Memorial Day 2008

Photos courtesy of Alida Thorpe

Calverton National Cemetery

Calverton, Long Island

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For more information and directions: Click here.

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Old Westbury Gardens

Photos courtesy of Alida Thorpe

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Old Westbury Gardens

Old Westbury

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The wisteria are in bloom.

For directions and more information, visit:

www.oldwestburygardens.org

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NWPLI Exhibition at the Fire Island Lighthouse

Photo by Alida Thorpe

NWPLI 

(Nature and Wildlife Photographers of Long Island) 

Spring Exhibition at the Fire Island Lighthouse

April 19 - May 10, 2008

The Spring 2008 NWPLI Exhibit opens this Saturday, April 19th. 

There will be an opening reception party from 5-8 PM at the Lighthouse. 

Parking is at Robert Moses Field #5 (east end) 

and a shuttle bus will be available for the duration of the party.

If the weather is nice, you can walk on the boardwalk to the lighthouse. 

Handicapped parking is available at the base of the Lighthouse and a ramp leads from the unpaved lot to a side entrance of the Lighthouse. 

Free admission to the exhibit. 

Weather-permitting, tower tours may be available for a small fee.

Please join NWPLI to celebrate the opening of the show. 

If you cannot join us for the opening, 

the show remains at the Lighthouse until Saturday, May 10th.

It is available during the regular Lighthouse hours, generally 9:30-4:00.

We hope you can come and see some of the beautiful nature photography presented by NWPLI.

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Growing Demand of Families Struggling on Long Island, New York

Dear Friend,

Newsday's recent cover story, "Look Who Needs Help Now," may seem like an eye-opener, but sadly it is a situation with which we at Island Harvest are all too familiar.

With the cost of such essentials as home heating oil up 50%, gasoline up 21%, food staples up 18 - 22%, unrelenting taxes, and increasing mortgage payments - we find ourselves in a crisis that is compelling solidly middle class Long Islanders to turn to food pantries and other local charities for assistance with the basics.

We hear the stories every day - and have been hearing them for a while about the struggle working people must face to provide their families with nutritious meals to make it through a day. Demand for turkeys by our network of member soup kitchens, food pantries, and other agencies reached 22,000 last holiday season - a shocking 42% increase over the prior year.

As Long Island's largest hunger relief organization, we are supplementing over 5 million meals each year - yet it is still not enough to meet the growing demand of those struggling to make ends meet.

We continue to work hard to find creative ways to fill in the ever growing gap between the supply of donated food and demand for it - including securing commitments from new businesses and trucking in more food to Long Island from other parts of the country.

Your help is needed to address this not always visible, but serious and growing situation. You can help by making a contribution, volunteering, donating food, organizing a food drive, or getting your company or school involved with us. Our Web site offers many great suggestions on how you can get involved in the fight against hunger and food waste - and lend a hand to our neighbors in need.

Or if you want to talk to a person, you can call us at 516-294-8528.

Thank you for your concern and continued support as we work together in ending hunger and reducing food waste on Long Island.

Sincerely,
Randi Shubin Dresner
President and CEO


Island Harvest
199 Second Street
Mineola, N.Y. 11501 USA
516-294-8528

Island Harvest is a non-profit organization the bridge between those who have surplus food and those who need it. Our staff and volunteers “rescue,” or “collect,” good surplus food from over 600 retailers and wholesalers. Then, they deliver it, free of charge, to our network of 440+ soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, Head Start programs, senior and community centers, and other places where those who need it can get it, all across Long Island, New York.

There are so many ways you can get involved with Island Harvest, from making a contribution or making a long-term investment by leaving Island Harvest in your will, becoming a volunteer, conducting a food drive or becoming a sponsor. For more information call 516-294-8528 or visit the website at www.islandharvest.org

Flood and Wind Insurance Reform in Congress

By Aaron J. Stein
The National Flood Insurance program, administered through FEMA which is in turn part of the Department of Homeland Security, is currently how the vast majority of Long Islanders and people all around the country buy their flood insurance when needed. The idea of the program was that because flood is catastrophic in nature, meaning that it can affect large numbers of people at the same time, that only the taxing power of the federal government was enough to make sure that when the time came to pay huge claims, the money would be there.

