FIRE ISLAND SUMMER HEAT

hmmmmmm, could these belong to the Mistress?

 

I’ve been away from my ever faithful Casa du Borghese for a while now, and I feel a bit guilty about it. Yeah right!!!! Seems like forever I have been gone. I guess I’ve been having too much fun, juggling to many balls so to speak!!!!  I’ve been in my happy place once again. One of the few places where, for me, a passport isn’t the key to a total escape. My first visit to  Fire Island is this happy place I mention, and it’s a small ,31 miles long, to be precise, piece of paradise just off of Long Island, NY, with approximately 292 year-round residents. Fire Island, and especially The Pines, is like gay summer camp. It looks that way, it sounds that way, it feels that way. The whole village is connected by a wooden boardwalks which I found to be so cool. Not to mention the houses, which I'll feature in the next post. There is one grocery store, one dance club, which gets packed like a Manhattan club on Pride, a couple small restaurants, and hundreds of homes overlooking either the bay ,looking west to New York, or eastward onto the ocean. And then there is the more quite Cherry Grove, with more amenities and eateries to enjoy along with it's own beach. And between the Grove and the Pines is the legendary Meat Rack, a wooded forest that was once very much, huh, how shall I say....a very sexual place to get your rocks off!!!! Still some activity ,but much more tame these days The beautiful boardwalks....

 

Working in fashion, interior design and retail, I've seen it all, and I firmly believe in work hard play hard. I had always heard of Fire Island, where the lovely gay men go to frolic in the summer ,and in numbers ,from NYC and Philadelphia, so when I was finally invited, who was I to say no? So the clan and I headed off for some sin in the sun, we traveled like wolves in a well coiffed pack. Going into this I knew packing would be fun, and of course over packed for the island which requires as much planning as a grand tour of Europe. Us silly gay men. Truth be told half my suitcase was square cuts!

 

Campy fun!

 

All and all, it was a wonderful vacation, I never would have thought it would be so beautiful, and the people, locals and guest ,were all very, very hospitable!!!!!  It might look like crazy times all round, but during the week was much more quite and relaxing till Thursday evening hit....then look out. These are some of the many reasons I loved Fire Island, and highly recommend to visit there at least once.

 

Deer......

Matthew captured this guy ! How cool is that???

 

Deer as friendly as puppies.  Okay, so you can’t pet them like puppies, you know ticks and all. But I did see some guys touch there noses, but you’ll never get as close to deer anywhere as you will here, and if you’re lucky, you’ll catch sightings of the babies, in all their spotted, furry adorable-ness. One day on the beach, my first sighting, your Mistress thought I consumed to much gin. Could I be seeing deer on a beach????? YES!

 

Wagons. 

 

 One doesn't get from place to place via car in Fire Island, I’ll get to that, so everyone transports everything via wagon.  Those adorable, classic Radio Flyers you remember from childhood, although many are not red, but painted the color of the houses they transport goods to and from. So cool!. What can I say...it's the little things. No need to carry multiple gin bottles to the beach or a party!!!

 

Happy Hour and Night life

You’ll often hear island regulars saying “See you at Mermaids happy hour?”, and they’re referring to a restaurant/bar directly on the bay where you can sip frozen daiquiris and chocolate martinis while sitting directly on the bar and watching the sunset.  It’s perfection. Or head to the newly built Pavilion for low/high tea and late night fun...with men and drag queens galore!!!!!

 

The fabulous Alyssa Edwards performed with her new  drag daughter.

The nearly half naked boys dancing the night away at Pavilion.

The Pavilion is a marvel of beauty itself......

 

There are about 8 bars in the Pines/Cherry Grove, and not one of them is chic.  There’s beer and cock-a-tails all over the floors, decks overflow with people and music, and you see the same people at the same bars all the time. Which is a good thing. How else can you remember a guys name. Repetition is key!!!!

 

NO CARS. 

 

That’s right, none.  During the summer months, the only mode of transportation is a bicycle or your feet. Or if like your Mistress was carried assisted from place to place. No traffic, no designated driving, no taxis, no worries. And the only way there is the ferries!!!!! And you can take that as you want!!!! I rode on at least two ferries to get there.

 

 

THE BOYS.

Do any of us not like to see some eye candy???? Being at our hosts house, there was 10 guys this time, so whether out or in, there was no short supply at your Mistress's finger tips. I say there like gloves, shoes, and hats. Can you really have too many????

 

Preston captured Mistress Maddie's # 1 Fan in an air hump on yours truly. Thank god I wore a griddle.

 

Have you ever seen so many hot gays gathered in one place? Ain’t life just grand? Low tea Saturday evening in Fire Island Pines. I came close to doing a swan dive off the balcony into the sea of flesh!!!

Fun at a pool party. Evan was a shooter, what can I tell you?

A snap of some of our clan

This guy at low tea had some very nice assets!

My favorite go go boy Carlos at tea!!!! Boy were those legs strong!

Preston and Matthew in a surprise snap by the Mistress. SMILE! Your on Mistress cam!!!!

 

A lovely pool party our friendly neighbors invited us to! It's was packed, and what a beautiful house. I have, unfortunely no recollect on how the evening ended.

A group of guys I met one night at low tea. Some swell guys and very fun. I was able to get to know the two on the right over drinks later,wink!

 

No chain stores of any kind.

 

 

You will never see a Starbucks, a Gap, a Subway, or a Jamba Juice.  If you want pizza (and damn good pizza), you go to Cheery Grove Pizza, or if you want a sandwich, you go to Whitney’s Market.  And if you want a Grande Mocha Latte, you go somewhere else. My favorite, and one of the only places we ate out at was Canteen....very nice.

 

The beaches.

The Mistress doing water ballet!!!!

 

Does one really need any words for a beach??? Beautiful, natural beaches, clothed, unclothed, deer sightings not to mention the sunsets! Incredible.

 

Preston, Mistress Maddie's #1 Fan and myself even went sans swimsuits one day at the Belvedere Guest House!!!!!! We were sending y'all kisses!

Farewell, Fire Island, for now… Sweet sigh...