A summer of firsts: 7 things Long Islanders tried for the first time
Mayra Salazar and her husband, Jose Espin, build a 3D puzzle of the "Harry Potter" Great Hall, inside their home in Central Islip on Aug. 22. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
Many Long Islanders took this summer to venture into something new from oversized 3D puzzles to mountain biking. Here are seven hobbies they tried for the first time:
Russell Vogel, 26
HOME East Northport
WHAT HE TRIED Mountain biker
This summer Vogel fulfilled a lifelong dream to become a mountain biker. After passing on his recreational bike to his younger brother, he purchased a mountain bike in June and headed out to the cross-country trails of Edgewood Oak Brush Plains Preserve in Deer Park.
“I always wanted to get into this sport so I thought this would be the perfect time,” he says. “I fell in love with it and now I ride several times a week.”
A first-year student at Touro Law Center in Central Islip, Vogel was planning on traveling but the pandemic changed that and mountain biking served as a way to get out of the house. Surprisingly, he finds it quite different from regular biking.
“There are changes in the terrain that are very sudden from hills to puddles to tracks that have you going in between trees,” he says. “It’s pretty adrenaline pumping.”
Mom Zena Androu, 40, and son Anakin, 4
HOME Massapequa
WHAT THEY TRIED Drive-in movies
Anakin Androu, 4, of Massapequa went to his first drive-in movie this summer at Adventureland in East Farmingdale with his mother Zena. Credit: Zena Androu
Growing up Androu used to go to the Rocky Point Drive-In. This summer she took her four-year-old son Anakin to experience his first drive-in movie at Adventureland in East Farmingdale.
“He was excited to sit in the front seat,” she says. “We brought blankets and pillows to get comfortable.”
This mom and son team saw several films including “Rookie of the Year,” “Night at the Museum,” “The Sandlot,” “Ice Age,” “Boss Baby,” “The Incredibles” and “Parental Guidance.”
“We enjoyed seeing movies in a fun-filled atmosphere,” she says. “It gave us something to look forward to during these trying times.”
Anakin would wear his pajamas and get ready with his snacks such as chicken fingers, fries, sour patch kids and popcorn.
Androu adds, “Being able to experience a drive-in movie years later with my own child was a very memorable experience.”
Jose Espin, 34, and Mayra Salazar, 40
HOME Central Islip
WHAT THEY TRIED 3D puzzles
Mayra Salazar and her husband, Jose Espin, with their completed 3D puzzle of the "Harry Potter" Astronomy Tower, inside their home in Central Islip on Aug. 22. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
“I was so stressed,” Salazar, a teacher, says of the beginning of the pandemic. Espin, who works in construction, went onto Amazon and purchased a 3D puzzle, something the couple had always wanted to try and a hobby Salazar thought would help to ease her anxiousness.
Their first conquest was the Taj Mahal, and it took them about two weeks working on it together on a table in their living room. “It was very challenging,” Salazar says. “It’s tricky. All these foamy pieces, we just laid them all out on the table; this color goes there … we just kind of looked at the pattern, that’s what we went by.”
They next moved on to a bigger goal — doing an interlocking series of four puzzles that reconstruct the world of Harry Potter. So far, they’ve completed the Astronomy Tower and are currently working on the Great Hall. The current puzzle has 850 pieces; the puzzles cost about $50 each.
Once they finish, they’ll decide what to do with their handiwork. “We’ve got to find a place to display them,” Salazar says.
Rich Walker, 56
HOME Deer Park
WHAT HE TRIED Stargazing
Rich Walker, 56, of Deer Park took up astronomy this summer for the first time. Credit: Rich Walker
Since the pandemic, Walker has made a habit of taking walks with his wife in the evening after dinner and one night he was drawn to the night sky because of some extra light that caught his eye.
“I saw a star that was extra bright and thought, ‘I bet that’s a planet.’ I got home, went on Google and realized it was Jupiter,” says Walker. “At that moment, I bought a telescope. My whole life I always wanted one.”
This newfound fascination with astronomy got him hooked in June. He set up his gear on his patio and began stargazing three nights a week.
“When I looked through the lens and saw the rings around Saturn, I actually gasped. I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “Every night is another little adventure.”
