To flesh out your image of the pines a bit more... some links:

http://fifinder.com/villages is a website about the various towns in Fire Island. There's a map of all the villages, and if you click on the name of a village, you don't get much, but if you click again on "read about ___", you get a pretty good description of the village.

http://www.fireislandqnews.com/ has a good overview of last summer's events in the Pines and its "sister" community, Cherry Grove. Together, they're known as "Gay Fire Island". I haven't been here in the summer, but I gather the Grove is a little less high-end, and a lot more flamboyant. Every 4th of July, a Ferryload of Drag Queens stage an "invasion" of the pines. You can read all about it on this page. Also check out the story on the Fire Island Dance Festival fundraiser, that happens here (the Bayhouse). And the bit about World Famous Bob, just because she's a friend of Virginia's (she worked at the shop in Williamsburg / next door to the wedding reception). Horrible picture of her, though.

The local grocery store, the Pines Pantry, is closed for six months of the year. But their webcam is still up & working, at: http://63.116.179.15/ViewerFrame?Mode=Refresh&Language=0, providing you with an up-to-date picture of the Pines Harbor. Not much going on there most of the time, but if you check it on Saturdays & Sundays, you can see the biggest social event of the week here in the winter: the ferry arriving and leaving. Quite a few people come on quick daytrips, just to check on their house, or because they're shopping for a house to rent this season, or to buy... about 25 or 30 people most weekends, which is apparently quite unusual, and only because we're having such a mild winter.

Speaking of which, I promise to post my winter storm pictures here as soon as I get a chance...