a week in pictures

inspired by mitchell's idea that our whole family contribute to a photo and letter time capsule at the end of our vacation, i am thinking of a new way of organizing photos. in the age of ofoto and shutterfly and facebook, it's hard to find the motivation to actually print pictures and do something with them, but i always do feel that pull.

what i'm thinking about is rather than making strictly chronological albums, i might create thematic ones - like for example, a fire island one which would have photos from each summer we have spent there. it would be a really fun and sentimental way to experience those photos - from when we were kids all the way through now, and beyond, when we have our own kids. similar ones could be made for holidays, school pictures, etc.

i wouldn't do it with all my pictures, as it is nice to have the experience of looking through several pages of a single time period, but with finite experiences that repeat each year (such as our family fire island trip) i think it could be great. while this does definitely seem like a project that could find me surrounded by photos at three in the morning, exhausted to tears, nailbeds irritated from peeling photos off pages they've been stuck to since the early 90's....i think it could be worth it. was that too personal?

here is an account of our terrific week away in broad strokes...in pictures.

one of the best things about going to fire island when you live in the city or especially on long island already like we do is that the travel to get there is negligible, in both time and expense. after a thirty minute drive, we took a thirty minute ferry, and were on vaca!







we were greeted by the village of ocean beach, the largest town on the island and where we always stay. i love the feeling i get every year arriving, which is summed up by what i say, smiling..."it's still here," which is to say i love the comfort of it feeling pretty much the same as it always has. the stores are more or less unchanged - maybe one or two new ones each year that replace old ones, but the town doesn't grow...stores never encroach on beach, restaurants never replace houses.





















we had perfect beach days...the FI sand is powdery and tightly-packed and generally nice and smooth. our first few days there were the beginning of the week so it was tranquil and nicely spacious. i definitely prefer it that way - it just feels like so open and there is so much air and sun and sand...just perfect. my idea of heaven is spending the full day there, heavily shaded in a special shade chair i have, napping and reading and talking to my family. as the week progressed, the beach and town got busier as the weekenders arrived. still nice, but not quite as nice to me.













interestingly, it seemed like the ocean felt the vibes and got rougher (it was roiling, as my mom said) as the week went on. by saturday, the red flags were up and the lifeguards were getting quite a workout.





one of the most distinctive parts of fire island is the "streets," really more like sidewalks since there are no cars on the island. they run directly from town to the beach, and they are lined with lush trees and plants, and houses that range in size and style, some of them the original fire island houses from the first half of the twentieth century, and some being built before our eyes. while the mix of styles in a mainland setting might be unsettling or even eyesore-ish, somehow it is right at home on fire island - the mix of old and new just feels right.





































and finally, the most special time on the island...the late, late afternoon and evenings, when the clouds gather in a way they don't seem to in other places, and each night the sunset is its own event. sometimes experienced from the beach, sometimes on the dock of the bay (insert song here), sometimes from a restaurant or the crow's nest of a well-situated friend's house, it is magnificent from everywhere.






















also in full effect at night were tequila shots and beer pong, michael jackson dance parties, precarious group photo ops on the aforementioned crow's nest and other heavy reveling. to protect the identity and integrity of the revelers (as in my parents, friends, siblings, and husband), i will refrain from posting those pictures. but they will definitely be in the fire island album-to-be representing the summer of 2009. Cheers.