Beach Weather's Back!



             

               October



That was the headline on the local paper yesterday. And oh boy, was it hot!

My car's thermometer read 90* in the flea market parking lot, when I staggered into my air-conditioned Jeep, drank copious amounts of water, and hoped I did not have sunstroke...

I never go to the flea market when it's this hot, but who knew?
I should have had an inkling.....ALL the drawbridges were up and down; I think every big white boat in the Atlantic was out on the water yesterday. Parking lots at the public beaches read: FULL-no parking....in October?!

Look closely, below, see the good advice?

 I went home, mentally postponed all my well-intentioned fall cleaning. I dug out my beach bag, located my sand chair, and headed down to the beach....

It was pretty busy, too. Look at all those footprints in the sand and folks just relaxing, pretending it's July....

  

Down by the water the temp is about 80* or so...really nice beach weather, especially for walking barefoot in the crisp, cool surf....

I brought my little doll quilt. I like the bright unshadowed sunlight on the beach for sewing....

I haven't worked on this little guy since I hastily sewed n the binding just before Hurricane Irene came.  Messy job I did too. I resewed it instead of ripping and redoing. I want it to be finished....

Columbus Day is the unofficial end of summer here (well, some years it's Veterans' Day, I have time, right?) But this was my summer '11 beach project.

Lovely soft doldrum-ish waves...

More jade green waves and big ships...

Farewell Summer sandcastles...

This was a beauty!

A few seashells...

a little companion...

and  wide open sands...

Life is good!

love

lizzy

    gone to the beach



Sunny Days

The fog has finally---I hope---moved on.

  

Today was what the weather guys like to call a Ten Best Day...72*, 20 mph wind, not a cloud in the sky and no humidity.

My shorebirds are in full autumn  behavior mode:

busy eating...

Then flying in huge wheeling masses of white/black/ white...

sanderlings take flight

The oystercatchers left promptly on October 2nd. They were there on Saturday, then all disappeared. Here today, gone tomorrow..back on St Paddy's Day. I surmise they know the date by the length of the days, or the angle of the sun, so much lower in the sky now. I'll miss them. They are my favorite birds, the pairs returning each year to their exact nesting spots, they seem like tiny friends.

 The sanderlings [above and below] arrive daily, they must number in the thousands now.

Small groups of passing through migratory shorebirds seek safety in numbers and stay briefly within the larger flocks...here are dunlins, sandpipers, plovers, and gulls...

Semi-palmated plovers...darker than the piping plovers, more sleek. Dark brow and cream white with a distinct neck ring...he is in the right crescent of this puddle, with other "peeps"...

 

 Larger sandpipers,below, probably spotted sandpipers in their spotless winter garb...running in rows...

 Tiny footprints in the sand, the flocks snuggle close together at night...

 A couple of fish crows?...[note the dark beak]
 

see his open beak, I think he is yelling for his mom! the bigger crow...


                    

Herons gather in the marshes...Mallards and sandpipers in the flood swales...




 And in my yard, the holly and bayberry bushes are busy with tiny visitors---all kinds of warblers and kinglet. Shy and hungry, they find the berries fuel for their long journeys south. Others hungrily pursue the many mosquitoes still swarming in the grass and ion the dunes. I hope the little birds eat their fill..eat 'em all!

And then I found this interesting burrow! I wonder who lives here, the hole is about 1 1 1/4 diameter. Not a snake, I don't think my island has snakes....and see the tiny footprints within the tire tread tracks? Maybe I'd rather not know! [huge bug? small mouse?].

edit: it seems that this is a ghost crab burrow: Ghost crabs which I have never seen on my beach. They are a southern tiny crab, maybe washed north by recent storms?

A few "treasures'' on the very bare sand and tideline:

a single shard of old cobalt glass...

an abandoned car!

 Here's a tiny butterfly shell pair.This mollusk is a favored food of all the birds. The pretty colored shells are about 1/2" long....above you can it to the right of the little toy car.

                          

Hope your October is lovely too! Tell me what it's like where you are?

PS:  pls email me if you're unable to post a message? lizzy.d@gmail.com

Thx!

love

                 lizzy

self portrait 5

                                   

gone to the beach!

Fall Flea Market

Big sigh! I just can't seem to get the hang of this All White look.

Etsy's front page today featured a wonderful seller called all things white (will the blue font here make her shudder?) and I so admire the vision and discipline that goes into creating a shop, an environment, a world that is all white....
My excuse is that all white---and even more so, the new soft pearl grey-flax tones---wash out when faced with real live authentic Atlantic Ocean sun just outside the windows.

So my very fun and successful flea marketing yesterday...well, you'll see it is so not white. (another big sigh) ....

More transferware!

In polychrome browns....

Sepia with [fake?] hand-colored accents....mimicking early 1800s ware....

...not very old, mid- 20th century? 1920-40? If I was a true collector the patent date and bottom stamp would tell me when the pattern was first produced,

 ...but I'm instead just a sucker for old china in interesting colors!

Not in great shape. I actually like the cracked pieces, and their one dollar price tags, since I am not buying these to resell....

Love the  japonaise influence, the birds, the geometric ribbon, very 1910, I think. So perfectly autumn, too....

Then a very very new--but appealing unusually large stoneware pitcher.

The shape is modern, the glaze is modern, the price was verrry small. I love the traditional cobalt blue swirly flower!

And It will look great in my entrance hall filled with bittersweet...or red oak leaves.

This blue bowl is, to me, a find!

Again the price was low (20.oo, a splurge for me, but...) a primitive blue treen [wooden] dough bowl!

                            


Whittled out of a single log.

The blue paint?

Hmmm...there is wear on the ''ears" but would you stain a bowl blue if you were going to make dough in it? So I am not sure at all...the dealer (cellphone guy!) was unsure, no provenance etc.

But I guess if it was real and old and 19th century from Maine or Vermont, it would have cost a heck of a lot more.

Then...

baby dresses for angels....

 I love the fine detail of these early 20th century tiny gowns...

And lots of nice useful linens! Tea towels...heavy homespun!

A piece of cheddar feedsack print....

And note the fun faux-French market tea towels from Target!

More white lacy linens for hearts and doves...
                       

Iit was a wonderful market, even though I forgot to hunt for---white. (everything here total cost less than 40.oo! except Target tea towels 3.99 ea.)

love

               lizzy

 ...............gone to the beach