Running on the Beach

I went for a run this morning before work. There was a dark grey-pink sky when I left the house and as I got closer to the beach, and time ticked on into daylight, the grey gave way to an overall pinkish hue. I wasn't in a clearing and the the thick trees on both sides of the road blocked what might be happening on the horizon. Everything that was white, turned light pink. Pink houses, pink maple trees, my white long-sleeve t-shirt was now pink. Birds were chirping like it was spring and the air was still.

I reached the end of the road at the mouth of Paines Creek and crossed over the seawall onto the beach, and turned East for what is about a 3/4-mile leg over sand. The sky was filled with pinks and blues, but because the sun still rises in a more southerly arch, its morning magic was hidden by the hills, trees and houses to the south of the beach. It was dead low tide and the bright white lights of 3 boats glistened on the bay, way out beyond the low water mark.

It was beautiful out and I was exhilerated. I felt really good for the first part of the run, but right after I got off the sand and started the 2-mile leg back to the house, I started to feel like I was towing a wagon full of kids. It ws like an immediate switch. I didn't run too hard, and I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but by the time I was done, I was worn out, and my legs had a pain I hadn't felt before. It wasn't that good work-out pain, but more like someone was peeling my skin away from my muscles mostly my thighs and calves. Well, it looks like we're in for 5 days of slush and snow, so I guess I'll stay out of my sneakers for a while. How the HELL does chase run for a hundred miles.... Chase??

Odd Ritual for Winter

So here it is, the middle of.. well I guess almost the END of, February, and it's cold and nasty out... soon to be nastier. It's early morning and everything out the window is grey, except for a faded hue of pink, low through the naked trees. The trees are swaying at thier tips, back and forth and it's 28 degrees out. There's a reported 20 mph blow going on and later it's supposed to increase to 40 to 50 with rain and a mix of snow. You can tell by just looking at the grey, clumped, frozen and frosted ground that staying inside is the best idea for today.

But not for this tree... This tree in Brewster blooms in early to mid February every year, no matter how cold it is. These little green-yellow flowers are more like curly leaves. Nothing like getting a jump on the competition, but still.... who's going to polinate? No bugs around. And we've got at LEAST two more good months of potential frosts and even freezes. It's also about the time of year that we see the first of the crocusses, but I haven't seen any. So why do they bloom so early, and what do they have to gain?

Down to... well past... the Big City

We just got back from a family reunion in New Jersey. Four hours each way and oddly no traffic. NONE! I've never been to, or anywhere near, New York City without sitting in traffic for at least part of the way. This is the GW Bridge. I'm sick as a dog. Not too many thoughts for tonight. (hack cough cough hack)

Raptor Love

I saw these two flying Wookies on the way to drop off the baby at daycare. Two very happy birds (wouldn't you think?) Happy Valentine's Day! Watch out squirrels - (pst. you're the gift)

(click image for a larger view)

Whale-walk... Kind of.

Today, the kids (minus the baby) and I went for a walk out to Great Island in Wellfleet. Two right whales had been spotted offshore earlier this week and I thought maybe we might see them if they came in close enough. I always though it was too shallow in there, but last week a small finback whale was IN Wellfleet harbor and later got stranded on one of the bay beaches just to the south. So, I guess they do come in there. Anyway, off we drove to Great Island as the snow cover melted and the temperatures rose.

We parked at the trailhead and hustled downhill through the short evergreen path, still covered with about 2 inches of very wet snow, to point at which it met the water. It was just the turn-of -tides, at a very high tide, and the path from this point, continued UNDER water and sea-ice-slush that had been pushed up by the south wind. The trail, although under water, was marked by a split-rail fence and we could see that it hugged the shoreline all the way around the cove out to the distant dunes that made up the causeway out to Great Island (which isn't really an Island). So, figuring we'd have the path on the way back, we too, hugged the shoreline and marched out along a single-file "bushwhacked" path of trodden salt marsh hay mixed with ice and snow, bordered to the left by water and to our right by the steep brambly banks of the hill we had just descended. The hay gave way to sand as we approached the dunes, and finally, we met up with the other end of trail as it ascended out of the shlushy retreating tide.

Just beyond this point the trail took a turn through a cut in the dunes and we found ourselves on Cape Cod Bay. The sun had come out, it was 50 degrees, and we had the entire beach to ourselves. Someone had built a driftwood "hut" just to the north of us, that captured the interest of the kids. It was a sculpture that seemed to have many hands that worked on it, and was in many ways, still a work in progress. We ended up spending a good deal of time in and around it and we even collected some of our OWN driftwood, and added it to the sculpture. We flopped on the dunes and threw big stones into the quicksand of the soft sea ice that was being pushed up on the shore. There were shells to be collected and castaway buoys to be inspected.

Once the kids had had enough of the thing and it's surroundings, we turned back south again to continue our walk. But, by now, the littlest was tired and the oldest was "bored" of walking, so we cut our trip short and headed back down the path that we started on. The tide had gone out... WAY out, and we had the real trail to walk back on. Still, it was covered with chunks of slushy sea ice, but each chunk sat solidly on the dry sandy trail below. The kids had a blast hopping from chunk to chunk and crushing through some of the smaller ones as they landed. A short hike, but a good one just the same... oh yeah, and as for whales... I looked to the horizon occasionally, but never saw any spouts. I'll look again in a couple weeks.

Snowman!

The week's worth of mid-teens degree weather finally broke today and put a thaw on all the crusty snow cover we have. It was a perfect day for building a snowman, so we did. I love his hair.

Decisions decisions...

Well, this weekend turned out to be one of the best so far this year. Max had a great basketball game on Saturday and Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day. It eventually got all the way up to 47 degrees! (click images for the full size view)

BUT, at 7:00 am, it was still only in the high 20's so I had to make a decision whether to go all the way up to P-town to look for whales or not. Amy wouldn't let me do both whale watching and clamming... and really, I don't think I could have pulled it 0ff anyway. Maybe, I could have gotten them both in if I got up and out of here at 5:00 am, but not in this weather. Anyway, I took the kids down to our local beach which is less than 2 miles away and we dug some nice steamers. The air was warm, the sun was out, and there was no wind. So, even though the water was absolutely freezing, wet hands warmed up once out of the puddle.

We found enough for a full meal for two people, and that afternoon I took them over to Keith's house. He and I slurped them down with a couple beers each - Anchor Liberty Ales. There's just something about same-day fresh steamers. Oh man were they good. The best part was that the steamy clam stink and the filthy pot remained at Keith's house. Sorry Keith.

That night I put the kids to bed and fell asleep on the bean-bag chair as I usually do. Last night was the super bowl and I slept right through it. I guess it was a pretty good one too... oh well.