Thursday Ramble

Last night's sunset was glorious, so brilliant in the west that it spilled over toward the south, spreading all along the horizon.  My little camera could not capture it very well.

I think that we enjoy the sunrises and the sunsets more when we are out here because we live in a valley, Clear Creek Valley, and only catch reflected sunsets from time to time in midsummer through our neighbor's trees.  Here we can actually watch the sun sink lower and lower and then disappear completely into the ocean; and even more magnificent is the light reflected an hour later in the western clouds, a kind of encomium for what once blazed so brillantly.

This morning we awoke to fog which had rolled in over the ocean overnight, the dune-tops ghostly and mysterious in the diffused light.  I could not even see the ocean.

We had good runs this morning!  Martha completed five miles in all, running a mile-and-a-half non-stop.  I ran 6.35 and found a good straight place at the picnic area on the way back from Fort Macon to run four "intervals" of an unknown length (perhaps 0.15 miles), faster and faster each time, my legs welcoming the speed work.  But I was a little tired on the final mile.  So we showered, had lunch, and departed for a slow-paced Thursday ramble.

Our first stop was the Ruddy Duck, where Martha's aunt took us several years ago, right on the Harbor Channel next to the storied Sanitary Fish Market in Morehead City.  There were ripening tomatoes in the foyer which we were forbidden to touch:

Such a beautiful place to stop and sample some spinach-crab dip.  A little boat motored in, its young pilot texting on his phone as he sailed past us - is that not against the law?

Then we moseyed into several little thrift shops and stores, including Parson's General Store, ca. 1905, steep steps climbing to a second story where the creaking floorboards were surely original pine.

And a checkerboard out front beside two rocking chairs, where I sat for awhile watching the traffic go by on Arendell Street.  Here was a dramatic contest between two opposites more historic than Democrats and Republicans:  Dr. Pepper and Coke.

The pleasures of merely circulating!