Back from the Ancestral Homeland

What a nice trip I had --back to the Island of Long! I flew up on Monday, and Monday drove to my old 'hood. It's kept up nicely, but I had forgotten what a bland suburban place it is. As Stein said --there's no there there.

Worse --no ghosts. I thought I saw Carl Berkowitz playing basketball in his driveway. Carl was an early childhood friend who drowned at age 20 playing ice hockey on a frozen (though apparently not completely) pond. It wasn't him --just another Jew-frooed kid imitating Groucho Marx.

Monday night I went to my old friend Mark and Rita's house. They were married after college, and pledged never to have kids. Fortunately they broke the pledge, as they have a 13 year old son, Joseph, who's a real winner. He sat and talked with us until he couldn't take the reminiscing, and then left for his friend's house. MArk and Rita an dI went out for steaks.

They're a breath of fresh air. I took them to a Morton's, and Rita really appreciated it. They have such a nice life together. MArk works and coaches Joe in sports, and when he gets away, he fishes off the Robert Moses Causeway.

After dinner we drove to Fire ISland, and walked to a lighthouse. We laughed about our colorful old friends, and sighed when we remembered how many of our number had died. Of our class of 455, about 20 have passed. Strangely, AIDS claimed many of the formerly closeted. Several died of other alcohol and drug related causes, and just a few of heart attacks and cancer.

I did my business at Stony Brook the next day, and then decided to circumnavigate the Island. I drove to the North Fork, and visited Greenport and Orient Point, places I'd never seen. They were the Hamptons 30 years ago! They were lovely little villages, with old refurbished churches and commercial buildings. I strolled through the towns and ORient Point beach, chatting with the surfcasting fisherman.

I then took a ferry to Shelter ISland, and then south to the Hamptons. I had some terrific steamers at Gosman's in Montauk, and then found an inn nearby.

I'm such a lightweight traveler! I think my drive around Eastern LI may have quenched my thirst to drive around the whole US! We'll see after D2 turns 18.

Yesterday I stopped at the Planting Fields in Brookville, a favorite high school hangout. The young parking lot attendant gave me a map and asked if I needed a tour. I told her my friends and I used to get stoned in many of the forests and fieleds at the arboretum. Her deadpan reply: "Yeah --I hear that a lot from folks your age."

I sauntered around the paths and admired the plantings. I entered a "tropical greenhouse," and realized that every "exotic" plant they had there is found at my Miami house! I spoke to the older, Black gardner who had been to Fairchild Garden and loved it. I told him it was blocks from my house.

Thereafter back to JFK, and home. No ghosts, but a fine time.