I have PVNS: If this is winter... I'll take it!

After going to the gym this morning I decided I wanted to enjoy the mild temperatures and wanted to go to the beach. I debated about where I wanted to go, but decided to go back to some of my frequent places. It was amazing to me, to be outside on January 7th and not be freezing! I hate winter, usually, because it is oppressive... keeps me inside because the cold is not something I deal well with. This winter, though I am determined to be outside more, even when the temps bottom out, and I know they will.

So this first picture, is not very pretty. I went to one of the places from which I launched my kayak this summer, along one of the salt water marshes. The tide was low...

There was not much snow, but some was on this giant rock. It made me think of an elephant in the middle of a big open field... I like the sky in this picture... of course it is not as pretty as it was in person.

At this place there are so many shells, so many shells. They get stepped on and turned over each other and get ground up into bits and pieces. I like the texture of the picture, which ended up kind of being the theme of the day.. texture... I found a lot of cool textures at the ocean today.

Someone had a lobster dinner and discarded their shells here...

I like the black/whiteness of this picture... opposites.. without the opposites it would be hard to see the definition of all the rocks and shells...

After I left the place where I launched my kayak I went to the beach where I spend a lot of time. As I pulled into the parking lot I could see the sun drawing water. I took a quick shot because I knew by the time I walked to the beach, it would look different.

This was my view as I started on the beach. I liked that I could see the current in the water... at least that's what I think it is. You can also see some sunbeams...

I found a lot of interesting shells, with interesting textures... this looked like coral, but it was a shell, that has been breaking down... It is cool to look at.

There were lots of people on the beach today. Single people, couples, families, dogs... so nice to see people out taking advantage of the warmer temperatures.

The sand looked so smooth here, but also you can see the different colors in the sand. This shell is is slowly breaking apart... I like the spiral.

These two sticks had washed up onto shore... and it struck me that it looks like a cross... a reminder that for me... church is outside, enjoying nature...

As the sun was fading the color was pretty. It was muted compared to many sunsets I have seen, but still pretty. The tide was out, and this is looking out towards one of the sandbars.

The sand... ripples in the sand from the waves... texture!

This skeletal crab had been buried in the sand, uncovered by the sand... why take a picture of a dead crab? It was pretty in tact... but the color of the crab drew my eyes to it today amidst a lot of grays...

The beach was very soothing today. Very soothing, calming, relaxing...

At one end of the beach is a breakwater. I walked over to look at the rocks and noticed these circles in the sand... As the tide was going out and the water was dripping off the rocks I think it must have made these impressions... dot dot dot...

This is at the breakwater, looking back out over the ocean. ahhhh...

The rocks there are covered in sea weed and barnacles. Check out that texture!

As I looked along the breakwater I thought about the walls that we build... okay that I build. And wonder why they are still there... have they become part of me? Are they part of habits? And wondered if people can get through them...

Then... I saw this:

It stood out to me right away... a gap in the breakwater through which there was a view of someone on the other side... Perhaps my walls, while strong... have gaps... and the right people get through... and... not only can they get through... I can also get through... I think I have thought of my walls as a way I keep people at arm's length... and have been waiting for someone to be strong enough to break those walls or climb over them.... perhaps I need to change my thinking... perhaps it is me that needs to climb over these walls, maneuver through them, walk away from them...

As I was walking back towards the parking lot, I saw a man, pulling a cooler behind him... and he walked into the water between the sandbars... a clam digger... going to work... I watched him for a while. What a hard job, bent over digging in the heavy mud. Maine fishermen really work hard for their money... I am not a fan of seafood... but am glad that people are fans... so that they can support our fishermen. He was there first, but then I saw two other men join him, with their big forks... and clam baskets... Maine has some pretty cool cultures...

Another shell... and textures...

I couldn't go to the ocean without taking a picture of a seagull... this one was cool... I think perhaps a younger seagull finishing his maturation process, but I am not sure. I assume that gulls with the brown on them like this one, are younger, and the ones who have the gray wings and the white heads are more mature, but... there were some gulls today who were all the speckly colors...maybe I need to do some research...

After leaving the beach I drove over to the boat landing. I saw this boat filled with buoys. Someone's livlihood right there in a boat...

I shouldn't forget that Maine fishermen work year round, even in the winters... but I definitely think of them more in the summer. But the boats were moored... this was a cool place to be, the sand was very smooth and white... with few footprints...

Buoy.. there were a few buoys along the shore. waiting for the tide to return to lift them to the water's surface again.

Boats!

This is actually a picture of snow... of which there is very little... but it looks like the water as it comes into the beach. I was on the point of this part of the ocean, so the ocean was to my left... it is kind of like a mirror image of the water when the waves come in on the sand...