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By Jaime Lutz
Brooklyn Daily
Everybody’s thinking it: it’s like summer never happened.
After a short heat wave in July, New York City’s famous crazy summer hasn’t really reared its ugly head this year, and yet it’s halfway through August and it looks like kids will be going back to school soon and adults will be switching from iced coffee to pumpkin spice lattes any moment now.
But don’t hang up your flip flops just yet — there’s still time to make this season worthwhile. Here are some things you should not miss out on before the heat is all but gone.
Book yard
It’s the perfect combination for the shut-in book worm and the habitual beach reader. At Unnameable Books in Prospect Heights, you can find a huge variety of used tomes just waiting for you to flip through and also enjoy the beautiful back yard which hosts readings.
Unnameable Books [600 Vanderbilt Ave. in Prospect Heights, (718) 789–1534]. 11 am–11 pm.
BBQ with a view
Buy ingredients for a barbecue at the Borough Hall Greenmarket — think vegetable skewers, corn, even hunks of good bread — and then take your bounty to Brooklyn Bridge Park with some grilling supplies. Grills get filled up fast on the weekends, so try to find time during the week.
Grills at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 5 (Joralemon Street past the Brooklyn Queens Expressway).
Borough Hall Greenmarket (Court Street and Montague Street in Downtown, grownyc.org).
Rent a bridge
This is what Citi Bike is basically for, right? If you’re not a great bike rider — that is, you don’t ride around with a chain strapped to your chest — the Brooklyn Bridge makes the perfect route in the summer. It’s not just for tourists and in fact, don’t let the beautiful view cause a collision with one.
Find the bike path at Tillary and Adams streets between Downtown and Brooklyn Heights. citibikenyc.com.
Take yourself out
It’s time. Time to go see some baseball. No, not the Yankees. Not the Mets, either. Go see the Brooklyn Cyclones in all their minor-league glory, with fun themed nights, photo ops with Sandy the Seagull, and of course, a real good game of hardball.
MCU Park [Surf Avenue and W. 16th Street in Coney Island, (718) 449-8497, brooklyncyclones.com]
Adult swim
The worst part about public swimming pools are the kids. It’s not your fault you’re getting old and all you want is to practice your stroke. Avoid youthful fun by going to the Red Hook Pool, where you have to be 18-plus to swim during lap hours.
Red Hook Pool [155 Bay St. near Clinton Street in Red Hook, (718) 722–3211]
Thar she blows
Who knows? Maybe summer isn’t done with us, yet. In case of freak heat wave, opening up a fire hydrant for a refreshing soak is legal, if you do it right. Just go to your local fire department to get a spray nozzle and ask a firefighter to do it for you.
Peeping Franzen
You’ll finally have something in common with the author of “The Corrections,” and “Freedom,” whether or not that’s a good thing. Either way, learning to birdwatch is easier than ever. With a robust online community, along with the bounteous offerings of winged friends in Prospect Park, and even an app for tracking bird movements, you’ll be seeing birds in no time.
The Brooklyn Bird Club at www.brooklynbirdclub.org/prospark.htm and prospectsightings.blogspot.com
Birdwatching enthusiast David A. La Puma, Ph. D. at Woodcreeper.com
Reach reporter Jaime Lutz at jlutz@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8310. Follow her on Twitter @jaime_lutz.