Kaitlin, 35, and Zach Thoden, 36, and their children Max, 5, and Jake, 3
HOME Patchogue
WHAT THEY TRIED Weekly family hikes
Kailtin and Zach Thoden of Patchogue and their children Max, 5, and Jake, 3, explored the Quogue Wildlife Refuge during the pandemic. Credit: Thoden family
“Since nothing has been open, we decided to start exploring with the boys,” says Kaitlin, an audiologist. “We found Hike It Baby Long Island (a Facebook group) and got a lot of suggestions. The first place we went to was Cranberry Bog Nature Preserve in Riverhead. It’s three minutes from my job, and I had no idea it existed.”
Cranberry Bog offers a trail around a lake. “We saw frogs, and the kids loved it.” Another new favorite is Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge in Shirley. “That one was gorgeous,” she says. She and Zach, who is in beer sales, and Max and Jake were able to sit on a bridge and talk to paddleboarders and kayakers as they passed under it. “The boys loved that,” Kaitlin says. “Of course, now they want to go kayaking, but they’re a little too young for that.”
The family usually spends about an hour or two at each place and walks about one to four miles. They have a wagon they bring so they can pull the kids if they get tried. “It’s nothing crazy strenuous, but for their little legs, it’s enough,” Kaitlin says. They’ve gone to 13 new places so far and will keep doing their weekly exploring as long as the weather holds up. “My husband and I grew up on Long Island and we’d never been to any of these places,” Kaitlin says. “We haven’t even put a dent in how many places are on Long Island.”
Suzanne Belmonte, 52
HOME Lake Grove
WHAT SHE TRIED Dot painting
Suzanne Belmonte of Lake Grove took up dot painting during the pandemic. Credit: Suzanne Belmonte
Belmonte, a speech pathologist, is immunosuppressed, so when the pandemic hit, she knew she was going to be inside for quite a while. She saw an advertisement on Facebook for dot painting tools. “I thought, ‘Let me order that.’”
People who want to try the technique don’t need special tools, however — they can use toothpicks or erasers on the tip of a pencil to make the dots and invest just $10 to $15 on paint. That’s what Belmonte did while she waited for the tools to arrive in the mail.
Dot painters design their projects freehand or follow mandala-like patterns. They typically start from the center of the page — or table, or rock, or whatever the chosen surface — and work outward, dipping tools into paint and touching them to the surface so the series of dots form a piece of art.
“I do mine freehand,” Belmonte says. “I tend to like muted colors more. I get my inspiration from looking at color palettes on Pinterest or even finding things in nature and trying to match them. I try to do a little bit every day. I find it to be very meditative. It helps me a lot mentally.”
Belmonte says the endeavor has taken over her dining room. Sometimes she has the sitcom “MASH” playing — “I’m older, I like the older shows,” she says — or she’ll listen to music while she paints. Belmonte gives away some of the artwork as gifts. “I just made my niece a whole graduation set,” she says.
Marissa Altunis, 42
HOME Islip
WHAT SHE TRIED Cross stitching
“I’m a huge ‘Golden Girls’ fan. I used to watch it with my grandmother,” Altunis, a social worker, says of the 1980s TV show about four women sharing a home in Miami during their golden years. Altunis is a member of a "Golden Girls" fan Facebook page, and another member posted about a book of 30 cross-stitching patterns based on the series and its characters. She decided to give the hobby a shot and purchased the book. “Worst case, I lost twenty dollars,” she says she thought.
Cross-stitchers use x-shaped stitches in different color threads to make an image on fabric. Typically, a chart corresponds to a grid that shows where to stitch and what color to use. Many stitchers put their fabric into a wooden embroidery hoop to hold it taut while they sew.
“My daughter now does it,” Altunis says of Evangeline, 8. “It’s become a family thing. It’s a lot of fun. I do it every night while I’m watching TV at the end of the day. It just kind of Zens me out.”
Doing a pattern takes Altunis about three to five days from start to finish, depending on its complexity. “I like instant gratification,” she says. Recently the family took a vacation in New York. "I did it the entire way upstate in the car."
David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday's exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.
