The longest day of the year 2009 arrives on June 21, Sunday, and at the 12:45 a.m. solstice, the springtime will be gone and we will be living in summertime.
The first day of summer is the day that the Montauk east-facing windows that were shut back in frosts of late October are re-opened again. In Montauk it is still possible to simply leave windows open day and night for summery breezes to billow in, or to welcome in the stillness of the dunes or to let in the songs of the ocean.
The spring of 2009 is the juiciest in many years, with enough rain and fog and mist to coax even the tenderest of tiny wild orchids out of a shady loam. Dandelions have bloomed regally; violets and violas are no longer shy.
This year, the trees of Montauk ~ the pygmy pines, the blue berry-laden junipers, the astonishing marine oaks cloaked in green-gray lichen, the holly and the hardy firs, the elms, chestnuts and sugar maples ~ they all are large, handsome and luscious and so sexy in their romantic allure that Montauk-inspired marriages may soon become rife. We have no count of the number of matrimonial proposals made both under and up in the trees of Montauk, but almost everyone in town feels that 2009 may be a banner year for arboreal question popping.
Except on Montauk’s treeless town green, the trees of Montauk are almost everywhere, and when there is a breeze you can hear their leaves gossip and rustle in chorus, a lovely acoustical background that is often unnoticed by passers-through, yet the leafy sounds of its tall and mature trees are among the covert joys of Montauk.
THERE ARE also many, many small trees. Montauk’s shadbushes are small trees (no more than 30 feet tall) but great friends nonetheless. They are sometimes called Juneberry and they are now in full leaf and will be until late autumn. They grow by shooting out curly tendrils toward the sky. They are most beautiful as a canopy to protect the thousands of critter and creatures that live in the underbrush between the Old Montauk Highway and the ocean beach. Shadbushes are called shadbushes because they display pretty white flowers precisely when the shad fish from the south arrive at local streams. In Montauk, this is usually before the end of May.
In shadbush thickets live deer, raccoon, opossum, rabbit, mice, fox, feral cats, black snakes, garter snakes, salamanders, and some of the most criminal mosquitoes ever bred on earth, just as bad as in Maine, and worse. You can mess around with the Montauk Monster, but you don’t mess around with the Montauk mosquitoes. They will mess with you. Industrial strength repellent does some good, but in a very wet spring like this one is the mosquito population explodes. On the good side however, is the simultaneous flourishing of Montauk’s resident bat population, who locate and gobble up metric tons of mosquitoes as their nightly entrée.
The shadbushes grow so thick in some tracts between Ditch Plains and the Montauk Point lighthouse that a few years ago a 70-year-old priestly monk went for a meditative stroll on a path that led from the lookout lot on the ocean side off Route 27 and got himself lost. Three days later he found his way out. He had heard traffic noise but was not able to keep a direction in the undergrowth tangles. Except for insect bites and ravenous hunger, he was healthy. “But I do not recommend the experience for non-believers,” he told a reporter.
People who live year-round in Montauk and tend to lawns and gardens are grateful for the heavy spring rains. The Montauk summertime weather is often dry and sunny for long strings of days, and in the occasional spring droughts the relentless heat and dryness burn up grasses and wilt even the larger trees. If you are a visitor to Montauk and the summer is dry, give a thought to the importance and the preciousness of pure, fresh water. Waste as little water as possible. Drink wine.
What to Do When It Rains in Montauk
1) Shoot some pool at The Memory Motel or Salivars. The table at The Memory (631-668-2702) is home to the most dangerous local sharks, so don’t, unless you are also a shark, ever play for money. If you simply get a drink at the bar, you can watch some very entertaining games. If a guy named Colin looks like you can beat him, don’t go there. It costs $2 a game and the table’s open every night except Friday and Saturday, when there are bands playing. Why close it then? “Because it’s crowded those nights,” explained the bartender, “and it can get violent when somebody fucks with a pool shot.” At Salivars (631-668-2555) it’s $2 a game. A few more don’ts: Don’t ask the bartender, particularly if the bartender is a woman, anything at all about the huge shark’s head mounted over the pool table. If she hears about it one more time she may crown you with a bottle of Corona. Don’t simply open the ladies room door in order to make a shot from the upper right hand corner of the table. Yes, you cannot draw your stick back more than a few inches if the door is closed. Always knock first.
2) If you are a connoisseur of bad movies, go to the Montauk Movie theater (668-2393) and whatever is on the bill is almost sure to be a bummer. But if you are sick of House and NCSI on the TV, give it a shot. You have a one in 100 change, maybe, of seeing something worthwhile. Yet, somehow, it’s kind of campy and the ice cream is usually good.
3) The bar at The Harvest (668-5574)is a friendly place for the middle aged and better dressed; the bar at The Westlake Clam & Chowder House (668-6252) is fisher-folk fun with excellent bartenders and a fine Japanese and American kitchen; Shagwong’s (668-3050) bar is for anyone who is serious about telling lies and getting hammered; The Point’s bar (668-1500) is perfect for Mets and Yankee fans who can watch it on big-screen plasmas. Guerney’s bar (668-2345) is where Tony Soprano and his family and friends hang out.
