from a friend who had heard an interview from Stone Harbor on NPR and said it sounded good. That was so awesome to hear and I hope I thanked her for emailing me.

Finally a fashion note, I've been getting some rave compliments on my Timberland hiking boots, mountain holdovers that have come in damn handy lately.

Happy Halloween

Observations on Sandy 10.30

Thought I would throw up a quick post before I wander out to see what's happening. Just shy of two million without power in the city and as of now I have no idea for how long. I have double batteries for everything so I should be okay for now and I can always go uptown for a charge but than I'm sure everybody has the same idea. The apartment smells of wet clothes and something electrical. The latter isn't anything here, I think it's coming from the subways, probably everything shorting out overnight. As with the power there isn't any timetable for when the subways will be back, than again I suppose there can't be without knowing about the power first. It's either a vicious cycle or I'm still mentally wiped, hard to tell at this point.

I guess I'm just an adrenalin junkie because I need to get out and look around while the VQs seem to be perfectly happy watching a movie and contemplating empty wine bottles, probably mentally calculating how many they have left and how long they will last. As for myself, I went up on the roof when i woke up and what stuck me was just how quiet it is, unreal how a city this size can be so quiet.

12:45PM - Surviving so far, actually I'll be happy as long as I have batteries and a 4G connection and those are a few things I do have. Well I have batteries and Ash has the 4G but she doesn't need it to drink wine and watch movies so I claimed it. Latest is the power could be out here for two or three days but that is subject to change. All the subway tunnels in lower Manhattan are flooded and it's a total mess in the streets, trash, trees, leaves blowing everywhere. Haven't heard anything about Stone Harbor yet, my dad said it could be days till anybody gets in there too. I was looking at photos I took yesterday and so far I'm unimpressed, visibility was terrible, it was more like a blizzard than like Irene. As always we shall see, maybe with some work. Now I'm off to check on Foxy.

5:40PM - The sun returned to the Village an hour or so ago, briefly, but it was there, I know it was, I saw it, maybe. Anyway, when I checked on Foxy I found the family had sustained an injury, Foxy has a massive scratch on her hood. The garage manager said some branches had blown in and one landed right on her. Pisses me off cause that may be the biggest scratch in all the time I own her. The latest on the power situation is four days, via Reuters not ConEd, but we have come up with a wonderful plan in the event it drags on, it seems my dad is going to get some company. There is nothing much to keep us here without power so some outlet shopping may be called for plus I can get an estimate on a paint job while I'm there because I am not about to pay what they would gouge me up here.

Geek notes, I know it's probably something not worth mentioning but don't forget you can always use your cell phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot if you lose your Wi-Fi. Also there are some decently priced battery packs out there that can run your comp for up to 6 hours, I just grabbed a Duracell model today.

Political note, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked on Fox News whether Willard would tour damage in his state and said; "I have no idea, nor am I the least bit concerned or interested. I have a job to do in New Jersey that is much bigger than presidential politics. If you think right now I give a damn about president politics, then you don’t know me." So some Republicans still really are relatively sane, too bad their party despises them for it. Today was probably the day Christie lost the 2016 Republican nomination for president.

Observations on Sandy 10.29.1

9:15AM - The first major kink in my storm plans. With an 11' high tide expected tonight there is talk of shutting off the power to lower Manhattan because that much water could flood the subway and turn off the power the hard way so I now need to get ice for my beer. Of course they aren't saying how long said power would be off if they turn it off. To complete the weirdness it's now snowing in West Virginia.

1:25PM - Starting to have a gut feeling that this is going to be nasty, I don't know why, but it's so bad so soon. Wind is picking up, rain too, and the river was as high as Irene with a good 24 hours or so of storm to go. Really not a good feeling at all. LaGuardia and JFK airports are both starting to flood. Wind gusts are 60 mph now in the city. South Jersey looks like the hardest hit so far with everything from Atlantic City to Cape May flooded and Sandy still 100 miles away. Not a battery or loaf of bread to be had in my immediate area but I did find ice for the beer, one never knows. Inside, The Weather Channel keeps playing music that reminds me more of a "Halloween" movie than a storm.