The problem is that the rates being charged in the program are not nearly enough to pay the claims, so additional monies have had to be put in over the years by Congress, and those funds basically come out of taxes paid be everybody, not just those in the flood hazard areas. There are some social arguments back and forth about whether that's right or wrong, but after Katrina, it was decided that the program needed to be revised to be 'actuarially sound', meaning that it would collect enough premium dollars to pay the claims, without resorting to general tax revenues or other bailouts. The difference is many billions of dollars, and the answer they have come up with is to include more people in the flood hazard areas and also to increase rates.

But since a couple of the people whose homes were destroyed in Katrina happened to be influential members of Congress, they are not looking to stop there. In trying to judge who was responsible to pay the claims of Katrina, there was a lot of finger-pointing on the part of insurance companies who denied some claims that they felt should have been paid under flood coverage. However since many of the affected residents had been told that the work of the Army Corps of Engineers, in building the levee system, would protect them from flood, they did not carry flood insurance and so were left with no way to rebuild.

What is being proposed is to move windstorm coverage from the private homeowners insurance industry to the government-backed flood insurance program, and price it accordingly. Interestingly, this has the insurance industry up in arms. Although as we know here on Long Island, and particularly as you get farther out on the South Shore of Suffolk County, many insurance companies are shying away from providing policies at all because of the windstorm exposure.

Now this sets up an interesting position for the insurance carriers. On the one hand, they are arguing that wind insurance should NOT be taken out of their hands and put into the Government hands. In general, a founding principle of our country was private ownership, and that the Government should not set itself up as a competitor to private industry. But there are many cases (Medicare, Workers Comp...) where private industry was not up to the task and the government stepped in.

To me, it seems simple enough - if covering losses for hurricanes is a money-losing proposition for insurance companies (which one would have to think it must be if they won't write more coverage) then why would they care if the government took it over? And virtually any argument that could be made for or against the government covering windstorm could be easily turned into the same argument for flood insurance. So which is it? The coverage is too risky and they don't want it, or it's profitable and should be left in private hands? The answers being given by the industry suggest they are trying to play both sides of the fence.

As for me as an agent, I have to say it doesn't really matter. I sell both the government flood insurance as well as home insurance for all kinds of waterfront property. Our job is to deliver, explain, and service the product. So I have no great stake in the outcome here, but I know a snow job when I see one.

Walking the Boardwalk, Sunken Meadow

Photos by Alida Thorpe

I went for a walk today on the Sunken Meadow boardwalk.

It was really pleasant and fortunately, not very cold.

I thought it was too cool today for a beach walk but the North Shore was protected from the wind and the warming sunshine was a welcomed addition.

It was a wonderful walk and a wonderful sunny day.

Can spring be close behind?

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Big Changes in Long Island Flood Insurance

By Aaron J. Stein

Hello all, and please accept my apologies for not having written a blog entry in quite some time. But this morning's Newsday article regarding flood insurance had something in it that got me so frustrated that I had to write.

The article is about the re-mapping of flood zones on Long Island by the FEMA, the government agency in charge of the national flood insurance program. They are using new equipment and techniques to reevaluate all the flood maps which may or may not result in people now being required by their bank or mortgage company to carry flood insurance where they may not have been required before.

FEMA is suggesting that some who live near a flood zone are currently outside of it might want to think about purchasing flood insurance now because the price may change dramatically if they are included in a flood zone after the new maps are issued. For instance right now someone who is not in a flood hazard area here on Long Island would pay under $400 for the maximum flood insurance available from the government. If your house is deemed to be in a flood hazard area when the new maps are complete your rate could easily be four to five times higher.

Under FEMA rules, if you have a flood insurance in place and your zone changes you grandfathered in to the old zone for as long as you keep your insurance in force. So if you live close to a flood zone but outside it you might want to think about buying one of the inexpensive policies now. If you end up in a flood zone and your bank requires the coverage, you will be locked into the lower rate. If you remain outside of flood zone under the new maps, you could cancel the policy after a year if you wish. (FEMA will not allow a policy to be canceled in the middle of the year unless you sell your home)

My problem is that in the article there is a quote from County Executive Steve Levy saying that homeowners should be allowed to make their own decision on whether to carry flood insurance or not, as opposed to having that decision made for them by FEMA or their bank. The fact is that we hear every day from people who are only buying flood insurance because their bank is forcing them because of government regulations. They feel that the fact that they've never seen a flood in their home means they will never be flooded. Unfortunately this is not the case and we only need to look at the ongoing problems resulting from hurricane Katrina to see that.

