Feeling nostalgic for two months ago

Summer is almost over and I don't wanna let go! It was a good one.

We sweated through three hours of brooklyn and queens by bike on one of the hottest days of the summer, to get to an art party at a marina in Far Rockaway that Olivia was hosting. The reward: cold Bud and a dip in the grimy sound, surrounded by sex dolls bobbing in the water around us (art!).

Emi was born! Congratulations Carl & Ros, she's lovely. And at less than two weeks old, so tiny.

I spent 5 days on Fire Island, with Jens & Jenny and many of their friends. Activities consisted almost exclusively of laying on the beach, drinking beer, and eating giant group meals.

I hosted Otto at my house while Audrey was away in Paris reportaging the Tour de France.

While I was attending a Smashing Pumpkins concert with Adam at Terminal 5, some jerk tried to steal my bike. S/he was thwarted by my kryptonite chain, but my bike was rendered unrideable in the process. Matthew swooped in to find me an exact replacement--Maruishi Jr was shipped to me (aided by the kindness of Corvallis, OR resident Mike Cunningham) a couple weeks later!

Weekend in Montauk

Went up to Montauk this weekend with Ilmi. It's really pretty out there -- the beaches are backed by cliffs, the waves are good for surfing and water feels really clean.

Ilmi and his friend Dave caught some early morning waves while I watched from the beach.

We "ate local"!

Robert Moses

Sunday at the beach with Ken...
Sandy and Amyjoy.

Octopus kite!

Beach Camping

The weekend that thunderstorms lashed the city (again), Cara and I decided to go beach camping on Fire Island. The mosquitoes were well behaved, and the weather out there actually cooperated with our plans fairly nicely too. We had a few hours of lounging in the sun:





As the temperature dropped we headed off to find a spot to pitch the tent:





And then dinner:



Some raindrops started sprinkling down right as we finished eating, so we threw the rainfly on the tent and settled in for a raucous thunder and lightning show, to a soundtrack of Arcade Fire over Cara's ipod with headphone splitters. It was a little scary, but really really stunning being in the middle of a summer thunderstorm with just a thin sheet of nylon separating ourselves from roaring thunderclaps and lightning so bright that it looked like stadium lighting trained on our tent.

The next morning everything was calm again, so we headed back to the Watch Hill area for breakfast (roughin' it!):





And then we joined rangers Rosemary and Mike on a canoe tour around the area's salt marshes:

Another killer summer is on the way

The first outdoor scrabble game of the season happened in Fulton Ferry State Park, in honor of Kristina's visit from San Francisco. Things felt a little off kilter and then we realized it was because Banana Hammock man was nowhere in sight. Dunno where he was off to, but condolences to him and his loved ones--I can only imagine that it must have been a serious family emergency to keep him and his fluorescent butt floss away on such a perfect day.



May being bike Month, there were also many Bicycle Film Festival happenings, including a party at Studio B. There was dancing:



There were pals hugging:





And Lucky Dragons did a performance art piece involving humming rocks:



Elliott helped get the party started:





And that's all she wrote for BFF shenanigans:



Two weekends ago there was also a 50 mile bike ride out to a farm in Long Island (thanks for inviting us, Monica!) which involved lots of lycra, excessive heat, and a seaside respite--most of the pictures are on Facebook already but here are a few more:

Puerto Rico Part I

Recently, Mina and I decided to escape the cold cold New York winter for a little vacay in sunny Puerto Rico! We took a little little plane from the main island to the island just off the eastern coast, Vieques.



This is the view from the Malècon - the boardwalk, basically - right outside our guesthouse.
How many pictures of the beach do you need?
Here's the panoramic:





There were horses everywhere

We even saw a couple of them getting it on. Ah, nature!

Sadly, I couldn't take pictures of the bioluminescent bay without getting my camera all wet.
On our last day, I took a ride on horseback around the island.





This is me and Estal. Just look at how happy I am, with my very own pony! According to this, a man kept a pony in his apartment in Sweden. Hmmm...


Pics of San Juan to come!