A January Beach

A January beach is all about sudden changes.  Ice Storm Jasper (which sounds like a name for a lovable family dog) made for some beautiful photographs, but by Sunday evening the warm sunshine had melted it all away.  Monday and Tuesday were warmer, in the 40s, and the wind had died down, so we were both able to run.  I completed another set of intervals on Monday, a second or two faster than last week on average, and then looking at the weather in the week ahead I completed six miles the very next day.  At my age I need to heed the old adage, “Listen to your body,” especially when I run on successive days, but my body did not complain at all.

It warmed up nicely on Tuesday, and we decided to go to Beaufort and walk around a little.  We have always loved the little town across the harbor and have enjoyed many events there in pre-Covid times.  It has won awards over the years, and this year it was the only South Carolina destination listed in Condé Nast Traveler's 26 Most Beautiful Towns in America.  It’s quiet pace, good restaurants, and architecture dating back to the 1700s were singled out.  On the way, we spied this egret standing immediately next to Fort Macon Road, not far from the condo.  I eased closer and closer and it did not move at all as Martha took its picture from six feet away, nor could we startle it into flight.  A beautiful creature, and a common sight along the road near salt marshes.

I think I always take this same photo in Beaufort, a sign on the side of a building just off Front Street.  It must surely date from another era judging by the swimsuit (and hair style), and the motto, “Nature’s Gift to North Carolina.” 

Martha spent some careful socially-distanced time in one or two shops on Front Street, while I walked down Front Street past the many historic homes there, which have withstood destructive hurricanes and nor’easters over the years.

This home was identified as a short term vacation rental, and had an inviting front porch with rockers and picnic tables – a lovely place to stay, on the waterfront right across from Taylor Creek.  I noticed that the ceiling of the porch was painted blue, which we have learned is intended to deceive hornets into believing it is the sky and so discourage them from building nests there.

The waterfront is always fun to stroll along, with yachts from all across the eastern seaboard docked there.  It is definitely a boating Town, and we have seen small boats tie up in front of a restaurant like the Front Street Grill just as naturally as if it were a street parking place.  We once sat outside, at the same restaurant I think, on a warm February afternoon and watched dolphins leaping out of the water in Taylor’s Creek.

Caution about Covid, as well as frugality, has limited our dining thus far to here in the condo.  We have  been making an exception once a week, though, to order take-out (usually the mahi special) from Amos Mosquito’s Restaurant, which is just a mile or so away on Fort Macon Road, and we also have reservations there for Valentine’s Day – one of only two days during the year when they take reservations.  The name is an interesting one and one which I have explained in this blog in past years.  It seems that the young woman who founded the restaurant, Hallock Cooper Howard, used to have fun with the knock-knock joke:

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Amos.
Amos who?
A mosquito!

As a child, Hallock would always mistell the punchline and say, “Amos Mosquito.”

Martha’s cooking has been wonderful, and so the temptation to dine out is not very great.  This week, for the second time since we have been here, she prepared scallops from Blue Ocean, seared perfectly, and paired with brown rice and oven-roasted tomatoes with basil and blue cheese.  Yum!  And the oceanfront view and the service were exceptional!

It turned cold and windy again on Wednesday and continued that way today, but I bundled up against the 17-mph wind and walked on the beach for a couple of miles.  There is always something interesting to see for the attentive beach-walker.  I spotted this creature just a little way from here, which I first thought was a stingray.  We have seen and touched stingrays swimming in a shallow pool at the excellent North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores not far from here.

A little research told me, however, that this was a skate, which like the stingray is a cartilaginous fish related to the shark.  Skates lay their eggs in little black sacs called mermaid purses, which we have often seen in great quantities washed up on the beach in March and April in Duck on the northern outer banks.

Tomorrow promises to be a warmer day with diminished wind, so we will plan to complete another good run before the next storm (named Kenan), scheduled to arrive Friday night and stay around through Sunday morning, makes us seek shelter from the storm.