Everyone already has those cute plastic cups that say Pool. Be creative. To inspire our friends who never know what to bring to dinner, these are our summer gift picks:

• Anything in a Marder's Green Gift Bag
  The Marder's green bag is the Hamptons answer to Tiffany's blue box. Lots of choices here. A big herb plant is nice for a kitchen garden. Garden gloves, wooden-handled spades, books and animal puppets for the kids are perfect.  But our favorite item is the $15.95 pouch of live ladybugs for the garden.
• The Hamptons Dictionary by Miles Jaffe
  Good pre-dinner fun from the creator of Nukethehamptons.com. Written by local gadfly, artist and son of architect Norman Jaffe.  A slightly-angry look at the culture that has overtaken Hamptons life in the past two decades. Available at BookHampton.
• Philistines at the Hedgerow by Steven Gaines
  Great stories about recent Hamptons history. Gaines is a wonderful storyteller. Downside: only for clueless newcomers, most have already read it.
• Imaging the Past: East Hampton Histories
  Awakening the Past: The East Hampton 350th Anniversary Lecture Series
  The early history of this community is fascinating. And if your friends can't be bothered to read it, a book can always sit on the coffee table.
• Wine
  Too typical you say? Not if it's Bryant Family or Colgin Cabernet.  But for something more accessible, we bring Champagne.
  
  

Since there seems to be extensive Nobu chatter in today's press, we thought we'd chime in. (Page Six item) Nobu has been negotiating for several months to run a pop-up restaurant this summer at the Ross School in East Hampton. Word is that it will be open on four designated weekends.

For those who have never seen the Ross School campus, it is one of the more striking and beautiful places you could ever imagine going to school.  Built with natural and sustainable materials, Asian and African influences dominate throughout.  The gym and the cafeteria are both spectacular spaces.  Following slow food principles, students are served healthy, local cuisine prepared by natural foods chefs. In Japanese style, students wear slippers, not shoes in the dining room.

Seems the perfect, albeit enormous space, to host Nobu. But the announcement has been so long in the works, that maybe this deal evaporated, leaving Nobu scrambling to find a new locale.

But some Page Six-style publicity would be good for the Ross School at this juncture.  The school needs to attract both funds and students. Through well-advertised presentations at New York City private clubs, Ross is actively marketing itself to New Yorkers who are considering planting themselves full time in their sprawling potato field homes. For many years, because of significant support from it's founder, the school had no reason to bring parents into the fundraising fold. But now the Ross namesake has apparently reduced support and there has been some dicey publicity, including a recent New York Magazine piece.  A few weeks ago, a disgruntled parent alerted the press of a plan to sell off a significant parcel of land at the Butter Lane campus (formerly Hampton Day School), prompting a sudden announcement explaining the school's need to boost the endowment.

We hope that Nobu pops up at Ross. Sounds like a fun alternative to the usual Hamptons restaurant scene. More like the private fundraisers that are hosted there. And it's a perfect opportunity for Ross to showcase their wonderful facilities and campus.

Why haven't Montauk hotels done a Miami Beach-like conversion yet? We've discussed this topic at cocktail parties for years.  The decor is so dreadful at Gurney's that you can barely find interior shots of the hotel on their own Web site. It's been a long time since the first boutique hotels came to the Hamptons (Atlantic/Capri) and then to Shelter Island (Sunset Beach).  Well the seismic shift to the boutique hotel is now underway in Montauk. 

Earlier this summer, the Shepherd's Neck Inn was purchased by an investor group that owns hotels and residential properties including Sole on the Ocean in Miami Beach. They already have made modest upgrades to the restaurant and some of the rooms. This winter there will be a full-scale renovation; the property will debut next summer as Sole East, a condo hotel. We hear that Ralph Lauren visited the bar last weekend. Also this summer, the Panoramic View changed hands. It too, is slated for a big renovation and conversion to a boutique condo hotel.  Pretty spiffy for Montauk. 

Soon the pools and beaches of Montauk will be populated with 'outdoor salons' filled with oversized mattress-seats. Inevitably nostalgia will kick in and someone will proclaim that it's a shame to lose Montauk's true character - the lobster trap ceiling decor and dusty ships' wheels.

Today we visited the Duck Pond in East Hampton. We had been forewarned that the ducks here are aloof and spoiled...and that they are picky about their bread. We considered a stop at Breadzilla, but opted for those Thomas' Whole Wheat English Muffins in our drawer, which no one here likes anyway.

I can definitively say that, short of the beach, the Duck Pond is the most fun a toddler can have on the East End.  For those new to this parenting (or grandparenting) thing, the Duck Pond is actually the East Hampton Nature Trail on David's Lane in the village. Driving on Montauk Highway eastward, once you make the turn into EH, David's Lane is a right turn past Guild Hall and the Presbyterian Church. Head down David's Lane and you'll see a few parking spaces and the sign on your left before you hit Egypt.