4:30PM - The NWS forecast for Central Park now lists 'wind gusts to 80mph' for tonight, the term "ghost town" is being thrown around a lot and it fits. I don't know where everybody is hiding but they aren't outside at all. The tide is on the way in now, water is rising in Battery Park, and a crane is dangling on 57^th Street. The last bridges will be closed at 7 PM which means for all practical purposes Manhattan will be cut off, that is a new one but still no word from ConEd on turning off the power. For now I'm going to try and get some more pics before it gets dark and worry about the power after that. The proverbial sky isn't falling yet but it's looking pretty damn bleak around here. Meanwhile my brother is working in western Pennsylvania and it's snowing. One last thought, what does one have to do wrong to be the reporter CNN sends into Atlantic City?

8:50PM - I was just up on the roof and to our south is an amazing sight, looking towards Battery Park is a black hole where ConEd turned off one of the power grids. So far we have power but it flickers on and off, sometimes for five minutes. Gawker, BuzzFeed, and other sites are down so I have a theory that the internet runs off the New York power grid. The water level at Battery park is 2' above the record and rising, streets flooded everywhere in the East Village, haven't heard anything about water in the subways yet. If that happens the city is screwed for some time.  Now I just saw there are fires in at least one subway tunnel and seawater is flowing into the Battery Tunnel. Over 3 million in the NE without power, Ash wants to know why I keep tweeting if nobody can read it, good question, I'll worry about that tomorrow.

9:05PM - Water is now rushing into the subway tunnels. For all practical purposes lower Manhattan is f*cked.

10:25PM - Probably my last post for the night as we lost power about 30 minutes ago and I'm on battery power now. Power out in all of lower Manhattan, subways flooded, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel flooded, streets flooded all over, not pretty at all. The water peaked at I think two feet over the record but don't hold me to that. NYU hospital is being evacuated because their backup generators failed and on and on.

To end on a lighter note I think I invented a new word today, the yell text. It's what you get from your best friend when you are wandering around outside in a storm such as this. In said texts she calls you an idiot and other colorful terms that you can probably guess. Looking at three sets of wet clothes hanging around an apartment with no power I may have to agree with her.

Take care and be safe people.

Observations on Sandy 10.29

After this post I'm probably going to do like I did with Irene and just keep updating the same one or two posts unless something drastic comes up. I have no idea what would be drastic in this situation.

To catch up last night's last projections had sandy coming ashore just about on top of Stone Harbor, New Jersey, the beach house, and Fred's. Unlike Irene this storm is going to drive straight into the shore and not run parallel to it. I don't think Stone Harbor has ever received a direst hit. Some video I saw on Philly news yesterday already looked bad, I hope the house survives.

In the Village the first hard rain fell just after 1 AM last night. About an hour before that I went for a walk and the streets were just dead, empty, I know it was one in the morning but this is New York. The streets were nowhere near as dead before Irene. Also it was deathly quiet without the subways running. The only major event was what I swear was bird flying into the window while I sat chatting. Scared the crap out of me.

One thing I noticed during my first look today was the sky. So reminiscent of a blizzard and not at the churning nasty sky of a hurricane. Found a small coffee shop just inside Zone A that the owner said will remain open for the duration. Nice to know for later but I wont name it for obvious reasons. Not that anybody reads this but why take the chance? I may need a place to dry off later. For the record I live in Zone B, about a block from Zone A which was evacuated yesterday (375,000 people live in Zone A).

For the science geeks, that would be you Sean, Central Park already set a record for low pressure this morning. At 7 AM the pressure was at 946mb, the record low was 961mb on March 1, 1914. Sounds impressive but I have no idea what it means. Right now it's two hours away from high tide and the storm surge in the harbor is only one foot below Irene's worst. I know what that means and that isn't good at all. High tide tonight includes the full effects of the full moon.

The National Weather Service in New York just called Sandy "a worst case scenario" for the city. Going to be interesting to say the least.