In addition, the idea coming from the County Executive that people should be able to choose which government programs and mandates they participate in and which they choose not to is absurd. If that were the case most people on the South Shore would probably still have cesspools in their backyards except that the government mandated participation in the Southwest Sewer District in order to protect our drinking water in the long run. The same logic is behind a part of our sales tax collections which go to fund open space purchases.

And how about school taxes? I have no children in school anymore. Can I opt out of school taxes because I no longer see the direct benefit to me? I found this to be a very irresponsible statement by the County Executive and contrary to the whole reason for the existence of virtually every government program. It's fine to be a fiscal conservative with the general opinion that government should take the least role possible in people's day-to-day lives. However say that these decisions should all be left to the individual homeowner and rely on them to make the best decision for everybody for the long-term simply does not work and is not valid.

Old Bethpage Village, Long Island

The Powell Farm

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Colonial American Details

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In the heart of the hamlet of Bethpage is Old Bethpage Village Restoration.

Bethpage is in the town of Oyster Bay, in Nassau County.

The Village Restoration is just one reason for people of Bethpage to be proud of the community in which they live.
Old Bethpage Village recreates the times of pre-Civil War Long Island and shows the agricultural and commercial, as well as the domestic lifestyle of the era.

It illustrates the crafts and skills of the time. The homes are filled with antiques and there are gardens and fields. The general store sells old fashioned root-beer and pretzels.

There are live demonstrations of hat making, spinning, weaving and blacksmith crafts.

There is always something new; the village is in a constant state of restoration.

There are more than 55 historic buildings on 200 acres, all original structures.

It gives the town of Bethpage a sense of history and makes people proud to live here.

Buildings were saved from demolition, from all over Long Island, and moved to this site.

Shops are set up and there is a school house with working fireplace and a period costumed teacher. In fact, all of the volunteer and working town’s people are dressed in period costume.

The Powell Farm is original to the site and is complete with pigs, cows and turkey.

This entire area was originally part of the Powell Farm and historical records tell us that Thomas Powell, a devout Quaker, bought the land in 1695 from the Massapequa, Secatog and Matinecock people.

The Old Bethpage Village Restoration is the center of community activity.

Special events are planned each month. There is sheep shearing in May and Autumn Harvest-time in October and there are various other activities throughout the year.
It is a wonderful historic destination and can be part of family life for those living near the village especially if the family interests involve historical America.

Old Bethpage Village also runs school group tours to enrich the culture of Long Island.
This is just one reason to drive out and visit Old Bethpage!
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Directions from the Southern State Parkway:
Southern State Parkway to Exit 28A Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway (NY135) North. Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway to Old Country Road East exit 10. Right turn onto Old Country Road Eastbound to Round Swamp Road. Right onto Round Swamp Road and village entrance will be on your left.

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Photos and text by Alida Thorpe

Winter on Long Island

photos by Alida Thorpe

Winter on Long Island holds many surprises.

The weather is cold but not for long periods of time.

Surrounded by water, the winters are relatively mild.

I hope you are enjoying your Long Island winter!

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Lost and Found Items on the Long Island Railroad

Tom writes, "I lost my camera 12-15-07 on train to Mineola. Does the LIRR have a lost and found department?"

Yes, the MTA Long Island Rail Road has a Lost and Found department open M–F, 7:20AM – 7:20PM and Weekends, 7:20AM - 3:10PM. You may be able to get specific information about a recently lost item by calling 212-643-5228. They should be able to direct you to the main storage area for lost and found items, or direct you to a local facility based on the train line.

Hopefully a conductor or a commuter turned in your lost item. If you find something on the LIRR it is always a good idea to bring it to the attention of a conductor. In light of our National security issues, the public is urged to keep their eyes open and to report suspicious packages.

