Summer 2022 officially ends on September 22. It was wonderful to be able to enjoy this last summer, especially after COVID-19 played such havoc on the two previous ones. The fact that it seldom rained all this summer was a bonus for my sailing and going to the beach activities.
Now that summer is officially over, next comes the fall. I love fall on the East End. Driving the back roads and seeing the mighty old trees with their leaves turning colors is always special. Seeing pumpkin fields and the last of the tall corn being harvested is something I look forward to every year.
In the fall there is something about seeing the wild turkeys that are all over the Hamptons cruising through people’s yards. The coloring of turkeys seems to blend in with the colors of autumn. Be careful–the turkeys can become hostile this time of year.
There is a crispiness to the air when the temperature in the evening is in the 50s and low 60s. It is definitely fleece and sweatshirt weather. It’s always strange when it’s time to put the short pants away and pull out the sweatshirts, sweaters, and fleece jackets. I don’t see myself buying any new fall clothing this year; I just love my old favorites. They are memorials to where-ever I bought them.
Of course, there are the holdouts who swim in the bays and some of the ocean beaches until mid-October or later. A few years ago, my wife and I started wearing mini wetsuits so we can extend our swimming season until the beginning of October. I love the slogan of one of the wetsuit companies that says, “ it’s always summer inside this wetsuit.”
Even as a late sixty-something senior I do most of my bike riding in the fall. Believe it or not, at my old age I still put on a spandex bike outfit and take to the road with my road bike that I bought in 1998. My wife and I are still good for a nice 10 to 15-mile ride, usually taking about an hour. Thank God there are no major hills anywhere near where we live.
Right now, is the sweet time between the leaves falling off the trees and the garden needing lots of work. That time is coming soon enough but let’s not rush that chore intensive time of the year. I do the gardening and it keeps me active. The first of the big cleanups is just a few weeks away.
As the temperature at night begins to hover in the mid 50s, we have had to turn on the heat. We are not looking forward to paying the highest amount of money we have ever paid for heat in our lives. Thank God our home is very well insulated. Whoever built it obviously knew high priced heat was something in the future.
I love going to the ocean all year ’round. Taking long ocean beach walks In the fall first started when I had a beagle and lived off the Atlantic in Montauk. The beagle was able to roam the beaches after the summer season. Now I do it without him because I love that ocean breeze, that ocean air and that ocean view of a big sky disappearing over the horizon.
There are only a few weeks until I have to take my boat out of the water for the winter. As the sunlit part of the day gets shorter, so are my sunset sails. Eventually I will be coming in from Gardner’s Bay before 5 o’clock because that’s when the sun sets. Just this week it’s started setting before 7 o’clock.
It was at this time of the year in 2003 that I made the decision not to renew my apartment in New York City and stay out east forever. That year was my first fall season in the Hamptons. Obviously, I loved it enough to never even consider moving back to Manhattan. The freedom of wide-open spaces and a different philosophy of life liberated my heart and soul. I am sure many of you reading this know exactly what I mean.
