Faris Al-Shathir

The Bay Side

September 25, 2012

These last two trips of the Tide and Current Taxi for 2012 were made possible by the Boffo art residency on Fire Island.

Its founder and director, Faris Al-Shathir, came out with me in my boat for the very last ride.

We crawled over a broken dock in Cherry Grove to put the boat in the water.

Our mission was to paddle back to Fire Island Pines on the bay side of the island.

Our path would take us by some familiar sites,

but seeing them from the water was interesting.

I was most curious about the shore between the Pines and the Grove,

so we stopped to explore the bank of this legendary meeting point.

It was a pretty beach,

and we picked through the little bits of debris that lined the shore.

There actually wasn’t as much trash as I had hoped for, in my slightly forensic study of the island.

What was there seemed nautical,

or festive,

or both,

(which usually means it is some kind of fishing implement).

The wheels of a laundry cart – very common on an island without cars.

We even found a carefully constructed hang out spot nestled in the reeds,

and the tracks of other hunters,

besides just us.

We got back in the boat and poked along the shore of Fire Island Pines.

Faris pointed out the houses of people that he knew,

and ones that he was curiouse about.

“Let’s go take a look at that one!” said Faris.

Faris climbed a little ladder into the yard of a house that seemed under construction.

He explained to the men working that he was an architect,

and wanted to check out the house.

“Rock solid explanation.” I thought,

and enjoyed the sneak peak into the world above the waterline.

Before long we found the little street that leads to Michael Bolla’s house (the generous donor of our residence).

“I love staircases leading right into the water.” said Faris.

“Me too.” I said

We walked back home along the boardwalk.

Thank you Faris, for coming out with me in the boat and for setting up the amazing ‘Art Camp’ residency!

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