Okay, summer’s at long last started to roll, and not a moment too soon, because as I keep reminding you every year around this time, the days are getting shorter, and soon the icy winds off the storm-driven Atlantic will be battering upon our shuttered houses. But before that happens, there’s several thousand warm and warming things to enjoy these next three months.
First, a huge thank-you to Nancy Henriksen!
Now, remember how the other week I said there’d be no more political discussions in this space? Well, as politicians put it, I misspoke. But only sort-of, and in good causes.
To start, a traditional in-print welcome to our newest Trustee, Anna Kovner, who’ll formally join the Board June 25.
Then, leg over or log on to that meeting (9 a.m. at the Library) for the SCA’s presentation on the proposed new playground. SCA Chair Kathy Shaw and Treasurer Will Obre will lead an overview of the project and impart important information; it’s scheduled for near the beginning of the meeting so you can leave afterwards and still have time to swim, sail, play tennis, and do all the things lucky folk are free to do Saturday mornings in Saltaire.
The SCA calendar swings fully into full swing starting July 9 with their new Sea and Sand Sustainability Festival, in and around the village, and after watching a program last night on the impending 200-foot rise in sea levels, participation would not be precipitate. Further afield, the Sandcastle Contest will be held July 23, a granular way to put all that eroding sand to good use and get a peek into the future as the day’s creations are washed away … though not before we have the winners. Meanwhile, Camp starts July 5, the Club’s clubbing, and the usual summer schedule of VOS services has commenced.
Two Northwell notes of some import: first, the Clinic is giving free skin-cancer screenings Friday, July 15; second and sooner, on Thursday, July 7 the staff is holding a meet-and-greet at the Yacht Club from 3 to 5 p.m., so drop by and, well, meet, greet and eat. Remember, this is a social event, so none of this going up to the doc and pulling that “Doctor, it hurts when I do this/Well don’t do that” routine.
The devil in the dark (with apologies to Star Trek.) Photo by Eve Franklin-Lynes
From vox populi to fox populi: concerns are pawing around about the recent increase in wildlife numbers. Raccoons, fox, even deer populations continually rise and fall; we’re just in an up-cycle. If you have a serious problem call a licensed pest control company that can professionally trap and remove such animals. (Bear in mind all animals thus trapped must be euthanized; they aren’t released someplace upstate. And no, we don’t have any bears. Not yet, anyway.) We tried putting up signs warning the raccoons, but FINS biologists informed us that Fire Island raccoons speak only Finnish, for some reason, and since we can barely manage English, it was all for naught. “Pesukarhu! Ole varuillasi!”
