Gone To The Beach

Monday, September 25, 2017

Summer Afternoon, Summer Afternoon

Hi! What a beautiful summer weekend this was! Temps in the high mid-80s, blue skies. No wind which isn't so good. The evil flies have mostly gone.

Today I almost didn't go down to the beach, but my kids were so excited and encouraging. They love the endless summer days and were so happy summer is finally back to normal. [it was cool here, sometimes very cool, all summer]. I just had to get myself in gear and go and I was so happy I did. Friends were there, with children, drinks, boogie boards. Early afternoon almost everyone hiked over a few blocks to where a food fair was being held. I stayed and watched all our stuff, sewed on Bitty, and was rewarded with two classic yellow mustard drenched NY style hot dogs. What could be more fun than eating hot dogs on a hot sandy beach and watching the surfers and boarders try to eke out rides on the piddly waves.

Gully is definitely here! You remember Gully, my little sea gull friend?

When I sat alone he slowly approached and finally politely snatched a few fallen pretzels.

He had followed me home the other night, when the flies attacked me. I was so happy to see him. Could he really remember me, with his brain the size of a dime?

And huge flocks of sanderlings, arrived here for the winter from their tundra nesting grounds.

See the two slightly deeper sand colored areas, center right? Those are hundreds of tiny birds.

Spooked by a jogger, they took flight, look closely along the white seafoam line.

Walking back home, I spied interesting tiny tracks. Whatever could they be?

The water is almost gone from the swale, from previous post.

Later Mo enjoyed the cool green grass!

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Quilt stuff:
I finished Bitty to the point where I can work on the bias stems. Sadly the photos I took this evening are crap, so I'll show them another time. This is a problem with sewing in a beach chair, on your knee. The circles look good, they're, well, round. But they are placed wrong, should stack up in a straight line.

And this week I made Step Two of Lori's/ Humble Quilts sewalong. 24 half square triangles, a color and muslin.

I made two sets bec I can't decide when a sewalong is mystery. And the pink set is scrappy, on purpose.

Step 3 tomorrow, I am excited to see what happens next!

Hope your weekend was wonderful too! Did you have summery days, or has Fall poked out her dreary head?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach~~~

PS

I wanted Mo to be a unicorn this Halloween. But I was voted down.

''Mooooom. He's a BOY!"

"Unicorns are boys. They're magical beings just like pugs!''

eye rolls ensued....

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Storm Update ~ All is Well Except there's Flies!

Hi! Thank you everyone for sending safe wishes and prayers and kind thoughts! Jose was not much a threat but ya never know! Quick post to show you some photos.

Yesterday despite the wind and rain I had to go to town for a much postponed doctor appointment. You know how on the expressway, there's the signs that say, "Acc'dt Rt 30, 4 Hour Delay"?, well, here they use portable versions and they were busily saying "Coastal Overwash, Road May Flood Without Warning." Well, gee.
Anyway the ride was uneventful and since the weather was crappy there was even a parking space for me. The MD's office is right on the boardwalk, which I suppose gives him lovely coffee and surfing breaks, but there is usually no parking for miles; one has to be dropped off and picked up. No cell phone service either, a dead zone. It's annoying..

The fences are erosion protections, installed each fall until April.

Only a few surfers, shore break instead of good waves here yesterday.

The doctor's office building is to the left.

Slightly better waves down a couple blocks, but the jetty makes it iffy here.

When I got home, this was the view from my deck, I was too tired to hike down. Usually waves aren't visible over the dunes. These are about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile away.

Later the sunset turned the world violet lavender. Very eerie and beautiful.

Today I walked out to see how the beach fared. All looks fine!

That's water, midline in the photo, usually sandy beach.

This is a swale that, while not man made is maintained by conservation department. It acts as a catch basin, so water floods into the swale[s] and not over the upper dunes. Usually there is little or no water here.

The dark areas show how the storm waves came up to the outer dunes but then went on into the swale without damage.

This is looking in the other direction. See the black fence pole? The swale cut is that notch behind it, then the swale runs along the boardwalk between the lower and upper dunes. It's dug out each spring to form low ground.

And look who ran over to say Hi! If it's not the real Gully, we can pretend.

But even as I stood to take these photos, swarms of large biting horseflies attacked! I looked down to see what bit me and my legs looked like I was wearing black polka dot leggings. I screamed and hustled back to Mo's and my bench in probably record time. Let's hope lots of birds reappear to gobble the flies up!