Living

Emilie Erica Stoll and Jean Carlo Barrientos, who were married on Friday at Navy Beach in Montauk, still remember the exact date they met: July 23, 2014. They had both finished their freshman years at college. They were at the beach. “He was surfing the hurricane swell at Napeague that evening while she was going for a sunset dip,” they wrote. “He came up to her as she was walking back towards the parking lot and asked her name, and the rest is history.”

Leland E. Winslow and Chelsea C. Walker were married on Sept. 22, the anniversary of their first date, at East Wind in Wading River.

Jennifer Johanna Mula and Gabriel Joseph Greenberg got engaged in Amagansett Square on Aug. 6.

Daniel Rose Marrow of Washington, D.C., and Julia Cuddihy Butz of New York City were married on Saturday in the rose garden at the groom’s family home on Ocean Avenue near East Hampton’s Main Beach.

OK. I’m 76. Maybe you're 76, too. Surely, somebody out there reading this is 76. Or, older. Or, more likely, younger. So. 76. Not great. I think it was Bette Davis who said, "Old age ain't no place for sissies."

True collectors, whether of teacups or tractor seats, are a breed apart, detached from the rest of us by the intensity of their passions. I once knew an older woman who collected manhole covers, dozens of which hung like works of art on the walls of her garage. You couldn't walk with her along the lane without stopping every 500 feet or so while she bent over and peered down.

"The unconditional love of a pet can do more than keep you company. Pets may also decrease stress, improve heart health, and even help children with their emotional and social skills," according to the National Institutes of Health. Kim Nichols, executive director of the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, weighed in on this topic in a question-and-answer session with The Star.

Community institutions like libraries, museums, and government organizations are offering interesting ways for older adults to find enjoyment, meet new friends, learn about history, and stay physically fit.

Driving a car is a rite of passage in New York State when you're a teenager, a lifeline to a livelihood when you're an adult raising a family, and a means to maintain independence as you age. Handing over the keys, then, is one of the toughest transitions an elderly person will face.

"Aging is different now," said Diane Patrizio, director of human services for East Hampton Town. She points out that the senior center serves people spanning at least two generations, from ages 60 to 100. Some go to Florida for the winter, others are lower-income. Some are frail, but most are active, she said, and "doing really well."

Long Island’s South Fork, known for beaches, maritime history, and fancy people, is also known for its hedges. Hedge installation and maintenance are big business, and there could be a whole book about hedges, with different varieties popular during different eras. In the last decade, for example, the “green giant,” a now ubiquitous tree, has been placed along property lines throughout the Hamptons. It’s here to stay, and grow, and grow.

The first thing Arthur Beckenstein sees when he steps out of his bedroom every morning is a lush spread of vibrant, earthy color. Maybe it's a textured greenish-brown in the winter, but come spring, summer, and fall, fresh pops of emerald, lime, yellow, purple, and red fill his field of view. It's not a painting. Rather, it's a landscape — a rooftop garden atop a one-story section of his house, visible from the second-floor windows. A green roof, to be exact.

Liz and Joe Sanicola’s house in East Quogue is a modern homesteading paradise — the ultimate intersection between home and garden.

Here's a guide to growing and enjoying your best tomato-flavored life, thanks to Matthew Quick, the farm manager for the nonprofit Share the Harvest Farm, and Marilee Foster, who typically grows 100 varieties each year on her Sagaponack farm.

Ever wonder about the long ribbon of pink and white hibiscus blooming at the entrance to the village in late summer, or the flower-filled meadow between Accabonac Road and Methodist Lane? These are working rain gardens that slow, capture, and filter rainwater and road runoff as the water makes its way through the Hook Pond watershed and eventually into the ocean. They are successful examples of a natural solution to a water pollution problem.

In the summer months, under the immaculately tended giant rhododendron stand in Henry and Martha Murray's backyard on Further Lane in Amagansett, their young grandchildren can be glimpsed darting in and out of the canopy of fuchsia blossoms, visible one second, gone the next.

It takes understated talent and a keen eye for a designer to balance her personal aesthetic with those of a client. "I consider it high praise when a client's family or friends walk into the space and say it's a reflection of the client and doesn't feel designed," said Delia Kenza, an interior designer based in Sag Harbor and Brooklyn.

For gardeners and landscapers seeking four-season interest, low maintenance, and environmental impact, trees check off all the boxes. Plus, they offer shade for sitting areas, a backdrop for a garden, and nesting places for birds, among ecological benefits. Just as there’s no irrigation watering trees in a forest, it is not needed for the established trees in your yard. The time and money saved on irrigation and maintenance might feel liberating.

Sleigh bells ring: Are you listening? Here’s our carefully curated selection of the holly-est, jolliest events between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

There’s no easier way to cook for a crowd than to throw an old-fashioned holiday cocktail party, serving simple, make-ahead hors d’oeuvres. We'll help you master the art.

Here’s Fireplace 101, in honor of chestnuts-on-an-open-fire season, with tips to help keep your burn safe, your wood dry, and your coziness level at the max.

Wine has never been more popular than it is today (as we know from all the “You had me at merlot” and “Mama needs wine” T-shirts sold on Etsy). But what about . . . hot wine? Reporting in on the rich delight of Scandinavian glogg.

Home décor, like fashion, shouldn’t be generic, but should reflect the uniqueness of your personality, and that’s another reason to shop local, rather than at the homogenous big boxes this season. Here, a guide to small, special South Fork shops offering housewares to match your aesthetic

What to do with winter’s ugly vegetables —  all those ungainly, bumpy, stripey winter squashes that stock the farm stands this time of year, intimidating us with their sheer mass and quirky colors? Turn those ugly veggies into something beautifully delicious.

Cold winter night, nothing to do? Gather a group of friends, head to your corner bar, come up with a goofy team name (“Sherlock Homies” or  “Simple Minds”), and put on your thinking cap: Pub quizzes are popping up in restaurants and bars all over the East End.

Journey back — way, way back — to winters past, when prosperity came from harpooned whales, kids flew up and down frozen Hook Pond on skates with sails at their back, and the annual businessmen’s holiday promotion was a raffle for a free ton of coal. Here, season snippets from the pages of The Star evoke the sights, smells, sounds, and snowy pastimes of Decembers gone by.

The residential elevator is gaining popularity on Long Island and on the East End in particular, where aging homeowners are finding that it’s adding years of useful life to houses taller than a single story.

Need help with grocery shopping, library access, transportation to doctor appointments, or household tasks? Here are several resources offered by East Hampton and Southampton Towns for senior citizens.

The move from brunette to gray hair has become a topic of fascination for me and I’ve since watched others make the change with interest, embracing their natural color.

You’ve likely heard of the digital nomad — in case not, it is defined as a person who works remotely while traveling freely, with laptops, smartphones, and Wi-Fi allowing a lifestyle free of a central workplace and even a home base. Untethered by material possessions, the digital nomad is free to pursue the best life, enjoying Instagram-worthy experiences in exotic locales virtually anywhere in the world. But working-age digitized hipsters aren’t the only ones getting in on the fun.