Observations from Fred's 6.13

I like the title of this post, I always wanted to do it. I've written about Fred's often but I have never actually written from Fred's. Fred's would be Fred's Tavern and Liquor Store of Stone Harbor, New Jersey. I have been having beverages here for, well, I shouldn't say because I wouldn't want to admit to doing anything technically illegal. Suffice to say I have been drinking here for many years.

Suppose you figured out that my being at Fred's means I must be in Stone Harbor, very true. Much earlier in the summer than I usually get here but I never turn down time at the beach house and I may have other travel plans later in the summer so I jumped at the chance. Foxy and I had an awesome drive down the coast on a gorgeous evening, taking almost five hours instead of less than three.
As always the first stop was Fred's.

The word may be overused but Fred's really is iconic. Stone harbor and Avalon have changed dramatically over the years I have been coming here. Along Seven Mile Beach block after block of charming bungalows and small beach house have been torn down and replaced by huge hermetically sealed monstrosities costing literally millions of dollars.
A quick search of the Atlantic Beach Realty website shows the highest priced home for sale at a price of ... $6,950,000.
Seems the 1% spends its money on more than overpriced art.

But Fred's is still Fred's. Other than some much needed remodeling and the addition of WiFi it hasn't changed much since I first walked through the door a dozen years ago. Some of the employees, and I swear some of the bands, have been here for years but mostly it's college kids lucky enough to score one of the sweetest summer jobs on the Jersey shore.

My Jersey shore.

Fred's always feels like home, like I never left.

Observations on Irene 8.29

I always seem to find funny moments in any situation and Irene was no different. Both involve my early morning wanderings as the storm reached its peak. The first I mentioned yesterday when I got the text from Ash calling me an idiot. When I got back to the apartment she scolded me like an errant child as Chloe tried not to laugh but failed terribly. The other was during that same walk near the forbidden zone while I was standing in a doorway trying to keep a cigarette dry. Two of New York's finest strolled by, stopped, and seemed ready to scold me like, well, an errant child. I only had on hiking boots but I was still taller than both. After a moment they walked away never having said a word.

Favorite tweet from the storm, this made me laugh. “@spicenyc: So that's it..my next girlfriend is going to be a hot weather chick..done + done!” I'll tell you what, after the past couple days I could write a post just on those weather girls and maybe I will sometime but not now.

To tie up some loose ends I should say that I heard from my friends to the south and all is well, just a power outage. I don't know anything first hand about the beach house and Stone Harbor but I did find this on their Facebook along with some photos that show little damage to the downtown area.

“Stone Harbor fared very well! We have retained much of the replenished beaches, and little damage around town is evident. We are so fortunate that we can all now return and get back to normal. Many thanks to all who helped keep us safe - our tireless public servants and volunteer fire company - and thanks to all of you who provided photos and information that we could pass on. We love our Stone Harbor - Sidewalk Sale, anyone?”

I have been hearing all over that the government, particularly New York City's, overreacted to Irene. Speaking for myself I don't think they did at all. Better to shut down and have it end the way it did than not shutdown and have a Category 3 storm plow into Coney Island Sunday morning because North Carolina didn't take the hit first. If this was somehow a failure of government I'd much have this Irene failure than the previous Katrina one. As for the complainers, I didn't see any of them out in the streets this morning during my walks.

I think I'll remember Irene more for how I felt than for any lasting damage it did. Not scared or worried at all, maybe a bit depressed about things, but I was wired. Excited at what was happening around me and what I was going to do with it. Saturday night was exhilarating, I can't think of any other word to describe it. I'm just not right in any way.

One last question, anybody need some 'D' size batteries? First come, first served, cash only please.

Observations on Irene 8.28

2:00AM - After a bit of relaxation I just realized the wind is absolutely howling outside the window. Warnings be damned I grab a cigarette and sit in the window as sheets of rain blow down the street outside. Lights of some kind flashing down the block, police, fire, or ambulance, I have no idea. I just took a look at the ConEd map and there doesn't seem to be any major power outages yet but they are going to decide in the next hour whether or not to shut off power to lower Manhattan.

Best line on CNN, “the empty and ominous streets of New York.”