North Fork Vineyards in Winter

Photo by Alida Thorpe

The North Fork vineyards no longer have grapes to harvest. After all, it is winter.

They are busy for the holidays, offering special sales and wine-tastings for shoppers.

And as many farmers know, winter is the time to prepare for spring.

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Major Changes Ahead for the Insurance Industry?

BY AARON STEIN

Welcome back. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. This post will not be about the New York auto or home insurance coverage that we usually cover. This time I will be highlighting some larger trends that in some cases have already come to affect other industries but may now be coming to an insurance policy near you.

One such new area is that the 'capital markets' are starting to make eyes at the insurance industry. When I say capital markets, I'm talking about monies raised by the giant investment firms like Merrill Lynch or Goldman Sachs. Up until now, insurance companies raised the money needed to back their insurance products by selling stock, and collecting premiums and investing them. But now these super-sized financial companies have become experts at raising literally billions of dollars quite quickly and efficiently, in their constant efforts to find investments to sell to their clients.

Traditionally, these financial companies would raise money for other companies by underwriting offers of their stocks and bonds. So if General Motors wanted to raise a billion dollars to invest in a new vehicle product line, for example, they could have Merrill agree to make good faith efforts to sell enough shares of GM stock (remember that stock represents an ownership interest) or GM could offer corporate bonds (debt that has to be repaid, but does not give up any ownership) for a similar amount. They would have to weigh the plusses and minuses of each.

Now, however, with the advent of things like hedge funds, and giant pension funds and even major individual investors looking to put their money to work, enough capital can be raised to start whole new companies and industries. The capital markets were a major force behind the growth of sub-prime mortgages over the past several years, as investors chased higher yields which could only be had by coming up with the many strange variations of mortgages, and in many cases giving them to people who, it turns out, couldn't afford them and are now facing serious financial problems.

These companies could end up having a huge impact on major insurance coverages such as catastrophe insurance. For instance, billions could be quickly raised to offer reinsurance (the kind of insurance that insurance companies buy for themselves against major events like hurricanes) except that instead of insurance companies buying their reinsurance from traditional markets like Lloyds, or SwissRe, they might look for better deals from the capital markets.

Competition is generally good in that it reduces costs. For instance, it would help us here on Long Island right now if insurance carriers could lower their cost of reinsurance for windstorms and hurricanes. That's what is causing all the disruption in the insurance market for waterfront homes these days. On the other hand, the capital market's tendency to use overly aggressive sales pitches, and only shoot for short term profit as opposed to long term viability, can make for quite a mess. Right now we are going through a mortgage and real estate crisis that was made much worse by predatory lending practices and speculation, fostered by these 'capital markets' chasing down an extra per cent or two of interest on their money through sub-prime mortgages.

The one thing about insurance that is different from almost any other kind of product, is that you can have catastrophic, once-in-a-lifetime events like Katrina or the four hurricanes in 3 weeks that hit Florida a couple of years back. These require careful long-term planning and an industry with plenty of real money behind it. I'm not sure I want to see insurance get the same kind of treatment as the mortgage industry has gotten this year as a result of reckless short term practices over the past couple of years.

Next up, will the next Presidential election bring a total change to our health insurance system? As always, you can contact us through our web site at http://www.nyinsurancewithservice.com/

Autumn on Long Island

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Photo: Alida Thorpe

The fall is here, with Thanksgiving Day just a week away.

I hope you are enjoying the beautiful colors of our "Island"

...and that you find many reasons to be thankful!

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Here’s To The New Gym. Same As The Old Gym

By Michael Watt

When I joined yet another gym earlier this month, the thought occurred to me that I have more former gym memberships (seven) than I do former girlfriends (six – give or take a second date or two).

Make of that what you will, but I hope this gym relationship lasts a good, long time – because joining a gym can be even more awkward and uncomfortable than dating.

