Horseneck Beach

Seen at Horseneck Beach yesterday:

- horses, necks and all, with park rangers astride, surrounded by admiring kids
- seaweed, a fair amount of it; I didn't find it particularly objectionable, but a guy asked me if they always have 'so much red tide here' (it's not red tide, but apparently Spemothamnion repens; I shrugged and said I'd never been there before), then 'they should clean it up, like they do in Newport' - uh, ok
- lots of clam shells, small pebbles, one partial remains of a dead fish
- terns, I think common terns but maybe least terns since they seemed small; a pair of them wheeled over me when I was in swimming (btw, lovely warm water in SE Massachusetts - so unlike the NH and Maine seacoasts I'm used to)
- lots of seagulls, boldly hovering over blankets for the opportunity to steal food; several seagulls floating on the water, apparently for sheer enjoyment, fluttering up and over breaking waves and settling back down to float again
- high, wispy cirrus and lamb's-coat-like altocumulus, and a parade of low fat cumulus marching along the bay - all contemplated from the water, just before a wave washed over me with my back turned (my hair thus feeling like a new strain of dried yellow algae for the rest of the day - small price to pay)
- funny little sandpipers (maybe sanderlings), always just ahead of me between piles of seaweed on my walk up the beach, lifting up and turning their white bellies or gray backs in unison, like an Escher print
- colorful fluttering beach umbrellas, holding against the constant wind blowing in off the water
- nothing, as I closed my eyes and fell asleep

Comments

[Dave]

A good list. People who object to seaweed at the beach are probably the same people who find forests with a lot of logs and undergrowth to be unacceptably messy. But if you ask them, they'll tell you they love nature. Just so long as it behaves itself!

[joanna]

Sounds like you're listing images for a poem or an essay. So vivid!

[Sara]

Nice pictures, Leslie.

The guy with the seaweed problem reminds me of a friend I once took to the Arnold Arboretum for Lilac Sunday. She was appalled at all the spring dandelions we saw. "They really ought to do something about those. It looks like they just don't care."

(ermph - snort)

[MB]

Falling asleep on a beach... nothing like it.

[patry]

I love Horseneck Beach. Never saw any horses there though.

[leslee]

Thanks, Dave. Yeah, you're probably right. I love the unruliness of nature, though I also respect it - undertows, mosquitoes, thunderstorms...

Thanks, Joanna. That's all I have time for - lists and jottings!

Sara: Ditto what Dave said. What is it with these people?!

MB: Yes. Except for the sunburn part! My usual face moisturizer was discontinued and I didn't realize my new stuff is sans sunscreen. Oops.

Patry: The horses were about the first thing I saw when I got down on the beach! Wished I'd had my camera.