The NYT makes a visit to Fire Island’s Cherry Grove and does a deliriously distracting job of colorfully capturing the afternoon activities of that oft-forgotten sibling of the Pines:
“Last summer, when the local population of piping plovers reached a critical point in its endangered status, volunteers sat in round-the-clock shifts to guard plover nests on the beach. And in June of this year, many residents spent the better part of a gorgeous Saturday afternoon dutifully touching up the edges of the boardwalks with white paint – a safety measure to help keep people from stepping over the edge and falling into the sand during Cherry Grove’s deliciously dark nights.”
I haven’t spent that much time in the Grove but every time I have it has been quite the over-cocktailed event, so I thank the residents for their daylight diversions.