Take that first day at the gym, for instance. Just like a first date, you don’t really know what to expect. Will you be welcomed? How long will it take you to feel comfortable? This assumes, of course, that at some point you get to feel comfortable. This is not always the case, as gym veterans know. In the early 1980s, for instance, I joined a gym in Massapequa with my friend John. It was inhabited mostly by muscleheads and the like. John was about an inch shorter than me but a lot stronger and so he fit right in. The bulk of my exercise, on the other hand, was moving that little spike way up on the stack of weights to significantly reduce the burden I had to pull up, press down or push away. I swear I could hear the whole place silently snicker as I did so.

Did not belong to that place for long.

A couple of years later I noticed there was a ring around my waist that had never been there before. Apparently the kid who could wash down a pizza with a Fribble and experience no discernible weight gain was now the adult who did not ride his bicycle everywhere he went as he did in high school or traverse the hills posing as streets in Scranton as he did in college. I decided to explore the possibility of joining a gym again and paid a visit to the place that is across the street from the Sunrise Mall. My plan was to “check things out.” Silly me. Once I walked through that front door I might as well have had a sign on my forehead that read, “Gullible and Vulnerable – take your pick.” They assigned me to a gym bunny “to help with any questions I might have about the facilities.” During our “conversation” she took out a caliper to measure the aforementioned “ring” around my waist. She said if she could “clip” more than an inch then I had better get involved in an exercise program Post Haste. So what happens? She grabbed at least an inch of waist with the caliper – who didn’t see that coming? I was so mortified I would have signed up for a tour of duty in Iraq if doing so meant I would never again have to experience an attractive young lady measuring my fat content.

Lasted there about a year.

Soon after I left I joined a gym in Wantagh with my friend Jack, mostly to play racquetball. Well, to be more precise, mostly to lose to Jack in racquetball. Great workout, though.

Then I got married. Like most new grooms I saw little reason to exercise on a regular basis once I tied the knot. Before I knew it I was several years removed from the gym scene while knocking off a pint of Ben & Jerry’s before bedtime on a regular basis. Not good.

In the early 1990s I was living in Farmingdale and working in Valley Stream so I joined a gym in Rockville Centre. A lot had changed in the gym world in my absence, however. They had these new things called spin classes and aerobics. I found it all so intimidating I opted instead to go jogging through the streets of Rockville Centre. After a while I realized that I could just as easily run through the streets of Farmingdale without having to part with that monthly gym stipend.

I like to jog because a) I get a lot of fresh air that way and b) it does not cost anything. This plan worked through 1998. I even participated in two NYC Marathons. Then I had to have knee surgery – minor enough that I did not miss any work but major enough that I have not run since. With my 20-year college reunion coming up in 2001, however, I decided to re-visit the gym world, just in case any of my former classmates came to the reunion armed with calipers.

I am on my third gym since then. I suppose I am still searching for a gym with a comfort level, although I am not sure what that would entail. I hope this gym works out, though (wow – that pun just spilled out). Just as I don’t need any more former girlfriends, I don’t need any former gym memberships, either.

Thank you for reading this column.

photo: Alida Thorpe

The pumkins are ready!

East End of Long Island

What are you waiting for?

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Long Island Home Insurance in the News

BY AARON STEIN

It's been an interesting Summer in the homeowners insurance business here on Long Island, but it all seemed to come to a head a couple of weeks ago when Newsday started their series about Allstate and Liberty Mutual causing some trouble by non-renewing some people because they did not carry their car insurance with them along with their house insurance.

Regular readers of this blog have known about that for some time. In fact, everybody involved, including the New York State Insurance Department, agrees that Allstate even went so far as to discuss their plans with the previous administration of the Insurance Department even though they did not think it was required, and the plans were approved. (Author's note - apparently the State Insurance Department actually reads this blog, and I had a call from them today. It is their position that Allstate did NOT receive any kind of formal approval from the prior administration at the Insurance Department for their actions) Liberty Mutual had the same opinion that approval was not required, and so did not ask.

I am certainly the last person to be an advocate on behalf of Allstate, who has always been one of our biggest competitors in the home and auto insurance market here on Long Island. But this situation points up several issues that, while seeming to help on the surface, may not be good for the overall marketplace in the longer term.

