Deserted

The habit here is bare feet on most days. That means that once in a while there’s a chance of making a wrong step and coming down on a broken shell or something else with sharp edges. Grass around here has on the other hand always been a soft and cushy surface without threat. So I felt safe puttering around barefoot in the grass yesterday and didn’t expect the knife-like stab that surprised me. After I stopped hopping about on one leg howling a bad word or two I tried to find the something that stuck me, but it was either gone or well camouflaged. Well, it left me with a very tender foot and slight limp which has carried into today and required all-day shoes and socks to cushion the sore spot on my foot. In spite of the soreness, sitting around moaning about it didn’t work. A walk on the beach was deemed the best thing for it.

With the coming of May the scene here has gone through another radical shift, and to my eyes a welcome one. For much of the week the beach is deserted, leaving wind and water to erase the marks left by beach parties, the birds to pass their days unmolested, and for a few weeks the natural scene to slip back into what it has always been without human interference. The photos here show a few of the colors along an undisturbed beach.

Here the brown sand contrasts with pale blue sky and silvery water, puffy clouds and flattened beach.

Cloudiness and threat of rain worked interesting changes, altering light and shadow at a moment’s notice.

A second shot from the same stretch of beach seen through a different filter.

Here is a look at a starfish washed up in the surf. It was still alive in this photo but for whatever reasons would not swim out into deeper water. I made an effort to return it to safer water but the surf brought it back two or three times. It made small movements in my hand but was clearly in a weakened conditioned.

Here’s a view from the patio, and apart from ocean and sky a good look at the grass that stabbed my foot unexpectedly yesterday. The palm tree is fresh from a trim with all its fronds standing tall.