Back to the Meadow

So I had slightly better luck with my camera this visit to East Meadow to see Jess and Marc .

After only two tries managed to get this shot of the two of them. It's not quite in focus, I fear, but it still gives you a nice sense of their collective and respective energies.

I arrived around 1pm, and we headed off to Flo's Luncheonette, a great sandwich shop that was new to all three of us (right, guys?) but undoubtedly an old Summer tradition for lots of folks we saw there. It was fun for me to be in a town that looked an awful lot like my hometown, seeing people who looked a lot like folks I grew up with... but when they spoke, I knew I was not in Indiana anymore.

After lunch we headed further east on the island to go to a wine-tasting. Believe it or not, the Long Island landscape reminded me of the mid-west too (and in my book, that's good thing, before anyone gets huffy), though the trees are scrubbier, with more evergreens, and, get this, the land is actually flatter, at least the part I saw on Sunday. This is a giant sandbar after all. We were also in wine country, so I imagine much has been done to level the ground. This day trip gave me a chance to soak up some sky (saw one hawk, two rabbits, and one possible oriole), and it was made all the better not only be the company, but by the soundtrack. Since Jess, Marc, and I are close in age, we grew up listening to the same pop music, so this was a real road trip, complete with music. Listening to earphones on the subway just is NOT the same. You gotta have the scenery streaming past and the surround sound.

The photo above is from the tasting at Pindar Wineries; Jess actually knows how to use a camera, and took this shot, along with several others I stole for this post (go to his link for the full collection). I asked him to decipher and interpret my camera for me, but we both forgot about it. Next time we'll do it, assuming I haven't broken the code (or the camera) by then.

Marc is a fellow purple proponent with the garden to show it. Before I get to my (limited number of) successful garden photos though, I wanted you to see the eggplant splendor that is the guest bedroom (left). This shot doesn't do the room justice, giving you only one corner. Unfortunately the photo I took that gives you a full view of the room was the day after I had slept there. I was in the room for maybe twelve hours, tops, unconscious for the vast majority of it, and I still managed to make the place look like my suitcase exploded. I won't do that to Marc, so we'll have to make due with this sub-par shot. I think it still gives you some sense of how fancy the accommodations were. I didn't get a shot of the incredible shower, but I asked if I could sleep there the next time I visited. They seemed amenable.

I told Marc that the plethora of purple put the blackberry cosmos from my first visit into a deeper context.

I couldn't get the color of this purple rhododendron correct if I was too close. Actually I seemed unable to get the color or the focus right until I got some distance. Jess has a much better close-up of this bush, though I might humbly suggest my meager photo more accurately captures the color. What the hell is it about purple?

Left is one of several planters Marc has placed around the yard, and filled with several members of the viola family. None of my photos of the actual beds turned out well at all. I can't blame Marc this time either, I was completely sober when I took them. I know I look half-lit at the Winery, but I wasn't. Two sips of alcohol and my face lights up like a Christmas tree.

To the right is a fairly successful close-up of one of Marc's irises. I think the color is close, if not quite right. I wonder if these are the same ones you mentioned, Greg? Marc and I agreed they were almost black. They also had an amazing fragrance. Why was I not informed that irises smelled good? Honestly, I didn't have a CLUE. This one smelled fantastic. Maybe the ones in the stores suffer from the same problem most store-bought roses do, scent having been sacrificed in the breeding for color, but I also grew up with irises in my parents' backyard, and if I ever knew they smelled good, I forgot. I've mentioned before, here or maybe on Greg's blog, that I look forward to violets and lilacs for weeks, if not months, but irises take me by surprise almost every year. Now that I know to give them a sniff, I might start anticipating them too. I think they're still going strong in the parks. Must check.


It is comical how badly my photos of the puppies turned out. Blurry shots of their heads, remarkably well-focused shots of their asses, that was the best I did. So here again I poached Jess's shots. To the right is Mandy, the pretty pretty princess. She and Bernice made me feel special by fighting for my attention, frequently taking it to the level of a rousing brawl. This eventually would expand to include still-convalescing Dodger, whose bark, in timbre, resonance and readiness of use, hints at possible beagle heritage. So for the sake of his leg and our ears, we usually had to calm things down at that point. Bernice is alpha, but often would give way to the princess when it came to sitting on my lap. By the end of the weekend though, they seemed to have worked out some sort of equitable arrangement. I felt I got good cuddling time with both of them.

Each dog has his or her own ways of expressing affection. Bernice likes to kiss, especially on the nose (see right for non-nose kiss; yes I know I'm kissing her, but she started it). Mandy is the one most likely to want to lie on or next to you, but she's also fond of sniffing your hair, forehead, and occasionally giving a peck on the ear. Dodger likes to fall onto your feet, starting with his shoulder, in a move that looks like an Akiido roll. Then he playfully mouths your shoes, ankles and hands. Actually he and Bernice both often look like they're laughing, when they're at their most playful. Mandy just always looks pretty. We agreed that sometimes her face reminds us of a seal's. Bernice is half shepherd and half doberman, with one ear for each. One always sticks straight up, the other always flops over. It's adorable.

It's too bad I didn't take any pictures of the meals, nor of the new gas grill that provided two of them for us, but I'm sure I wouldn't have done justice to the taste: grilled salmon, broccoli with cheese sauce, teriyaki chicken, garlic green beans. Marc even created a special homemade ice cream called Cherry Cobbler. I feel it's not my place to share the recipe however. You'll have to ask the artist himself.

Thanks again guys, for your gracious hospitality and lovely company.