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Back to school catalogs have begun to arrive, and summer, the season that when you’re young you think will never end, has barely begun..

Not even the Kona, that magical coffee bean, could rouse the sleeper, and by the time he did wake up, the external shell of me was ready for bed.

Trouble on the beach of one sort or another is inevitable once the days get hot and the water reaches a swimmable temperature.

    Before I left Long Island with an educational delegation to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona in May, I thought I knew everything about the problems that immigrants face in the United States. But I could not have been more wrong.

    We’ve heard so much about the border — the fence, the violence, drugs — but we’ve managed to forget the real story.

    Hold on to your hats! Extra, extra, hear all about it! The U.S. Open is coming back to Shinnecock in 2018.

    I greeted the news (remember, you read it here last) with utter dread, and wondered if I would be retired and/or dead by then.

“They’re more scared of you than you are of them” was simply not true when it came to me versus stinging, swarming, flying creatures. As a Woody Allen-esque city kid dragged to the Hamptons on weekends or for vacations, those insects — bees, wasps, hornets — were lumped into one scary interchangeable species.

    If I heard the dreaded, low-pitched buzzing noise, I would proceed into a series of swatting, hopping motions that came to be known by friends and family as Bridget’s “Izzitonmee” dance.

Family life in the digital age has added a dimension of complexity to battles over how much television and other distractions parents allow their children. In our household, we do without regular TV in favor of using online alternatives to give us a measure of control over what the kids watch and to avoid the intrusive commercials.

When the Emirates plane landed at J.F.K. on Saturday after a 23-hour trip (with 18 of them in flight), my daughter and I were filled with both joy and relief. Her second child and my seventh grandchild was now a citizen with the promise of a good life. Besides, we had fallen in love with him.

    Summer again. Salt on my tongue, sand in my suit, sun on my shoulders. It takes me back to Napeaque, to a new A-frame on a vast expanse of bare shore, dunes covered with storm fencing. A pristine playground for a lucky few in the early ’60s.

    Hold on to your hats! Extra, extra, hear all about it! The U.S. Open is coming back to Shinnecock in 2018.

    I greeted the news (remember, you read it here last) with utter dread, and wondered if I would be retired and/or dead by then.

Out in these parts almost everyone has a fish tale. I have just one, but it’s a whopper. And to this day I hold the record for catching the biggest flounder ever on the Lazy Bones fishing boat in Montauk. It’s a feat I’m not quite sure I’m proud of.

Tuesday started off well enough, I suppose, until I was reaching into the refrigerator at my mother’s house behind the Star office and the lights went out.

    I walked down to the office, concerned about a blackout. It was just after 9 a.m. on the most hectic Tuesday of the year so far, and we were out of business.

The difference between good and evil seemed straightforward when I was a child. Call it what you...

    Not long ago, without our telling anyone, my spouse and I appeared on a tabloid news show. Judging from a near dearth of phone calls and e-mails, absolutely no one we know saw the segment. Not only was this lack of exposure fine with us, it was a huge relief.

My horoscopes have been encouraging lately, though while I’m not a believer, reading them helps me with...

Do you remember your first time? I do. It was a late spring evening and a slight fog blanketed...

Not all that long ago really, East Hampton Village saw its first driveway gate. Now every other...

Quiet rain, heavy rain, thunderstorms, we’ve had them all this week, and the forecast isn’t for sun until...

Before Osama bin Laden built his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, he spent a few harried years looking for the perfect property while looking over his...

“We’re grieving again,” I said recently to our appraiser, adding, “I guess it’s something like...

Nikki Goodbird is our 3-year-old Quaker parrot. We named him Nikki as an acceptable androgynous option before we knew...

What to do with bluefish is one of the warm seasons’ eternal questions, at least in Bonac, where they are caught in great number once the water is...

A beautiful afternoon in New York is a holiday for me regardless of why I’m there. It brings back the years when I was single and living and...

The six of us were the only Americans flying to Havana from Miami on a chartered flight in March. The others were Cuban, many with packages of goods purchased to...

I have in front of me the rule that resulted in the suspension for the rest of the season of our highly successful softball coach, Lou Reale, and wonder, given the apparent...

Local elections are around the corner, with political parties making their candidate slates for this November’s contests public. Around here, we practice democracy mostly at...

Driving home from the office on Tuesday evening, I was surprise to notice that I was in what amounted to a traffic jam...

My mother adored me. I was her midlife baby, and even though I had two teenage sisters, I grew up pretty much as an only child. They were both out of the house by the...

Looking out of our bedroom window one recent morning onto the lawn that becomes greener every day, I remarked on the stone rabbit that sits on a...

I had never really thought about traveling to South Africa. Cape Town wasn’t on my bucket list. But . . .