For one thing, there are several major carriers (GEICO, Progressive, AIG, Unitrin Direct, and others) who are ONLY writing auto insurance, which is currently more profitable for them and carries virtually NO catastrophe risk exposure from hurricanes and other major weather events. Yes there may occasionally be a bad car accident that costs an insurance company several million dollars, but that pales in comparison with $65 Billion of insured losses from Katrina, which was estimated to wipe out all insurance company profits in that area from the last 20 years. Why isn't the State Insurance Deparment insisting that these carriers participate in the property market some way, whether by writing propery insurance or by putting contributions in a pool to back up those companies who do?

Next problem. Allstate had gotten this approved by the State Insurance Department before they started. Now they are being told that this doesn't count. One of the advantages companies always felt they had here in New York was that, even though we are a lawsuit and claim-happy bunch here in the New York area and on Long Island in particular, at least our insurance department was known for being firm and consistent, so that decisions could be made based on what they were told by the regulators. Now the insurance department is saying that's no longer the case, they can tell you one thing and change it completely a short while later. Lack of consistency is very dangerous in terms of encouraging new companies to come in to our market.

The third issue here is the government telling a private company in an open market place who they can and can not take or cancel as clients. I know this is no consolation if you are one of the people cancelled by Allstate, Liberty Mutual, State Farm or one of the many other carriers who are taking these actions. But our economy is based on capitalism, a free market, and supply and demand for the product involved. It may indeed be the place of government to step in and say that a company can't discriminate based on things like race, national origin, or other criteria that can be broadly grouped under the heading of 'prejudice'. But to start telling companies who they must insure based on what can be considered legitimate business criteria (such as not buying more coverage from them) is a very dangerous step in the wrong direction.

The fact is that you do not have a constitutional right to be offered an inexpensive homeowners insurance policy regardless of how exposed your home is to windstorms, or if it's in an earthquake zone, or next to a brush area that has major fires each time there is a thunderstorm, or any other criteria that can be shown to increase your risk of loss. You have the right to sell your house and purchase one somewhere else, or to shop around for the best price you can get for the coverage you want from companies who, based on our highly competitive free market, are willing to sell the coverage.

The FEMA Flood Insurance Program, available throughought Long Island and all over the country, is a good example of the opposite of what is being done here in the homeowners insurance market. FEMA has to take all people who apply and qualify. The government sets the rates and is considered the only entity large enough to insure the kind of catastrophe risk represented by flooding, which can affect thousands of people at the same time (as opposed to a fire or car accident, which might affect more than one person or property, but not likely a whole town or city)

But the FEMA program is way past bankrupt, and politicians who represent areas that do not get floods are sick of their constituents' tax dollars being diverted to pay for losses to homes in flood prone areas that get damaged again and again.

I don't claim to have the solutions here, but this is a complicated issue that should not be played out in news headlines about the big bad insurance companies picking on the masses without cause.

As always, for more information, visit our web sites at http://www.nyinsurancewithservice.com/ and http://www.floodinsuranceny.com/.

Upcoming Photography Exhibit

Photo: Alida Thorpe

Do you love nature photography? Well, if you do, don’t miss this show!

The NWPLI (Nature and Wildlife Photographers of Long Island) will have its second annual Autumn Exhibition beginning September 22th through December 9th.
It is being held at the Castello di Borghese Winery in Cutchogue.
The exhibit will showcase the group’s best work in nature, wildlife and landscape photography.

NWPLI has been awarded numerous honors for its work, most recently winning the 2006 Nature’s Best Photography International Awards (Camera Club Category) sponsored by Nature’s Best Photography Magazine.
Visit the group's website: http://www.nwpli.com

The photography on display will include natural subjects that have been captured with digital and film cameras. Photos are from Long Island's own natural surroundings.
Some selected images will also be available for purchase.

A Preview Show will open on Saturday, September 15, 2007

The full exhibition will begin on Sunday, November 4, 2007 at 11:00 AM, with both NWPLI Board Members and photographers on hand to discuss their work and the group’s mission.
The exhibition is scheduled to end on December 9, 2007.

For directions to Castello di Borghese…Click Here!

For additional information, contact Lou Buonomo at lou@nwpli.com

I hope you have the opportunity to stop by the exhibit on your yearly autumn visit to the wineries and to the pumpkin farms!
It’s nature photography at its best!
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Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge, Sag Harbor

Photo: Alida Thorpe

You can have the chickadee eating out of your hand! Literally!