Guess I'm on my own here because the VQs seem to have grabbed their wine and gone to bed so I suppose it's time I try and get some sleep myself. Irene is just south of Stone Harbor.

8:00AM - Awake since six, alive, not hungover, and amazingly I have power. Over 75,000 in the city are without power but no one in Manhattan has lost it yet. That's just hard to believe but I better shutit because the lights are flickering and I don't want to jinx myself. As predicted Anderson Cooper isn't down at Battery Park but over in Washington Square Park which is just a couple blocks away from here. I guess if he was going to be up this early he wanted to be within walking distance of his apartment. Well, I don't care what the mayor said, I might need to go for a walk. For the record Jacqyi Jeras in a red dress isn't a bad thing to wake up to either.

Some friends to the south lost power last night and I have no word from them yet. I hope all is well with them but I just talked to my sis and she said that other than the rain it never got very bad at home. That was good to hear. No sign of the VQs yet which is strange because it's a perfect morning to be a VQ.

High tide along with the storm surge is happening right now, winds gusting close to hurricane force, and heavy rain falling. Forgetting food was a bad idea because I had too much to drink, not enough sleep, and I'm starving. Like I said it might be the perfect time for a walk.  I wonder if AC wants some coffee.

10:30AM - Not long after I posted that last part the wind kicked up dramatically and at the same time both rivers began to spill over their banks as now Tropical Storm Irene made landfall over Coney Island. Never did get AC his coffee because till I got over there they were moving out. His loss.

The VQs emerged from their hurricane and wine induced slumber. I was walking down the street when I got a text from Ash which, edited to be politically correct, pretty much said I was an idiot and I should get my ass back inside. I've decided that unless I can get to the water, or the water can get to me, hurricanes aren't very photogenic at all. Just a big nasty rain storm slapping you in the face.

Some water in our basement but other than that no big problems yet. Brooklyn and Staten Island are covered with power outages but so far there is just a small one in the West Village. That I do not understand but I'm an artist so what do I know.

Seems like the worst is passing now and AC finally made it back to Battery Park. The water is starting to recede already so maybe I'll try and get to one river or the other and see what I can find. I don't have a Weather Channel or CNN jacket so might have a problem but maybe the Penn State field hockey one will do the trick.

Than maybe it will be time to put a dent in these supplies we have.

Observations on Irene 8.27

12:00PM - We have the weirdest sky now, all dark and swirly, something I don't associate with a hurricane. More like a twister movie sky.

Electric shutdown, “If a shutdown of those substations did become necessary, the affected area would be the southeastern tip of Manhattan, bordered by the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Broadway on the west and the East River on the south and east, said Chris Olert, a spokesman for Con Ed.” Well that's bad for them but good for me.

1:00PM – The bar is open and the Phillies are going to try and play. I hope I didn't make a mistake leaving the alcohol with the VQs though. I could get back to a storm shelter for theatre types and that isn't how I want to spend my hurricane. Forget this as the Phillies game was called when the outer bands of Irene arrived over Citizens Bank Park. That means the Phillies now have no days off until the end of the season, 33 games in 33 days. Not good at all.

6:00PM - Made one last check on Foxy and did my usual weekly engine running routine while I called my dad to check-in. It's getting breezy there but not raining much yet which is good because they already had over a foot of rain this month. For the first time I'm glad my parking space is on the third floor, she should be fine.

I'm starting to get a slightly depressed feeling as the storm tracks up the coast. I love the shore, I always have, and one by one some of my favorite places are being trashed. Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills on the Outer Banks went first and will soon to be followed by Ocean City and Rehoboth. When Irene hits Stone Harbor later tonight I might just cry. Supposedly 95% of Cape May County, which includes Stone Harbor, has been evacuated. It will be days till I know how the house made out.

11:00PM - Heavy rain started falling not long ago and with it came the first sounds of thunder. The winds are gusting to about 30 mph now but should rise to 50 mph by midnight according to NY1. The latest predictions have us getting wind speeds up to 90 mph and a six to eight foot storm surge by early morning. When Anderson Cooper goes live at 6AM I don't think he will be standing in Battery Park where he was Friday night. The street below is pretty much deserted now, honestly I think I saw more activity out there during the blizzards this past winter.

