Misty morning

It has been hot and steamy lately but this morning there was a low cloud hovering just at the beach and the mist was delightfully cooling. The cloud (fog) was suspended just at ground level and probably didn't extend upward more than 10 to 15 feet. The visual impact was as invigorating as the physical effect, especially with the clouds above highlighted pink from the oncoming sun. A cooling blue mixed with magenta... ah-h-h-h, a refreshing start to a hot summer day.

Imagination in sand

Sand castles are a staple of the beach especially in summer when kids are out of school and more vacationers spend hours at the shore. I've been saving a compilation of sandcastles to share at a later date but this one was so imaginative I just couldn't wait to share it with you.

A drip-sand wall surrounds the castle with its medieval village. A cobblestone-like path to the castle door, some turrets in the woods (made of seaweed), a swimming pool, and campground comprise the four distinct areas that are well-defined and filled with intricate detail.
These turrets in the woods have drip-sand trees scattered among the seaweed bushes and shrubs. Seashells decorate the turret roofs. (Like the air conditioning units that dot the condo roofs in the area, perhaps?)
The swimming pool was heavenly with flowers floating in the water and sea shell lounge chairs arranged around the edge of the pool. The sand-condos surrounding the pool would be the envy of most medieval folks I'm sure.
The campground area in front of the main castle had a center bonfire, lovely landscaping, and each round hut had a seashell doorway. Just plain clever. Then I saw the best part... outside the door to one of the little huts was a tiny, tiny pair of purple sandals. Just how cute is that!

I was amazed with the imagination and the ingenuity in this sand masterpiece. I do hope this architect and designer goes on to a successful and fulfilling life and makes expressive and ingenious places for others to enjoy for a long, long time.

Westward sights

As you well know most of my photos are taken early in the morning looking east, however the other day I was doing some errands in the afternoon and in glancing westward sighted an incredible tower of white billowing cloud against a brilliant blue sky. The only camera available was my cell phone so this will have to do. I thought it was stunning standing there all alone as it was.

Memories came flooding back of a time years ago when I was learning to fly, my instructor made sure I didn't get too close to monsters like this. We skirted the edge of one on a flight one afternoon and that was enough to make me realize that as majestic as it looks, monsters like this are like hitting a brick wall in a small plane and will shake you up like a bee in a bottle. Think I'll just look, thank you, and enjoy a long lost memory.

Eye of the beholder

This photo is for a neighbor. We arrived at the beach simultaneously and she said, "Oh, this is when one should have a camera." So naturally, with a grin and a cheeky ta-da, I took my trusty little beach camera from my pocket... here's the result.

Again, to me not a spectacular sunrise... but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this is one, though not knock-your-socks off stunning, is intriguing and indeed not a bad start to the day.

Surprising reflection

Walking on the beach always gives me time for reflecting on problems and issues and on life in general. I get a great deal of enjoyment from watching the birds, crabs and other wildlife and a sense of being part of this unique planet. I particularly enjoy the ocean in her many moods and the clouds that are ever changing and unique every time I open my eyes and take it all in.

This photo was such a wonderful surprise when I got home and opened it on the computer. I was taking a photo of the night heron as it purposefully hunted for a crab. What I got was a not very good photo of a night heron but an astoundingly interesting shot of the clouds reflected in the wet sand.

It seems that at times we are so concentrated on the one thing that we miss the overall picture. (The old "forest for the trees" syndrome.) Surprising reflections appear when we get a chance to step back and see the whole scheme of things. True here, true of life itself.

Remembering Dad

Here it is Father's Day and I'm fondly remembering my dad who has been gone for 19 years. Seems like just yesterday at times. My dad was my favorite person, ever. He taught me how to tie my shoelaces, how to ride a bike, how to drive, how to hunt and fish and play golf. He used to let me follow him around at work and I had better keep up. I always did. He was always cheerful, I never saw him grumpy. He got upset with me when I did something wrong or broke the rules but he was never angry, just disappointed in me. I've posted this photo of him during his service in WWII, my how handsome.

And this photo of him sitting on the blanket with baby me. I'm looking up to him as usual, and talking with my hands... as usual.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy. I still miss you, guess I always will.

Redo

When I was a kid and messed something up I'd always ask for a redo. Well today I took another camera to the beach to see if I'd get better photos than yesterday. These pink and blue shots anticipating the sun were interesting and much closer to the actual color of the day.

This one even reminds me of the sun and clouds over the mountains.

Best of all, when the sun had escaped the clouds a lone kayaker was in place to make my redo perfect. Maybe not the three surfers of yesterday, but the thought is the same, the colors are better and I actually got a redo — even at my age.

camera woes

For the past few days I've been noticing that my beach camera has produced some really strange colors and tones for my picts. Everything seems to have a purple hue. This morning I was thrilled with our calm seas and with the three surfers who were just languishing in front of the sun. I thought the photo would be spectacular (it was in real life) but when I got home I found a muddy purple mess. Ugh!

