Leftovers Piles of Storm Debris, Late Bloomers, Thanksgiving Leftovers, and Recycling after the Holiday

 It has been a very busy month here on Long Island. 

We had Sandy the mega Hurricane, then a nor easter storm shortly after that.

 The winds from both of these storms created a big mess for all of us to clean up.

 Weeks later,  there are giant piles of debris from fallen trees and stacks of branches at the ends of almost every driveway in our neighborhoods.

 The town is using every available open paved space to pile up the stumps and branches.  Later they will be moved and be recycled into mulch.

 This auto has been the subject of many photographs!  It was outside the body shop near our thrift shop.  Hard to miss it!

 Believe it or not, there are still flowers blooming in the Jarvis garden, even after these awful storms.  Chrysanthemums are resilient.

Herbs and a wonderful droopy plant remain.

Knock Outs, and

Marigolds are blooming as late as this.

Today I repaired an American flag for a friend, then

worked on the leftovers from Thanksgiving weekend, turkey, and Shepard's Pie.

Volunteering in a thrift shop has its advantages.  I am able to purchase small oven proof  dishes which I use to make smaller portion sized meals for reheating.

I start by covering the meals with waxed paper, then plastic wrap,

finally slipping the dishes into plastic bags for the freezer with notes containing the dates and the contents.

Leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and green beans look pretty.

Extra stuffing and potatoes can be used as sides for other meals.

Everything wrapped up, and

ready for the freezer.  Careful when taking these out, the plastic bags make the dishes slippery and you wouldn't want to drop one on your foot or break any dishes.

Recycled plastic and glass remains from the parties.

Now we get to the entertainment.  Bread crumbs are cast out on the beach for the Sea Gulls, as the starter.

Their special treat is the turkey carcase.

Gulls make a lot of racket and are pretty aggressive with each other.

The largest ones dominate the scene.

Finally these lovely  annual  Salvias were still putting on a show in their tree stump planter.

Hurricane Sandy Huntington Long Island, New York October 2012

 The reporters weren't exaggerating this time when they said that Hurricane Sandy was going to be a "Storm or the Century."

 

Waves from Sand before the storm hit.  Huntington Bay.

 Pictures during the week in Huntington Bay as Sandy made her way up to Long Island.   The Long Island sound is usually calm, but it looked like Robert Moses beach on the South Shore with wild and high waves.

 The back back with many small and medium trees down.

 Town workers with a tree around the corner from my house that took up part of the roadway.  Unfortunately it was leaning on a large old house.

 Across the street from my house is Heckscher Park.

 The area is very boggy and many, many ancient trees toppled over in the hurricane force winds.

 They hit one another and changed the look of the park for the next generation.

 A huge Locust fell fell next to the painted gas station.

 Around the corner on 25A, or East Main Street, a tree hit another old house.

 I kept walking around Heckscher Park.

 The area is low lying and trees along the Creek couldn't hold.

 Some cracked with the intense winds.

 Willow trees fell.

 This was along West Main Street,

 and just across from these trees a telephone pole snapped, hit trees and ripped the wiring off this beautiful old house,

 creating one of the many, many driving hazards on 25A that day.  There were wires everywhere across Long Island.

 an out building crushed by a tree near the tennis courts.

 ancient tree after ancient tree felled by this storm.

 The out building by the Arsenal, crushed.

The tree was there this morning waiting on a long list for removal.

 I only noticed the day after the storm that my 40 year old Blue Spruce out front had been lifted and was leaning over the road.  Since it has been compromised and will fall with the next extreme wind or snow, it regrettably has to come down.  Many people were killed by this storm while driving as trees fell on their cars. Just can't take a chance with this tree, no matter how lovely it is.  The area that was photographed was just a block or two.  It was too dangerous to drive, so I took theses pictures while walking.  The post is late because my electricity was restored a day or so later.