Trip North

I knew I was back up north when I felt the sudden rush of cold air in the plane’s jetway bridge to the main terminal at Islip Airport. Outside, the sky was cloudless and bright blue, but the minus 40 degrees temperature was another punch. Here I was inappropriately dressed on my first return to New York this fall for client-meets and a bit of face-to-face with my partners and staff. No longer able to leave it all to Zoom, I pushed myself to make the trip away from the friendlier Florida weather.

At home in East Hampton, many of the trees were barren, but the yard was full of life. A gang of wild turkeys congregated near the house while a plethora of birds dined at my always-filled bird feeders. Before going inside, I set my luggage down and sat for a moment on the old wooden bench nearby to take it all in. A split-rail fence marks the property line with a 20-acre field in front of the house, and I scanned the tall grasses for any deer settled in. They will bed down in colder months to conserve energy and as protection against wind and snow, while their coats thicken and they live off their fat reserves. I didn’t see any, but they will come. The land is owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy, so it will never be sold or developed, giving not just the deer but the fox, birds, turkeys, and countless other species a place to call home.

Out back on the pond side of the house, the geese have all but left. I notice the lawn is still covered with the fertilizer they left behind on their travels south. The swans are still nestled along the shoreline, the cygnets from last summer all grown. It is late afternoon, and as the sun settles to the west, the reflection over the pond casts a yellow hue. Tomorrow I will try to paint it. It is good to be home.