More useless hurricane trivia. On October 16, 1955 Hurricane Katie was born with winds of 115 mph. It lasted three days, caused $250,000 damage (1955 dollars), and left seven deaths in its wake.

And now the first lightning. I have the feeling it's going to be a long night.

Observations from the Coffee Shop 8.4

Some random thoughts....

I have been back in the Village for only a couple days but I'm ready to go back to the shore. I wouldn't need much in the form of entertainment because I still have half my tequila, this has to be the first time I didn’t finish the bottle, and I only read one of the three books I took along. The sad thing is the one I read I already had before, "Just Kids" by Patti Smith. That leaves Maggie Nelson's "The Art of Cruelty" and Joel Sternfeld's "Walking The High Line" for a return trip. The latter is a big photo book I wanted to study and see if it gave me any ideas.

Guy told me just yesterday that I have no ass and I don't shake what I have enough. Guy doesn't know how close he came to being laid out but this time I just thanked him and walked away. Sadly this isn't the first time I've been told this, I rather like my ass tyvm. I'm thinking he must have been a Republican and speaking of Republicans, no I'm not ready to go there yet. I'm still feeling too good from the shore visit.

Why do some artists return to the same subject over and over? Watteau’s works often feature lovers in the last light of the day. Picasso was obsessed with the Minotaur whom he painted as a beast, a poet, a murderer, a murder victim, and others. Than there is German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder who liked nothing better than painting beheadings or more precisely pretty women carrying severed heads. Try doing that today and you'll find yourself in a padded room at Bellvue.

I read an article in the Times last week that said women are more likely to sext than men. My thought is it's because women have a much more active erotic imagination than men who are too busy imagining minotaurs and severed heads.

The Phillies, 31 games over .500 and 8 games ahead of the Braves. Need I say more?

Ladytron - White Elephant

Observations from the Shore 7.31, Final Edition

I always hate leaving the shore, I'm really just so much more at peace when I am there. That may sound deep but I really can't think of any other way of putting it. My mountains, if I can still call them mine, are like that too but different at the same time. I like to go into the mountains to think but once I drive over the drawbridge into Stone Harbor I don’t think much at all, I just am. So I wasn't too upset yesterday when my plans suddenly changed and I had to stay at the house another day. I took one last swim while I waited for my dad's friend to arrive and but when I got back there was a message on my phone. Due to car problems he wouldn't be down until Sunday and did I mind staying another day? I thought long and hard on that for as long as it took me to return the call, yes I could force myself to stay.


With an extra day I decided to cram in some things I hadn't gotten around to yet. The best was an early dinner at Sylvester’s in Avalon. I have been going there for a dozen years but just didn't feel like driving up this week than decided this must be the reason the gods had immobilized that car. Sylvester’s is a fish market meets back street BYO picnic style diner which also happens to have the best seafood you will find anywhere. Grilled swordfish and two dozen steamed clams put a big smile on my face.

I can still remember the first time my family ate at Sylvester’s. My dad had been looking for a new place to try out and found an ad for Sylvester’s in one of those little beach mags. The kids were both little so we went to eat at 4PM which was when they opened for dinner. To make a long story short it's up 21st street near the bay, has a gravel parking lot, looks like a dive, and has no clientele at 4, but we went in anyway. 'In' isn't the right word because you eat outside under a green tarp roof and are served in styrofoam containers. Until we left the line to get in stretched to the end of the block and I've been back every year since. To this day Sean still talks about working there one summer. I'm not sure if it is for the food, the money they must make in tips, the cool Sylvester’s t-shirts they all wear, or the leggy sun bleached blondes that always seem to be working there.