It is absolutely charming. Today at 5:00 pm the place was packed with toddlers. What a great place to meet play dates. The Duck Pond is right on the road and there is a lovely series of wooden foot bridges and paths through a small nature preserve. Benches too.

Well the ducks didn't eat our English Muffins. Munchkin tossed them a few pieces, but the water was littered with floating bread, untouched by the ducks.  Next time, it's Loaves & Fishes croissants.

Last Thursday morning as I was leaving Candy Kitchen with a cup of coffee, I noticed an illustrious group conferring on the diagonal corner.  Present were Town Highway Superintendent Bill Masterson (elected), Town Director of Transportation and Traffic Safety, Tom Neely (appointed), and Councilman Nancy Graboski (elected). Nancy is a resident of Bridgehampton and currently the only member of the 5-person Southampton Town Board to live on the eastern side of the canal. We have been lucky over the past several years to have both Nancy, and previously Dennis Suskind, to raise awareness of the interests of the eastern portions of the Town.

Well this cadre was probably visiting the Candy Kitchen corner because in May there was a serious pedestrian accident. It happened midday during the week, and from what we hear, the pedestrian was crossing in the crosswalk.  The three Town reps were observing the intersection in preparation for a meeting with the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT). Since Montauk Highway is a state highway, only the state can change road markings, lights or signs. Last night, Nancy told the Bridgehampton Citizens' Advisory Committee (BHCAC) that the state engineers were looking at the corner and would return with recommendations. The BHCAC has been active in identifying danger spots and in urging the Town to change speed limits, add crosswalks and implement other traffic signage. In this spot, the BHCAC had relentlessly lobbied to get cones in the crosswalk to aid visibility and to move the bus stops so buses did not block the views of drivers turning from Corwith and School Street.

We may be headed for a 4-way traffic light. But there may be other solutions such as limiting turns. It's a complicated corner—the roads are off-center.  The BHCAC asked for a plan that would maximize pedestrian safety at any cost, even if it were to back up traffic a bit more. While we yearn for unmarked country roads without traffic lights we are well beyond that now.

While Juniors events were traditionally for 'under 40s', if you are under 50 in the Hamptons you seem to qualify. We keep pushing it. So do most of our single male friends in their 40s. We still go to Junior Committee events because the standard Hamptons charity event attracts an AARP-qualified crowd.

If you have single houseguests and don't want to entertain this weekend, here are two good choices. Note the dueling after parties:

Southampton Hospital 'Club Cabana' 3rd Annual Associates Party
The younger set is invited to join the storied 'By the Sea' party at 9:30pm for dancing and cocktails. Skip all the boring donor stuff and dance until midnight. Tickets are $150 in advance, $175 at the door.  Includes the after party at the Pink Elephant. Buy Tickets.

Teach for American 2nd Annual 'Clambake & Cocktails' Benefit
Beach party featuring calypso music and a 'Claws on Wheels' clambake on Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett. Starts at 6:00pm with an after party at Boutique. Sounds fun. Buy Tickets.

Peter's Pond Lane is virtually impassible.  And residents are mad. It is the access road to Peter's Pond Beach, predominately a mellow, local beach. No share house crowds like Sagg Main; just people enjoying the beach.  You currently need a 4-wheel drive to pass, and for most of the summer, there has been no access at all. This road is controlled by the Southampton Trustees—an elected board charged, under the Dongan Patent, with protecting our waters and maintaining access for all. It appears that the Trustees are so busy protecting the 'picnic area' in Southampton that they couldn't be bothered with Peter's Pond Beach.

Every winter the road floods...thus Peter's Pond. There is generally some repair, such as fill-in sand, before the summer season. Unfortunately there appears to have been no attempt to fix the road this year and the damage is worse than usual. There are two large craters, which would benefit greatly from just a truckload of dirt. We understand that the Trustees have limited budgets, but this is deeply unfortunate to residents who can't get to the local beach. We are all familiar with the lengthy lines that prevent us from entering Sagg Main Beach.

We inquired with the Town Trustees office about repairs. Little information is available, but the office did say that they are currently getting bids for repair—that probably means we are out of luck for this summer. Why can't they just dump dirt to make the road passable for now? The office did not have information about the rumors that much of the damage was inflicted by a unnamed local construction company.  If this is true, why have the Trustees not forced them to make amends immediately. We we do know that there are two property owners on the east side of the street who have been engaged in legal wrangling. A fence has gone up. Between the fence and the craters, residents are all but prevented from accessing the beach.  Call the Trustees office and ask them to fix the problems 287-5717.

Parking at Peter's Pond has been in jeopardy in the past. Two years ago, at the beginning of the summer,  'No Parking' signs mysteriously appeared that prevented parking on the top third of the street. There was not enough parking and the police ticketed. No one in town government, not even the Trustees seemed to care. Councilwoman Linda Kabot saved the day. Kabot, who was revamping beach parking throughout the town, listened to the logic and restored the parking. There had been no reason to eliminate the parking.  It seems that a nearby homeowner had protested parking near their home and somehow, without anyone knowing it, got parking eliminated on a significant portion of the street. It is scary that the signs could have gotten changed so quietly, without anyone knowing about it. A third of the parking was lost that entire summer. And many of us received tickets.

