Together,forever, locked in time, a man and his woman at Planting Fields Arboretum Upper Brookville,N.Y.
The “REAL” Salt Shack
Today’s location brings us to the South Shore beach between Tobay and West Gilgo. Even in the summer, east of the concession stand at Tobay is a peaceful and mostly not overly crowded area. As you get closer to West Gilgo, there’s a favorite spot for surfers. It’s here we find the “real” Salt Shack, a cooperative created over the years by surfers and beach lovers. No one really seems to know exactly how or when it came to life, though there are some vague online posts here and there. Engraved in the drift wood of the shack are lovers messages, words of encouragement, peace and love of life. A simple basic structure where one can leave their mark.
Today’s photo installment is at Shu Swamp Preserve in Mill Neck. A short ride up Route #107 to Chicken Valley Road leads to this private North Shore Park. Peaceful, with many nice walking trails, this pretty park gives you a nice dose of Zen. Good for families, couples or solo, FYI no bikes or pets.
Monday, March 30, 2020: We begin the third week of this Coronavirus Pandemic and isolation period. From this perspective, it has been difficult with adjusting to a new lifestyle of staying home and following procedures to stay safe.
With no sports, a lifestyle here that is a daily ritual, that called for adjustments. Social distancing, washing the hands more often, taking a quick walk to buy essentials, return home, and discover those other things to pass time are a new routine.
Today, this means another day without baseball and Game 4 off the schedule at Citi Field. The Mets were scheduled to open a three game series with the Phillies Monday night.
Instead of preparing the bag for work with necessities of pens, laptop, notepad, information about the teams, a new routine is viewing news and updates regarding the Pandemic on CNN, Fox, local channels. Editors are revising their game plan and we are told to write about a virus and different routines that has put us in unchartered territory.
Tell you the truth, and as much as this sounds off the chart, I would rather be at the ballpark in a few hours after crossing the Whitestone Bridge from the Bronx to Queens. Seeing Citi Field and entering through the Gil Hodges Press Gate would be the routine.
Taking the press elevator, saying hello to security and stadium personnel, watching batting practice on the field by the dugouts, talking to the players, eating a press dining room meal with colleagues, and back to the press box should be the routine.
All ending with a visit to the clubhouses for postgame quotes. And the final culmination is writing, filing that deadline content, returning home, with a similar routine the next day if there was not a postponed game that was caused by inclement weather this time of year.
Baseball is a long season. The routine for the players is the same for us in the press box. We are known as those creatures of habit.
Instead, we are home. Isolation, if adjusted right, becomes a routine and time passes by with some writing, cleaning the closets, watching classic sports highlights. Calling and texting more with family, friends, and neighbors, and we should do that more often with no excuses for a crisis to do so.
Yes, we are a changing society and it came faster than a speeding bullet and strike of lightning. So, up here in the Bronx, in proximity of Pelham Bay Park, it is quiet.
The streets are quiet. Usually this is a boisterous neighborhood with traffic, honk of car horns, sirens of first responders and residents going about their business. Instead, there is silence and dark of one business after another with locks and chains on the door.
Essential stores and pharmacies are open. Restaurants, open during limited hours, have a reduced staff and there for takeout orders, Chairs and tables are uplifted to show they are following regulations of a city in a state of emergency.
You don’t know many, but now we all know each other. We are, as they say, in this together and sharing thoughts about this Pandemic is a form of therapy with different opinions and how we are adjusting to this new norm.
And with exception of the elevated and noisy 6 train, running on a limited schedule, that is the only sound of a neighborhood. Tell you the truth, a quiet neighborhood, without that constant rumble of a train, is good for the hearing.
Buses also are empty as one passes on a normal route. Boarding from the back and not the front, is no longer fare evasion but this is a Pandemic and people are staying home.
So why venture out?
“Need to take that walk and stretch the legs,” said a quiet couple. “We keep our distance from others. We are making the adjustments.”
They wear the protective gloves for the hands and faces are covered with the masks which is also the new norm. But, they, like many, don’t want to compare this to being a prison in our homes. Unfortunate, though, this crisis has left no other options but to stay home and be safe.
The new norm is also cooking the meals at home. Forgot to mention, writers are creative and that also applies to those skills in the kitchen. The baked ziti was good, so was a home cooked and good steak the night before.
However, we would rather have baseball now. We would prefer watching all sports this time of year instead of catching up with a favorite TV series on the networks.
Oh, the season finale of “The Walking Dead” will have to wait. Next Sunday night the series goes to pause with a penultimate episode as post production was stopped due to the Pandemic.
And in many ways some have compared this adjustment to living in the walking dead, with many theories, though we should not make that comparison.
But this is the new norm. The adjustments are necessary as the goal is to get that number down of coronavirus cases. Follow the procedures and in a matter of time we can slowly get back to normal.
Share your routine with others. Social media can be a good thing and we are hearing about the new routines. Important as always, STAY SAFE. We are in this together!
Comment: Ring786@aol.com Twitter@Ring786 Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
ROBBINS NEST
By Lenn Robbins
The most disliked man in metropolitan area sports has tested positive for the most insidious virus in most of our lifetimes. James Dolan, owner of the Knicks, Rangers and The Garden, became one of about 60,000 New Yorkers to have contracted this disease. That number grows as I type.