Surfers in rising sun made for a interesting photo composition but the colors were all wrong! It almost looks better in black and white. Kind of like the TV shows pre-1960s... leaves a lot to the imagination.

Progression

The sunrise this morning offered an interesting progression from a just barely visible magenta glow with a hint that the sun was there at the edge of the horizon...

To a more visible and glowing orb...

Then to a fully visible sun highlighting the cloud just above it. Even the passing pelican seemed to be enjoying this lovely dawn. It was double the pleasure with the sun's reflection on the ocean.

Well, where did it go? The sun ducked behind that strip of cloud but it couldn't hide that pot of gold reflecting on the ocean.

All in all this progression took about 20 minutes and I enjoyed all twenty of them and then some. Thank you again Mr. Sun (and birds and sea) for greeting me in such an interesting manner.

#51 and 52

It has been somewhat disappointing this year because "the girls" have been a little slow coming ashore to lay their eggs. Yes, I'm talking about turtles and I got the term from one of the Turtle Patrol Volunteers who doesn't seem overly concerned about what appears to be a slow beginning to the nesting season. Apparently our water temperatures have been slow to warm up and the girls like it to be warm. What I can tell you is this morning there were two new nests and I was delighted. That makes #51 and 52 for our beach North of the Inlet. (Please forgive me for the less that ideal quality of these photos.)

I just loved the zig-zag return to the ocean of this first turtle. Wonder what caused her to do that? Maybe just the joy of having her arduous task finally done.

These were both loggerhead nests. You can tell by their tracks in the sand... alternating flipper strokes for loggerheads, simultaneous flipper strokes for green turtles (with sometimes a tail drag) and the leatherbacks are easy to identify because they are simply HUGE — as wide as a small car's wheelbase. I've never seen one because they are so rare and there were only 4 last year in our county's 38 miles of shoreline. Maybe someday I'll be lucky enough to actually see signs of a leatherback if not the turtle itself, I know I'll keep looking which is indeed half the fun.

Reality check...

The rising sun was lovely this morning but nothing out of the ordinary. No flashy clouds picking up the colors, no storms at sea with towering clouds... just a plain ol' sunrise. I didn't even take a photo to share with you. Then as I walked past one of the public beach approaches a visitor exclaimed at how fabulous the sunrise was. She was absolutely thrilled to be a witness to this plain, ordinary sunrise.

Well, I had to take a photo to share with you and I had to remind myself to not become so jaded over something that is quite simply spectacular. No matter how often I am fortunate enough to witness it, every sunrise is a gift. I guess I needed this reality check.

Beach gnome

To keep up with an old German tradition I have a gnome in my garden who is supposed to help get things done at night. Humpf.

What a delight then when I saw a gnome on the beach this morning, a hand-crafted sand gnome at that. Unfortunately he had lost his face and one ear but resting as he was with legs crossed and his arms crossed over his tummy was really cute. I just had to chuckle and of course snap a couple of photos so I could share him with you. He was quite large, perhaps 5 to 6 feet long and expertly crafted. Too bad his face fell... (I know all about that with the sands of time running as they are.)

Uh-oh, the metaphors could get dicey if I succumb to it but suffice it to say this gives new meaning to the term losing face. But at least I still had a mouth that could turn up at the corners in a grin. Lucky me, that's just what this gnome made me do.

After the rain

We had a jolt-you-out-of-the-bed thunderstorm about 1:30 this morning and I was wondering what would greet me later at the beach. Should have known the sun would welcome me as usual but there was also a small mountain of clouds, and it was double the pleasure with the reflection. A fascinating horizon to be sure.

What was more fascinating is that a late-night high tide along with the rain erased any sign of footprints left over from the Memorial Day weekend. I almost didn't want to sully the sand with my walking but it gave me a sense of adventure knowing I was the first today to tread those sands and leave my trail. Almost like taking the first run on a ski slope after a nightfall of fresh snow. Thinking about Neil Armstrong's first footprint on the moon is almost too much to fathom.

All this musing took my brain on a worldly exploration contemplating what it must be like to be an early explorer like Lief Ericson, Marco Polo or Lewis and Clark. Though they were not alone on their quests, the new adventure must have given them a sense of wonderment and exhilaration. Thinking about the early Native Americans walking along this very beach made me realize just how big our universe is and how I am both as insignificant and as important as one of the grains of sand which now held my footprint. Heady stuff for such an early start to the day.

Farther along the sun was hidden behind a bank of clouds and above there was a donut formation in the clouds. Um-m-m-m, snapping me back to earth, I'll bet those early explorers weren't thinking about donuts during their treks.