Flattering Weather

The weather has warmed up now, and there are signs of spring everywhere – daffodils and pansies blooming, the grass turning greener.  I find strength when running in the cold and the wind by remembering that passage in As You Like It that I like to quote:

Here feel we not the penalty of Adam,
The seasons' difference, as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind,
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say,
“This is no flattery. These are counselors
That feelingly persuade me what I am.”
Sweet are the uses of adversity. . .

On these suddenly warm mornings, it is nice to be relieved of the need to smile at the counselors of rough weather and instead to be flattered a little for a change!

This morning, I completed a comfortable four-mile run in a short-sleeved T-shirt, down to the Picnic Area, and then back and forth through the aisles of the parking lot to make up the extra distance.  It was a busy place, with runners and hikers coming and going, and several young bare-chested men dressing into wetsuits, preparing to go surfing.  They reminded me of runners showing up at the Park on a Saturday morning, the easy camaraderie and the chatter about surf and weather conditions that I could overhear.

After lunch, we went down on the beach where there was a lot of beach nourishment work going on.  A pair of boats were out on the water in front of us, one behind and one in front, moving a long section of pipeline floating on big yellow steel floats.  

When in the right location, the pipeline is maneuvered perpendicular to the beach and pushed as far onto it as it will go, where forklifts with curved forks grab them and drag them into position on the beach, then push and pull them to the end of the pipeline.  We could see the dredged material mushrooming into the air ahead of us, just past the Oceanana Pier, which was where this section of pipeline was destined. 

There were a lot of people out on the beach and they were all watching with fascination, as onlookers do in a city where there is a high-rise construction job going on.  A four-wheeler was patrolling the area and keeping the curious at a safe distance.  I took this video of the two vehicles at work, watching them swivel swiftly around in a fascinating ballet of graceful motion, a lovely pas de deux of forklifts.
 

We exited the beach on an access ramp near the Oceanana Pier and walked back on the half-mile road where I often run in cold and windy conditions because the north wind is blocked by a row of houses.  It was nice to stroll on this road at a slower pace, appreciating some of the nice architectural details of these oceanfront beach houses.  We have some upcoming projects in mind on our own house in Highlands this summer, and this is a good way to get some ideas.

Now, at 5:00 on a Saturday afternoon, it is 64 degrees, warm enough, perhaps, to go down on the dune-top deck and watch another gorgeous sunset.