Winter in The Hamptons

I spent Saturday in Southampton, NY, one of the Hamptons on the east end of Long Island. That's why you haven't seen much posting here lately, for the past 10 days, I've been up north - NY and NJ.

Yes, it' been cold, 17 degrees one morning as we stood outside to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but mostly days in the 30s. I don't mind it. I enjoy the cold on my face and if you layer and bundle up, you really don't feel the cold - unless the wind is blowing.

Southampton had their holiday special day on Saturday, which was also Shop Small day. The town is old, from the 1600s and there are a few buildings from that era, some from the 1700s and most from the 1800s - houses and the stores on their main street. All old, all historic.

The Cub Scouts were selling hot chocolate and cupcakes. it was like being in a Hallmark movie.

There was a parade through town, which consisted of decorated fire trucks from the various Hamptons - Hampton Bays, Southampton, East Hampton, Westhampton, Sag Harbor, and so on. When we arrived, we ate at a pub we usually frequent and there were just a few of us, but by parade time, thousands ended up lining the route.

At the end of the parade, the crowd calmly and formally walked to the park at the end of the block, sort of on cue, where the tree was to be lighted - with fireworks behind the tree afterwards! If you follow me on my personal accounts of Instagram and Facebook, you probably saw those videos of the parade, the tree and the fireworks.

It was an odd thing to see the bars with open doors onto the balconies, and people hanging off the balconies holding drinks and cheering the parade on because that's usually a summer thing. I did see a taste of home on Main Street - the Grove's own Palm Produce has a store there. 

I've spent a lot of time in the Hamptons this past year - in the summer, October and November. It's old, historic and quaint, the way I like it. I've been at Oyster festivals in October, pumpkin picking, holiday parades and of course all those summer things - the beach, picnics, 4th of July.