Warmer Days at the Beach

We have had some beautiful weather these past two days, sunny with only a slight southerly wind, and temperatures soaring in the afternoon into the 40s and 50s.  After lunch, it was 55 degrees, warm enough to comfortably sit out on the balcony in the sun and read.

We walked down to the pier later, and there were surprisingly few people on the beach for such a warm day, and Friday of Superbowl Weekend, too.  This painter had an easel set up and was working on a small painting of the gentle waves washing in on the incoming tide. 

As we were approaching the pier, we heard something whirring overhead and saw that it was a small model airplane.  From artist to hobbyist, it was a good day to be on the beach!  The plane landed behind me and I realized it was much larger than it had appeared when it ws aloft.

We kept thinking we saw sea glass in the quiet surf, but it mostly turned out to be those shiny flat shells that we now know are called jingle shells.  I did find a large piece of brown "sea glass," perfectly round with jagged edges . . . the bottom of a broken beer bottle, which I carried back and put in the trash can.  "The tide's about to get me," our artist called out on the return walk, and indeed the waves were getting closer to his easel every minute.

Martha found this shell on the way back - a good sample of a clench helmet, aptly named after those clenched teeth.

Tomorrow morning, we are planning to run the Cocoa 5-K in Morehead City.  This will be the fourth time I have run it and the third time Martha has.  It is a small race, a fund-raiser for the Carolina Chocolate Festival going on in the Civic Center.  With ten-year age groups (winners scoring free tickets to the Festival) I am not expecting to do well, and the course is not a fast one, curving back and forth on sidewalks along Arendell Street before finally taking a straight, flat run out to the end of Evans Street and back again.  With an expected temperature of 42 degrees, this will be the warmest it has ever been for this race; last year it was 28 degrees and there was a stiff wind, and in previous years it has been colder than that.

But even though it is a small 5-K, and likely not accurately measured, it will be pasta with marinara sauce and early to bed for us.  And should one of us win tickets to the Festival, you will not find us participating in the chocolate-pudding-eating contest that we witnessed last year.