I also wandered into a new downtown shop called Skirt which I should have stayed out of. It's another designer shop so I really didn't expect to find anything I wanted but I was never in it so I checked it out. I saw some AG jeans in a cut that looked awesome so I tried them on which was a big mistake. Being tall and on the thin side I have a ginormous problem finding jeans that fit me right but these fit like a fine leather glove. I so loved the way they looked but they also cost $165 and there was no effing way I was paying that for jeans. On their website I did find that they make the same cut in 'leatherette' which they describe as a "fabric is coated and brushed to give the surface of this legging a leatherette appearance! They look like they are painted on your body." These I might have to have.

I just wrote about jeans. It really was time to get back to the Village.

Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed

Observations from the Shore 7.26

One of the things I love about Stone Harbor is its total lack of a boardwalk. I suppose I enjoyed them as a child but as I got older and saw the darker side of life they just started to give me the feeling of being trapped in some kind of ocean side freak show. I do still like to ride a bike on them in the morning though I tend to ride too fast and so get dirty looks as I weave around people. But late in the evening they get too loud, too crowded, and too damn bright which taken together is the exact opposite of why I come down here.

I’ve been coming to Stone Harbor for twenty years and there are so many places that I have gone to for most of them, another reason I feel so comfortable here. I can spend hours wandering the tiny downtown area and than do it all over again the next night. Yes I said downtown, two blocks by three blocks and that is what we call it so that's what it is. Even better is to walk down the empty main street after a sunrise beach walk and smell the sticky buns baking at the bread shop. The street just fills with the scent of sticky and cinnamon buns fresh out of the oven. I’ve already stayed in Wildwood, about twenty minutes to the south, and driven up in the morning just for that.

Mimi's and the adjacent Suncatcher Surf Shop is a spot where I could spend any amount of time and money. I don’t like to pay an outrageous amount on clothes that aren’t made out of leather but something about the selection at Mimi's sets off my deeply buried feminine genes and I want it all. The Suncatcher has anything surf related and has the largest selection of surf-ts I have ever seen anywhere. I probably own more t-shirts from here than anyplace outside of State College.

Than there is Fred's, Fred's Tavern and Liquor store, a place for which I have no words. Fred's is one of those dark bars that let you forget its daylight outside until you stumble out the door into the afternoon sun. It's always my first stop when I arrive in town and this trip was no different. To my surprise Fred's had been newly renovated or what passes for renovation at Fred's. It is the same big square room with its big square bar and the liquor store through a door in the wall but with new tables, chairs, and other such decorative things that the regulars seem to abhor. What I found awesome was the new TouchTunes jukebox which will run playlists you can upload from your cell phone. Something I could cause some real damage with.

I have been drinking at Fred's longer than anybody in my family cares to remember. I think because it's easy to get served when you are tall and look like you might freak without a drink, some things never change.

The Black Eyed Peas - Pump It

A totally unrelated note, my current must have is the just released Motorola Droid3 with a dual-core 1 GHz processor, 4" hi-def screen, full html browser, and numbers on the keyboard!

Observations from the Shore 7.25

I live for this place. More than any other spot I seem to find peace here, even more than my mountains. The scene of my greatest failure may be a short drive to the south but it doesn't matter at all as if it was a different life entirely. This spot is my Jersey shore and not the snookified version of your nightmares. If I had to stay at one place and never leave for the rest of my life this would be it. No mountains, no Paris, no Village, just this house on this beach in this town, and Fred's. Nothing compares to sitting on the deck in the morning as the sun slowly rises and listening to the waves crash on the beach. Nothing else matters as I sip my coffee and just listen.

I left New York early yesterday to drive home and pick up the house key than drove down to the shore last night. It's a drive a have taken so many times yet I enjoy every minute of it. That is a little silly considering it's almost all highway and goes through the heart of Philly but it's a drive with so many memories. The drive through Philly, past the stadiums, and over the Walt Whitman Bridge leads to a speed run down the ACE that cuts through the Jersey Pinelands. With the top down I flash past bus loads of gamblers heading to the Atlantic City casinos and their fortune or their pittance. Than after a short drive south I do as I always do and jump off the Parkway so I can drive through the towns of Seven Mile Beach. Sea Isle City, Townsends Inlet, Avalon, cruising south with the top down on a warm muggy star filled night. Finally the requisite stop at Fred's to pick the alcohol and I'm back. The deck, the beach, the salt filled breeze off the ocean, and the waves crashing till the end of time.

