tuesday : the beach

There are certain things we just Have To Do.  Some we do because most of us are very sentimental about such things, and some are because it's our thing.

Whatever the reason for this day, eventually we were to the beach.

That'll do.

of the sun

 After a morning of... tumult.... we eventually got on the road.

While I love summer (we all love, love, love it), the relief from one hundred degree days -- and lovely, cool nights-- is most appreciated.

I'd be far more saddened to feel the decline of our beloved summertime if it weren't for the magic that the late days brings.

Tall, golden grasses.  Beautifully bleached deserts.  Wild ghost chases.  Deserted highways.  Whirring grasshoppers that at first seem the size of birds, when they fly past you.  Cricket songs at nighttime.

This time of year often prods and pushes and lures me into the desert... "Come... you are safe, here.  We welcome you.  Come see what you can see."And so, we do.

Not everyone appreciates the beauty of the desert, I think.

Its beauty isn't always striking or obvious.

But I am an appreciator of this life, and it isn't difficult for me to find and fall in love with the magic.

at Sunstone Knoll

 Giant holes and tiny holes abound.

 Looking for Sunstone

 Horned Toad lizards!

Sunstones and shells

 Tracks

Wind

 

The day inevitably neared its end, and it was time to turn away from the setting sun, and set our eyes toward Home.

Which is always a welcome sight, too.

Up

Had to go up, a bit.

There's not a lot that a sick pair of children (who need to get out) can do, but Up is one of them.

It'll do.

a world to ourselves

three and a half days of summer.

 not fancy.  

nor exciting.

not even anything extraordinary or life-changing.

just chipmunks and squirrels and skunks and lizards and seagulls and owls...

and sticks and books

and sand and water and waves and solitude...

and quiet and respite and slow.

and that will do.