The first day of summer is the day that the Montauk east-facing windows that were shut back in frosts of late October are re-opened again. In Montauk it is still possible to simply leave windows open day and night for summery breezes to billow in, or to welcome in the stillness of the dunes or to let in the songs of the ocean.
The spring of 2009 is the juiciest in many years, with enough rain and fog and mist to coax even the tenderest of tiny wild orchids out of a shady loam. Dandelions have bloomed regally; violets and violas are no longer shy.
This year, the trees of Montauk ~ the pygmy pines, the blue berry-laden junipers, the astonishing marine oaks cloaked in green-gray lichen, the holly and the hardy firs, the elms, chestnuts and sugar maples ~ they all are large, handsome and luscious and so sexy in their romantic allure that Montauk-inspired marriages may soon become rife. We have no count of the number of matrimonial proposals made both under and up in the trees of Montauk, but almost everyone in town feels that 2009 may be a banner year for arboreal question popping.
Except on Montauk’s treeless town green, the trees of Montauk are almost everywhere, and when there is a breeze you can hear their leaves gossip and rustle in chorus, a lovely acoustical background that is often unnoticed by passers-through, yet the leafy sounds of its tall and mature trees are among the covert joys of Montauk.
THERE ARE also many, many small trees. Montauk’s shadbushes are small trees (no more than 30 feet tall) but great friends nonetheless. They are sometimes called Juneberry and they are now in full leaf and will be until late autumn. They grow by shooting out curly tendrils toward the sky. They are most beautiful as a canopy to protect the thousands of critter and creatures that live in the underbrush between the Old Montauk Highway and the ocean beach. Shadbushes are called shadbushes because they display pretty white flowers precisely when the shad fish from the south arrive at local streams. In Montauk, this is usually before the end of May.
In shadbush thickets live deer, raccoon, opossum, rabbit, mice, fox, feral cats, black snakes, garter snakes, salamanders, and some of the most criminal mosquitoes ever bred on earth, just as bad as in Maine, and worse. You can mess around with the Montauk Monster, but you don’t mess around with the Montauk mosquitoes. They will mess with you. Industrial strength repellent does some good, but in a very wet spring like this one is the mosquito population explodes. On the good side however, is the simultaneous flourishing of Montauk’s resident bat population, who locate and gobble up metric tons of mosquitoes as their nightly entrée.
The shadbushes grow so thick in some tracts between Ditch Plains and the Montauk Point lighthouse that a few years ago a 70-year-old priestly monk went for a meditative stroll on a path that led from the lookout lot on the ocean side off Route 27 and got himself lost. Three days later he found his way out. He had heard traffic noise but was not able to keep a direction in the undergrowth tangles. Except for insect bites and ravenous hunger, he was healthy. “But I do not recommend the experience for non-believers,” he told a reporter.
People who live year-round in Montauk and tend to lawns and gardens are grateful for the heavy spring rains. The Montauk summertime weather is often dry and sunny for long strings of days, and in the occasional spring droughts the relentless heat and dryness burn up grasses and wilt even the larger trees. If you are a visitor to Montauk and the summer is dry, give a thought to the importance and the preciousness of pure, fresh water. Waste as little water as possible. Drink wine.
What to Do When It Rains in Montauk
1) Shoot some pool at The Memory Motel or Salivars. The table at The Memory (631-668-2702) is home to the most dangerous local sharks, so don’t, unless you are also a shark, ever play for money. If you simply get a drink at the bar, you can watch some very entertaining games. If a guy named Colin looks like you can beat him, don’t go there. It costs $2 a game and the table’s open every night except Friday and Saturday, when there are bands playing. Why close it then? “Because it’s crowded those nights,” explained the bartender, “and it can get violent when somebody fucks with a pool shot.” At Salivars (631-668-2555) it’s $2 a game. A few more don’ts: Don’t ask the bartender, particularly if the bartender is a woman, anything at all about the huge shark’s head mounted over the pool table. If she hears about it one more time she may crown you with a bottle of Corona. Don’t simply open the ladies room door in order to make a shot from the upper right hand corner of the table. Yes, you cannot draw your stick back more than a few inches if the door is closed. Always knock first.
2) If you are a connoisseur of bad movies, go to the Montauk Movie theater (668-2393) and whatever is on the bill is almost sure to be a bummer. But if you are sick of House and NCSI on the TV, give it a shot. You have a one in 100 change, maybe, of seeing something worthwhile. Yet, somehow, it’s kind of campy and the ice cream is usually good.
3) The bar at The Harvest (668-5574)is a friendly place for the middle aged and better dressed; the bar at The Westlake Clam & Chowder House (668-6252) is fisher-folk fun with excellent bartenders and a fine Japanese and American kitchen; Shagwong’s (668-3050) bar is for anyone who is serious about telling lies and getting hammered; The Point’s bar (668-1500) is perfect for Mets and Yankee fans who can watch it on big-screen plasmas. Guerney’s bar (668-2345) is where Tony Soprano and his family and friends hang out.
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