7-16-2003  "You should go to the beach"

Yesterday a checker in the grocery store convinced me that I should take a break from the inland heat and to go the beach.  "It's not the same as being hot at home," he said, as if he were a kind of beach salesman.  "It's okay to be hot at the beach.  And you can get wet and cool off."  Later I realized I had indeed fallen into a stay-at-home rut, and that it had been months since I'd gone to the beach.  So this morning I headed out along old Lewis Road.

 

At the Sycamore Cove bridge you have a choice:
beach on one side, freshwater creek on the other.

 

Reeds stand in duplicate in shallow fresh water,
their reflections shimmering on the glassy surface.

 

Above: farthest reeds stand silent in the shade.
At right: the bridge with the ocean beyond.

Gateway to the Pacific.  The shade below the
bridge is the perfect spot to relax during the
heat of midday.

Run-off from the sea wall's edge.  This area
includes an underground flow that loosens the
sand.  When one foot sank quickly halfway to
my knee, I retreated in a hurry!

The cove at the beach's east end.  The rock we know as Alex's rock sits like a stout submarine
at right, weathering the onslaught of the waves.

Looking west toward the bridge end of the beach.
This was taken about 9 a.m., before beachgoers
began to appear with towels and umbrellas.

A wave explodes over Alex's rock 
and water rushes into the cove.

Seaweed coats the lower part of the cove rocks
like the shaggy winter fur of a pony... except, of
course, that this fur is bright green.

At right: browning roadside grasses along
 Lewis Road tell the story of a typically
dry California summer.  Lemon trees fill
the  orchard beyond. The trees in the
background are eucalyptus.

Below: house at the crossroads of Lewis
and Cawelti finds itself adrift in a sea
of cabbage these days.  The red beside
the house is blooming bouganvillea.  In a
story yet to be written, a character of
mine will live in this house, which makes
me feel a special affinity for it.