Every time I get back it feels like I never left.

Now if I sound all serious I don't mean to at all. When I come here I leave most of my seriousness behind and short of some earth shattering cataclysm that is how it is going to be for the rest of the week. The world will just have to go on with out me. This is how I change by life, by doing absolutely nothing at all.

A friend shared this tune with me and it's just so awesome I had to share too. With a title like that how could it not be awesome?

Crash Test Dummies - When I Go Out With Artists

Observations from the Window 2.11

It was below twenty degrees again last night. I don’t really care how far below twenty it goes, below twenty is cold enough for me. I just sit in the window watching the people walk down the street all bundled up and all looking like smokers who found a way to smoke without cigarettes. Even my vendor has disappeared for now, his spot on the corner replaced by of trash appearing under a melted snow pile which is now frozen into some macabre urban ice sculpture. It all combines to make me dream of spring, something that at times seems farther away every day.

My brain has started a list, a sort of psycho wish list, of things to keep itself warm. So ....

I want it to be warm outside; I'm talking 70 or 80 degrees warm. I want to be able to say I'm hot and not just be looking in the mirror when I say it. I want to hear that I have the house at the shore for my annual week of relaxation or solo debauchery or whatever it is I do there. I want to sit with my feet buried in the sand while I sip on an ice cold Corona and chew on the lime. True, I don't actually sip beer but I like the thought just the same. I want Fred's. I want to drive Foxy with the top down, the stereo blaring, and peeps thinking I must be totally insane. I want to buy sunscreen and not just need it for my face because the snow is too damn bright.

I want to sit on the roof in a tank and shorts and watch the stars all night.

Now that I have probably totally jinxed myself I do have one realistic thought that is warming. Phillies pitchers and catchers report Sunday. Maybe spring isn't that far off after all.

Sheryl Crow - Anything But Down

Observations from the Shore 6.26

A full moon over the ocean seems a fitting way to end my yearly sojourn to the shore. Actually, as I start writing this, it won’t be long and I’ll be seeing the sun rise again but I really should crawl to bed. I always totally hate having to leave here. It’s one of those times where you just think if your karma goes bad you may never be back. I suppose every vacation ends with those thoughts but sometimes I just get to damn morose for my own good. I don’t like good times to end because I figure the bad times are just lurking in the background.

I never did think about what I am going to do when i get back. But in the end I really didn’t need to. With the VQs here I realized one thing. In a short six months in the Village I may have changed more than I knew. I really can’t see myself going back to PSU, not even for my mountains. I just can’t see the two of them doing without me. OK now I’m laughing so hard I’m going to spit my beer all over my laptop. But honestly I can’t see leaving them behind because I enjoy every weird little moment I spend with them. Maybe one day I can be a VQ too, that is if I ever figure out how the hell they do it.

A few things did come out of this week. I didn’t do as much sketching as I wanted to but I seem to have discovered, or rediscovered, color photography. Not that I forgot it existed because I usually shoot in color, with a very low iso, and convert it to b&w on my computer. I love the shading and detail you can pull out in b&w. But I was amazed by the intensity of the color in the pics I was taking here and I couldn’t bring myself to convert them. (pics)

The other thing is a bit deeper and had me thinking most of the night. I’ve written before about my problem with cocaine and trip to rehab and I’m sure I will again at some point. It all started during a trip to Wildwood just after my mom passed away seven years ago. I have been up and down the south Jersey shore many times since than but have never ever gone back to Wildwood, avoiding it like the plague. That is until this week.

Ash, in her boundless wisdom, decided I needed confront the demons I saw lurking there and finally purge my brain of them once and for all. Of course neither she nor Chloe informed me of this evil plot because they just wanted to ‘ride the coasters’ and I fell for it. Now I love roller coasters myself but I hate boardwalks. On a good day the Wildwood boardwalk reminds me of some freak show out of Dante with a side serving of ocean. But I figured I owed them and didn’t want my senseless fear of the past getting in the way of their fun so I went with them.

