Last Days of Summer

This post has nothing to do with gardening at all except for the fact that I can't believe summer is practically over! On Tuesday, we headed over to the Midland Beach in Staten Island to soak in the last of the 92F weather. The rest of this week is supposed to drop down to the 70s. What ever happened to gradual change in temperatures? It's amazing that within 1 day, the temperature can drop a good 20 degrees!! It's 71F out right now, and just yesterday it was in the 90s. What the heck?? My plants are freaking out. LOL. The beach is one exit from the Verrazano bridge. Isn't it spectacular? The Verrazano is the longest suspension bridge in the United States clocking in at 2 miles long. Wow! You know its the end of summer because check out the sole beach goer on the left side of the beach. Doesn't she look lonely with just her umbrella? Actually, the beach is technically closed, see the red flag? There are no lifeguards on duty, so its swim at your own risk.
If you ask me, this is exactly how I like the beach. Peace and quiet!

Off the shores of Staten Island are two smaller uninhabited artificial islands called Hoffman Island and Swinburne Island. I had to Google it to see what they were. Wikipedia says, "In the early 1900s, the islands were used as a quarantine station, housing immigrants found to have been carrying contagious diseases when they landed at Ellis Island. At the start of World War II the United States Merchant Marine used both islands as a training station (which opened in 1938); the Quonset huts built during this period still stand on Swinburne Island. The other major use for the two islands during World War II were as anchorages for Antisubmarine Nets that fenced off New York Bay from the Atlantic Ocean to keep enemy submarines out." What an interesting piece of history! These days the only thing on the islands are marine birds, egrets, herons, and ibis. Maybe that Heron that was in our backyard was visiting us from these islands?