Settling In

We have been here four days now and have settled in to a relaxing routine structured around the weather, the tides, and sunrise and sunset.  The weather has been wonderful, highs in the upper 50s and on Wednesday 70 degrees, about 20 degrees warmer than Highlands.  We know that more seasonable (i. e. “colder”) weather is on the way, but for now we are getting out of doors as much as possible. 

With the exception of Wednesday morning, when thick fog moved in from the ocean, I have watched three sunrises from the dune-top deck, all of them completely different.  Even before it makes its appearance over the ocean, the lavender-rose light is refracted all around the horizon, which is a beautiful phenomenon. 

It is hard to explain to most people who are not familiar with this area that we face south over the ocean, not east as one does in Kitty Hawk. 

Because of this orientation, we can watch both the sunrise and the sunset from our dune-top deck.  The sunsets are especially spectacular and I expect that in due time I will post some photos in this blog.

For our first morning here, I had entered an event in my iPhone’s calendar:  GO FOR A RUN!!!  And that is exactly what we both did.  We have a lot of choices for running routes here, all of them flat and interesting.  The condo is only a mile from Fort Macon State Park with its pristine beaches, nature trails, and historic exhibits, as well as welcome restrooms.  It is about two-and-a-half miles to the Fort with a wide bicycle path most of the way, which makes for a great five-mile run.  If the tide is out, we can run a little farther and come back on the beach.

We often complete a shorter three-mile run to a Picnic Area halfway to the Fort, where there are restrooms, beach access, and a long enough paved parking lot aisle that we can run intervals there, back and forth from one end to the other.  That’s where I went this week, coming back on the beach.  At low tide the beach is wide and flat and perfect for running, and there is little that can be compared to running with the Atlantic Ocean at your elbow, scattering up the flock of seagulls that is usually parked on the beach and watching the sanderlings skitter away on their tiny stick legs.

Last year, we noticed that some new benches had been installed just below the dunes, and there was a plaque on the one just outside our condo remembering Matt Cobb, who had died in 2021. 

He was born the same year as I was, and I never fail to pause on the way back from a run and think about this man and his well-spent life.  That verse on the plaque  - “Be young, be foolish, but be happy!” – I vaguely remembered, and a Google search found that it was a song by the Tams from the Sixties, apparently a favorite of Matt.  I even found a YouTube video of them performing this hit song of 1968, including a dance routine reminiscent of the Temptations and so many other African-American musical groups of the era, and each of them seemed to be wearing, of course . . . a tam. 

Be young, be foolish, but be happy
Be young, be foolish, but be happy
Don't let the rain get you down, it's a waste of time
A waste of time
Have your fun, live everyday in the bright sunshine
The bright sunshine