Chilly Nights

Brrr! A sudden cold snap has blown in from the prairies! Bringing clear windy days and chilly nights.

Too soon! Still wearing shorts but the cashmere beach sweaters have reappeared amongst my tanktops and flannel sheets are fluffed and tucked up on the beds---so cosy!

Even turned the airconditioning off. And you know how I love love love airconditioning at night! Sometimes I think I'll run it 12 months of the years!

The cold dry air has made the dune grasses PoP! The grasses turn amber and sport fluffy white seed heads...

They glow almost silver in the brilliant sunshine.

The seeds attract flocks of tiny brown and chartreuse birds blown here by the autumn winds...

Many are simple sparrows but close observation shows me pippits and warblers and kinglets. Rare here except during migration times.

If you look close you may see tiny footprints in the sand...not just birds:  rabbits, raccoons, feral cats, the odd chihuahua escaped from his leash. Maybe..a muskrat?

click to enlarge

I love standing here on the peak of the highest dune, ''on a clear day, you can see...forvever..."
It's magical to me, like being transported to  a deserted moor or highland heath....

You can see ten to 15 miles on a clear day!

INn the marshes these odd white bushes/ trees are blooming or seeding. We call them cottonwoods, even though I am pretty sure that is not what they are!

A few wildflowers still hopefully bloom, also in the marsh...,

The local paper says there will be hawks migrating this weekend too...I've been watching, especially at dawn [oh that crescent moon, did you see it? with Venus? gorgeous! 545am].

So far no hawks or other ''raptors''...just the growing gang of sandpipers on the shore...

    The video is poor quality, my apologies. I had to shoot directly into the sun to follow their flight. Take a look...      

Flea market tomorrow! I am excited! Hope your weekend is fun! And cozy---anyone else put on the flannel sheets?

love

    lizzy

gone to the beach