At the Elizabeth A. Morton Wildlife Refuge in Sag Harbor, the chickadee will eat sunflower seeds right out of your hand.

There are hiking trails and a beach on the Peconic Bay, and many beautiful birds.

Now, I don't want all of you rushing over there to scare the poor little birds away!

Be respectful of nature. Stand quietly with hand extended. Quietly!

The chickadee are as light as a feather.

Try not to move!

There are some other rules that you should follow when observing nature on Long Island or elsewhere.

"Don't take anything but photographs and don't leave anything but footprints!"

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It’s Takes A Labor Day of Love to Fully Appreciate the Summer

By Michael Watt

Is there a more melancholy holiday than the Labor Day Weekend?

Think about it. Nobody even tries to guilt us into not enjoying ourselves by reminding everybody that the day was originally created to give American laborers a much-needed day off. To many of us Labor Day simply serves as the unofficial, summer-ending bookend to the unofficial, summer-starting Memorial Day weekend. To the thousands of schoolteachers living throughout Long Island it denotes the end of the party, the extended-summer-vacation equivalent of somebody turning the lights up and the stereo off as a signal for everyone to go home – or, in this case, back to work. After having ten-plus weeks with no alarm clocks ringing, that must be one nasty transition.

The Labor Day weekend also serves as a good time to assess one’s summer. I like to look back and ask myself if I accomplished all that I set out to accomplish way back in May. Of course I never do. I’m 47 and I have no recollection whatsoever of ever experiencing a summer where I felt I made the best possible use of my time. This summer, for instance, I spent zero hours with my family at the beach. Not one second frolicking in the sand and pretending to go into the ocean. Shame on me for that. I plead baseballus parentus, but still. What’s the point of living on Long Island if you don’t take advantage of all it has to offer? One little barbecue on the sandy shores of Robert Moses? Is that asking too much?

In the meanwhile, thanks to endless hours on the ball field wearing shorts and a t-shirt I find myself sporting a baseball tan – bronzed lower legs, wrists, neck and face. My chest and belly, however, are whiter than a Love Child produced by Gwen Stefani and Edgar Winter would look should such a human being ever come into existence. I should also point out that because I wore sandals whenever possible this summer I have tan lines that make my feet look like I’m wearing white buck shoes even when I am barefoot.

It was a strange summer, too, in the sense that it never really seemed to get off the ground. I blame the lackluster Fourth of July, and I blame the lackluster on the fact that the Fourth of July took place on a Wednesday. We didn’t get that extended Fourth of July break and, as a result, I never got into a summer groove.

The Yankees never really seemed to get going, either - this past week's sweep of the Red Sox notwithstanding. No long winning streaks, no running away with the pennant. They didn’t completely stink, either, as they have in other summers. Nineteen ninety, for instance, was horrific – one loss after another. If it hadn’t been for the birth of my son Alex that year the summer would have been a total loss.

It’s funny how you remember different summers, and how some summers are more memorable than others.

Since 1999 my summers have been dominated by baseball – Little League baseball initially and now travel team ball. I would not have it any other way, with the possible exception of working in a little more beach time, anyway. The summer of 2007 will be remembered by me as the summer of the weddings: my niece Nadya’s and my sister Ann’s. I have written quite enough about them of late, thank you very much, but it is funny how you spend the days counting down to an event and then the next thing you know nearly a month has gone by since the event took place.

It’s also interesting how certain songs instantly remind you of summers past. Every time I hear any of the following songs my mind is instantly transformed to good times celebrating sand, surf and sunshine: “Heatwave” - Martha Reeves & The Vandellas; “Summer Wind” – Frank Sinatra; “The Girls on The Beach” and/or “The Warmth of the Sun” by The Beach Boys; anything by The Beach Boys, really, and of course, the ultimate summer song, “Summer In The City” - The Lovin' Spoonful.