It is not some karmic justice that Dolan has COVID-19. It’s a sad, unfortunate coincidence.
Some feeble-minded fans have taken to social media, which at times serves as the cesspool of society, to express their glee. Which means this is an ideal opportunity for a COVID-19 realty checkpoint.
This consists of my knowledge of this coronavirus: It has no agenda but to thrive, which means finding as much sweat, saliva spit and snot as possible and hitch a ride from person to person. It does not ask for, or even has any interest in, a person’s ID – rich, poor, tall, short, white, black, blue collar, white collar, no collar.
It has no conscience. Neither do some Dolan haters.
If you’ve visited this space you know we have no love lost for Dolan. We’ve asked Knicks fans to boycott. When that didn’t have the desired effect, we suggested fans appeal to Dolan’s love of the Knicks and try to convince him to sell for the good of the team. That, too, has not succeeded.
We will continue to try to be an agent for change.
In fact, we think the sooner he sells the Knicks, the quicker the team’s fans and, possible Dolan himself, will find happiness. He can enjoy their future success just like any other fan.
But only someone lacking in soul, like the virus itself, wants to see real harm come to Dolan. He is, after all, a husband, father of five, son, musician and absolutely incompetent owner when it comes to the Knicks.
Yet on the same day that the Knicks announced on Twitter that Dolan had tested positive it was reported by The New York Post that the owner had established The MSG Relief Fund to keep paying venue employees at least through May 3. Initially funded with a $1 million donation from the Madison Square Garden company and matched by the Dolan Family Foundation and a $300,000 from the MSG team.
I couldn’t care less if this is all one big tax deduction. It’s a right thing to do and Dolan did it.
Look, it’s fine to find some humor in this coronavirus plague. Humor is good medicine. Trevor Noah’s joke, that even COVID-19 doesn’t want anything to do with the Knicks, is true comedy. So is his mission to make Social Distancing an Olympic sport.
When it comes to feeling happy that Dolan has the virus takes away our essence as humans, which just might be COVID-19’S end game. Here’s our message to Mr. Dolan:
Get well soon. Then sell the team.
HIS BEST ASSIST: Former Knicks point guard and Coney Island native Stephan Marbury is trying to secure the purchase of 10 million N95 masks for hospital workers and first responder. After a 14-year career in the NBA, Marbury’s professional and financial careers got huge boosts in the Chinese Basketball Association.
Marbury teamed with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams to help with delivery arrangements. Marbury reportedly will purchase the masks at cost ($2.75) as opposed to $7.50 retailers have been trying to rip off the city.
“At the end of the day, I am from Brooklyn,” Marbury told The Post in a telephone interview from his home in Beijing. “This is something that is close and dear to my heart as far as being able to help New York.”
It’s March 24. And usually ,in a spring frame of mind, all of us involved in the Long Island Music Scene , are pulling out our calendars, looking at Sherri’s Scene, and Ira’s List , and planning our opening day at the Salt Shack, our memorial day weekend at Jones beach ,Woodstock at Old Bethpage and our 4th of July on the East End. Evenings at Freeport , Lido Beach, and Patchogue also fill our minds with anticipation.
But stuck in the blue and harsh reality of the pandemic now on us, what gives us strength is what lies ahead. We hope that the virus goes away soon, and that it doesn’t hurt our famlies , our friends, the community that we live in. All we want is to have a big party as soon as it’s clear. We crave to hear The Murphy’s,Wonderous, 45 RPM, Streetfighter, The 70’s Band, The Mystic , The Almost Brothers , and Desert Highway.
Our strength lies in the love and passion for the music on the Island( and other places too), and the the joy that we draw from being with our friends “.The coming summer will take away the pain of right now for all involved the club owners, the bartenders, the musicians, and all the people that make it work. Stuck in the present vacuum of no live shows, lets all hang tight and hope things return to normal soon!
AN OBSERVATION ON COMPLIANCE OR DEFIANCE
Maintaining a distance of at least 6 ft between each other,,,something we are not used to doing, something that is not our norm but something that is mandated due to the coronavirus pandemic. Something we all must heed in order to flatten the curve, help prevent a breakdown of our healthcare system and keep ourselves and others safe. This is serious business , have Long Islanders rose to the challenge?
On my strolls throughout various Nassau county parks most everyone seemed to be upholding the distance directive. Families with children were together while keeping away from others. Couples out walking, those on bicycles all seemed to be allowing space for each other while trying to be “normal” in an “abnormal” situation.
I encountered more of the same compliance in assorted supermarkets. Many people darned masks and gloves. A few like myself also had Lysol wipes on hand to clean the shopping cart (a very hot commodity at the moment). For the most part everyone was respectful of keeping their distance in the aisles, waiting on line and not encroaching on someone while they were shopping in a certain area.
I did however find those defying the rule in a certain store on Old Country Road in Plainview. I do not know if it was cultural or just plain disregard for others. I do know it was very uncomfortable to witness, unsafe and just stupid. I did hear someone mention the 6 foot distance but no one moved. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
This is a difficult scary time for all of us but we must join together for the good of everyone. Practice social distancing, be respectful of others and keep ourselves and loved ones SAFE. If we don’t it will get much worse before it gets better.