I would love to finish this with a paragraph about the stunning catharsis that happened when I got there but I can’t. Not because I don’t want to but because nothing happened, not a fucking thing. I took some pics, road some coasters, and went back to Stone Harbor no worse for the wear. I guess it helped that the motel I had stayed at during that summer is now tourist strip mall complete with pink flamingos, Hawaiian shirts, and pseudo Caribbean nick knacks all I’m sure made in China. So it seems you really can go back sometimes.

I suppose this is it from the shore for this year. You’ll just have to go back to watching MTV’s version now.

Dead Poetic - New Medicines

Observations from the Shore 6.23

And so the VQs arrived at the shore yesterday. It seems Ash apparently packed for two weeks and any possible weather. One does never know when one will get the call for a wine and cheese party. She seems to be enjoying it though. How do I know? The first sure sign is that she turned off her omnipresent cell phone.

But honestly it’s cool having my girls here and be able to show off my little hideaway, normally I like spending this shore time alone. It is a totally sweet sight to see them stand on the deck sipping beers.

Than again I smile a lot when I think of them. So different in looks, but both gorgeous in their own ways, and personalities. Ash is the hyper one while Chloe is more laid back. One has a fine arts degree and the other a degree in theatre, which alone should send up warning signs. But it works for them and works most awesomely.

Other than for my severely depleted beer stock the first day went rather well. But their differences quickly became apparent during our first trip into town. The Oceans Gallery is a cool little gallery off the main intersection, just up from the all important Fred’s Tavern. Until she was finished there Ash not only met the owners but had a cell number too. Meanwhile Chloe shopped in funky jewelry stops and picked up a pile of Fred’s t-shirts.

I won’t pretend I know anything about love and relationships, it’s just not my area of expertise, but I know what I see. I see two women who are strong, each sure of themselves in their own way, and very happy together.

The VQs have been a couple for over four years now and sometimes I am in awe of how close they are. One time Ash and I were on the roof pondering life and I asked her what the attraction was. What was it that held them together in the crazy world that is the Village? She told me it was simple. Chloe lets her be herself, makes her happy, and brings her peace.

Karma

Paper Tongues - Trinity

Observations from the Shore 6.22

There can’t be a much better thing in life than crawling out of bed in the morning, out the door, and onto the deck to the sound of ocean waves crashing on the beach. The scent of the ocean fills your head as the breeze blows off the water. I look out and thinking, wondering, about nothing in particular as I sip on a mug of dark brown liquid I like to call coffee.

Hardly anybody is on the beach this early. Just a few people are walking and a few others flying kites. There was a time I loved flying a kite. Not those cheap two dollar varieties you buy at the beach shops. I had a way cool stunt kite I got on a trip to the Outer Banks. I don’t know what ever happened to that kite but I have a sneaky feeling the kid borrowed it.

I saw a list of the top ten Jersey beaches. I don’t know what morons make up lists like this because Stone Harbor didn’t make the cut. Both Avalon and Sea Isle made the list. Come on its called Seven Mile Beach for a reason so how can you have two thirds of it on the list without the best third? Prob just pissed because there is no boardwalk. To me that is the best part of this town. Wildwood came in at #1 but I haven’t been there in years. It is the one time party capital of the shore that now claims it was the perfect family destination all along. That thought makes me laugh because it just happens to have about fifty bars and clubs in the area. I tend to stay away because it is the one place down here with more bad memories than good so why fight my karma.

A couple of weeks ago i read an article in the Times, 'Where the Party Is Perpetual', that I wanted to share. Just one of those articles that makes you smile knowingly unlike MTV's Jersey Shore which tends to make me gag. The end has the totally perfect quote, one of those been there done that type of things. "The house began to stir. Bagels were fetched. Mr. DiMassa ventured out to the porch and returned with shocking news. “Dude,” he said incredulously, “people are gardening.” Life doesn't get much better than that.

Now I must enjoy some down time before my VQs get here later today. This poor town may never be the same.

Nickelback - This Afternoon