Several years ago the Southampton Press picked up on the angry mumblings of local residents after a particularly nasty summer season had come to an end.  The Press claimed that residents were going to publish a handbook on 'manners in the Hamptons.'  While no one actually wanted to publish anything, there was some discussion about ways to get summer visitors, as differentiated from summer homeowners (who actually do care about their community) to appreciate the historic value and natural beauty of our hamlets.

Without chastising anyone in particular, it does seem as though many could adopt a more Aspen-like laid back attitude. Some thoughts for those in overdrive...

1. Be nice.

2. Slow down on the roads. No need to drive 55mph on Ocean Road when the speed limit is 35mph.

3. Allow fellow drivers to make a left turn onto Montauk Highway.  There's no reason to speed up to cut off a car turning from Mecox Road. Slow down and let them in.

4. Do not beep if the driver in front of you is crawling across the Sagg Pond bridge. It's a beautiful spot and they are enjoying the view.

5. Do not scream at the owner of McNamara's when your gold card is rejected. She can't help you... but she can direct you to the well-priced 2001 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

Every summer brings complaints of speeding and hazardous intersections. As in Manhattan, the roads here were really not designed to hold this volume of traffic. These are three hot spots in Bridgehampton and recent efforts to remedy them.

1. Butter Lane Railroad Trestle - The danger trifecta: speed, blocked view and narrow lanes.  The Town has made some recent efforts to bandaid the problem. They fixed the drainage so that the underpass no longer floods in stormy weather. And after a lengthy legislative process, Councilwoman Nancy Graboski got additional stop signs posted. But the Town can't truly fix this problem. The LIRR, owner of the bridge, needs to reconstruct it. Judging by their blatant disregard for the East End, it is doubtful that this will happen anytime soon.

2. School St./Church Ln./Hildreth Ln. "Y"  - There are really no rules on how to navigate this impossible intersection. Accidents are somewhat uncommon here, only because of the lack of traffic on the upper spur of Church. Former Councilman Dennis Suskind got engineers working on a traffic solution. Now that he has retired from Town government, what has happened to his plan?

3. Scuttle Hole Road: the entire stretch - The county Medevac has made more visits to Scuttle Hole Road than to any other location in our area. It is a series of dangerous intersections which seem to beckon speeders.  Although the Bridgehampton Citizens' Advisory Committee (BHCAC) and several individual residents have actively worked to get the Town to remedy the problems, it has taken years to get poorly-implemented fixes.  The Town Highway department did make some drainage fixes near Channing Daughters, but comically placed the drains above grade, so the water doesn't drain and freezes in winter.  Early last winter, with the approval and praise of the BHCAC, the Town constructed a roundabout at Scuttle Hole & Mitchell Lane. During the extensive planning process, the BHCAC specifically asked the engineers if the circle was large enough, to which the engineers replied "yes."  The BHCAC also requested that the corner of Millstone Rd. be squared off to improve sight lines and that the drainage on Millstone be fixed.  The roundabout is scary. It is difficult to see if other cars are in the circle or if they are going too fast. And the traffic is building up on Scuttle Hole, to the detriment to the Farm Stand. Complaints were made to the Town in January 2006, immediately after installation. The Town responded that the roundabout was indeed constructed properly and that it would not be changed—that drivers would need to "get used to it."

North Haven Village is one of the more civilized places around, simply because of the presence of well-marked bike lanes.

The Town of Southampton has tried to implement bike lanes with limited success. There was a plan about two years ago to create a bike path throughout Southampton Town, from the western side of the canal through Sagaponack. It was to run along the railroad tracks and connect with a similar trail in East Hampton. Residents protested the ill-fated plan, not because they did not want bike lanes, but because there was disagreement over the route and the potential widening of roads. Usage of eminent domain to seize front lawns for a bike path was not particularly popular.  In addition, the Village of East Hampton apparently refused to participate.

The residents of Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor have been actively expressing their support of bike lanes for years.  This need has grown as our roads have become more congested and dangerous. But what we need are north/south paths, taking us from home to the beach and town. In other words, useful paths, that will allow us to use our bicycles as modes of transportation. What we do not need are lengthy paths running from Remsenberg to Montauk along the train tracks. 

The saga of the Ocean Road bike lanes illustrates the frustration. After the budget for these lanes was allocated several years ago, the execution was neglected by the Town Highway Department for more than a year. After much community uproar, the lanes were then painted, but painted incorrectly. Then the lanes were "patched" with additional wider lines.  Now we are told by the Town that the full lanes will be implemented this fall—running from the Highway to the beach.  We're waiting.