Which brings us back to Labor Day. I started the column with the notion that it is a melancholy weekend. But there is something pleasant about it, too. Donning a sweatshirt and watching the sun go down on Sunday night is something special. You feel the chill of the autumn onset and you know it is time to get back to work, time for the third act of the calendar year. Ideally you get a chance to play Sinatra’s “Summer Wind” a few hundred times, fire up a stogie, draw yourself a Scotch on the rocks and then reflect back on what was and what should have been. Then you wash the sand off your feet for the last time this year and head back to the house, knowing that the alarm is going to go off the next morning and its back to the grind.

Oh well.

Thank you for reading this column.

Living The Scooter Life

By Michael Watt

If I could figure out a way to do it, I would walk around with the number 10 sewn onto my shirtsleeves, at least for the rest of the baseball season. That’s how upset I was last week to learn of the passing of Phil Rizzuto, even though his demise was not unexpected. (Does anybody else find it weird that Phil died on the same day – albeit 12 years later – that Mickey Mantle died, and just three days before the anniversaries of the deaths of Elvis and Babe Ruth? It’s just weird is all I am saying.)

Forget about Rizzuto the baseball player, or even Rizzuto the announcer. How about Rizzuto the living representation of how much we should enjoy life?

Even as a kid growing up watching Yankee games on TV and listening to them on the radio (back then announcers did double duty, rotating between radio and television duties), I marveled at the good fortune this man enjoyed. He grew up in Brooklyn and despite his diminutive size played on a string of championship Yankee teams the likes of which may never be seen again. Once his playing days were over – and he was rather unceremoniously dismissed from the team’s roster – he just moved upstairs to the broadcast booth and plied his art there for another 40 years. Forty years!

His success on the field was all the more remarkable because of his size. His “success” – some people would argue that he was a terrible announcer – in the booth was even more amazing because his initial two broadcast partners, Red Barber and Mel Allen, were living legends themselves and non-athletes who resented his lack of formal training and announcing skills. Yet Phil persevered and, as a result, never had to lift anything heavy for the rest of his life.

The man played the game his entire career with a piece of chewing gum on top of his hat for good luck! Can you imagine any of today’s self-important, image-is-everything athletes running around with gum on his hat? Not going to happen – unless, of course, a chewing gum company paid a small fortune for the exposure.

Then there were the games he broadcast. As I mentioned earlier, like many New Yorkers I grew up listening and watching the “Scooter” do his thing during Yankee broadcasts. His voice and persona are as integral a part of the soundtrack of my youth as my grandfather’s – and that’s saying something. Both had a certain way of talking that just could not help but entertain, and both lived and loved to tell a story.

On the night of his death my family and I were watching the Yankees being pasted by the Baltimore Orioles. It occurred to me that I had a copy of a televised Yankee game I recorded – WITHOUT expressed, written consent from Major League Baseball, I might add - in 1996. I had taped the game because my son Alex and I had tickets to it and the tickets were right along the leftfield foul line. I wanted to preserve the game for posterity just in case the camera caught us in the crowd (it did – for a fleeting second or two). Of course I forgot all about it until last week.

I dug out the tape, popped it into the VCR (yes, we still have an operating VCR hooked up in our house) and relished the dulcet sounds of Mr. Rizzuto wishing half the world a happy birthday and thanking the other half for sending fresh pastries. He bantered with his broadcast partner, former Yankee Rick Cerone, about this and that and, oh yeah, occasionally noticed that there was a baseball game going on. His storytelling meanderings notwithstanding, Phil knew the game as well as any of the other pontificating poof-heads working the baseball airwaves today. I had forgotten how much fun it could be to watch a Yankee game.

And let’s not forget the fact that Phil Rizzuto is the answer to one of the all-time great trivia questions: Who is the only American League MVP to earn a Platinum Album award as well? Phil, of course, was immortalized for his “play-by-play” interlude in “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” on Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out Of Hell.” The story goes that when my man Todd Rundgren (who produced “Bat Out Of Hell”) was told that Phil Rizzuto agreed to be on the album, Todd’s reply was, “Really? What instrument does he play?”

I still haven’t figured out whether so many things worked out well for Phil Rizzuto because of his positive outlook on life or whether he had a positive outlook BECAUSE so many things worked out for him. They just did. God bless him.

So thanks, Phil, for the laughs and the great baseball and, mostly, for being such a fun part of my life. You will be missed.

Thank you for reading this column.