SCENE FROM A RUN: SAND SPURS!

Wednesday, September 12, 2013:  I finally found the time to go for a run.  I wanted to have a run as soon as I came back from the road trip, but Saturday I wanted to sleep in, Sunday actually got up at 4:30 to be able to make it at 6 at the Susan G Komen 5K in Central Park, Monday was the first day of school and I also got dragged into some other unpleasant task, Tuesday was Primary Day during which I worked 5 AM to 10 PM...  For me, it's extra difficult to run any time other than in the morning...

Some weeks ago, during a walk with my son, I re-encountered a plant that had prickly pods that easily attach to anything they come into contact.  It was at the beach of Narrows Bay, the northern side of Coney Island, facing the Verrazano Bridge.  The beach used to be really dirty and full of garbage, but it improved in recent years.  I wanted to re-visit the beach to take better photos of this exotic, IMHO, plant and its pods.

On the way to the beach, I passed by Calvert Vaux Park, which made gruesome news just last week.  A skilled hobbyist of model helicopter lost control of the machine and killed himself.  I never knew those things can be so deadly.  One time I even took my son to Marine Park's model airfield in Gerritsen to watch the planes take off and fly about.  Granted accidents with model planes are rare, it is possible.  Next time I am near these things I'll have a helmet on or be under a tree.

Construction continues to happen in other parts of Calvert Vaux Park.  A waterfront is coming about on the side across from Six Diamond Park and Home Depot.  I spied a jutting section with wooden rails.  Perhaps it will become a rest area with benches and such.  On the lot adjacent to the existing park that includes the more modern futbol field, I saw that things were looking better.

After Calvert Vaux, I visited the trail that mostly wraps around Home Depot.  I like to visit it at least once a week to help stomp down the weeds that slowly takes over the place, especially near the locked gate behind the metal junk yard.  Probably a lesson in futility, but it's a nice and quiet spot to add distance to the run.

I next ran along Neptune Avenue toward Mark Twain I.S. and on to the Poor Man's Beach on Coney Creek.  It took little time to find a bush of sand spur plant to pass my feet through to collect the pods.  I didn't know what they were called, but a post on FB later in the evening and my friend Rachel got the info.  Supposedly they are a pain to deal with, pun intended, and most web articles were about how to get rid of them.  "Sand spur", what an appropriate name.

Makeshift memorial for Roman Pirozek Jr. in Calvert Vaux Park, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/nyregion/remote-controlled-copter-fatally-strikes-pilot-at-park.html?_r=0

Beyond the fence, looks like a little rest area on the waterfront of Calvert Vaux Park.

A new section of Calvert Vaux Park almost ready for the public?

Sand spur plants!  The seed pods are prickly and easily attach to anything they come into contact with...

...such as the sock and sneaker of some runner, who did it all in the name of science.

SCENE FROM A WALK: CONEY CREEK

While I don't mind running a handful of routes different days of different weeks, or even up and down the same street to spell out a certain word, my son is pickier with walking routes.  He wants to discover new places and I try to comply.  Since last week's bike accident, he hasn't gotten on a bike, in the beginning it was just to take some time off, but then he started to depend on his cousin for fun in number, which I hate because then if the fickle cousin decides not to go, we ain't going anywhere.  Good thing with walking son doesn't mind going with only me.

Yesterday we drove to Kaiser Park to walk the beach of Coney Creek.  I recall the very first time I visited the beach, maybe six or seven years ago, I instantly thought of it as "The Poor Man's Beach."  It was a beach alright but it was so dirty.  Garbage almost everywhere.  Things got better later.  On a different visit, I went on the road but along the beach then discovered a path to the beach.  Toward the tip of Coney Island I encountered a fence that told beachcombers to turn around to avoid trespassing private property.  On yesterday's walk, I planned to take my son just as far, but we never saw any fence.  Only after seeing what appeared to be people's backyard that I decided to head back.  Getting back to the road, I saw that the fence was buried by sand deposited by Hurricane Sandy.  Or maybe it was the work of the Corps of Engineer or whoever responsible for re-creating the dunes of Coney Island.  I suspect it was Sandy.  The very first area we visited was what used to be a picnic area, around 33rd Street and Bayview Avenue.  There used to be some grass and if the Parks people didn't mow the place its entrance would be overrun with weed.  Now there is sand everywhere and only a handful hardy plants manage to survive.  A picnic table is still there, but the area is no longer well-shaded like before.

Maybe I'm a jaded visitor of the area.  I only took a few photos of the plants.  I wish I have a close-up photo of the spikes on the grass.  They cling to everything and were quite prickly.

I need a close-up of the spiky seed pod(?).

Only the top of the fence is seen here, the rest is buried.  The water is to the right.