A storm moved in from the ocean overnight, just fog and then light rain at first, enough to make us move the deck furniture inside. But by the time we went to bed a spectacular thunderstorm had developed, bright flashes of lightning out on the horizon. We could hear the wind throwing fistfuls of rain against the windows during the night. It is always an occasion when a storm comes through out here, and I think I enjoy them as much as I do the cloudless nights spangled with stars.
By this morning, the rain had stopped, and just before sunrise I could see a dark blue band of clouds moving away, light blue sky on the horizon to the south and the west sliding in. By 8:00 there were no clouds at all, another peerless day of sunshine, blue sky, and a light breeze. I set out on my run at exactly 8:34, which coincided with the time for low tide. What a difference a difficult run separated by a day of rest can make; my legs felt good! I turned in at the Picnic Area, and decided to run a pair of "Picnic Area Intervals," that is, very fast repeats at my 400-meter pace on the straight section of the parking lot, from the "Yield" sign to the trash can at the other end where, after Christmas, discarded trees will be stacked for placement out on the dunes to stabilize them. It's probably about an eight of a mile. I was pleased with the results: 1:04, and then 1:03. Running high-intensity intervals is a good workout for any runner, and I felt buoyed by the fast times.
I ran out onto the beach then, and back to the condo at just after low tide, the sand flat and smooth, and the Atlantic Ocean breaking just at my left elbow. I passed several shell-seekers on the way, and two or three children squealing with delight at being permitted to play in a huge sandbox. Dogs, too, seem to revert to being puppies again at the beach, splashing into the surf after a thrown tennis ball, never tiring, always eager for more.
I sat on the dune-top deck for awhile, then came inside for water. My job this morning was to use the "Limpiadora Profunda" Proheat 2X Revolution steam cleaner on all of the upholstery in the condo, and I got to work right away while Martha went out for her own run. Sidelined by an injury, this was her first run since October 3, and it went very well. I saw her return an hour or so later as she came up on the walkway and stretched, then sat for a long while on the deck. When she came inside, I learned that she had been watching dolphins out in the surf, pretty close to shore. She had also been watching a man flying kites out on the beach, and from the balcony I could see one or two of them, swooping and cavorting on the light breeze. I thought to myself that it was a wonderful thing that these kites were being flown by a man, not a child, or a man showing his child how to fly a kite. What a simple joy it is to watch a kite rise in the air magically, carried aloft on the breeze, tethered to earth by a thin string. Like surfing and fishing and running intervals, kite-flying is an honorable past-time, is it not?
After lunch, we returned to the grocery store to stock up on supplies, which included crab cakes from Blue Ocean that would become the centerpiece of our dinner tonight. Martha also found exactly what she had been looking for - a box of fresh herbs to grow, parsley and rosemary and cilantro and basil, in a sunny place in front of the TV, which we never turn on - "A week of flavor in one little pot." The rosemary went into rosemary roasted potatoes to accompany the crab cakes. And who would have thought we could find fresh corn on the cob this time of year?
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