Last Day, part 2

A gentle day,

a calm sea on the last day of 2010.

Taken just after 3:00 on the town beach.

Good-bye 2010. Welcome 2011!

For more(and far more riveting) photos, check out The Boston Globe's The Big Picture.

If you scroll down, there is a three-part look back at 2010 with bold images from all over the globe. Some are painful to see. Others simply beautiful.

Monday Morning at "My" Beach

Yesterday, just after 8 in the morning, I took Jewel down to the nearest beach to us. It's on the bay, and there is a small public beach and boat launch, as well as the site of University of Rhode Island Oceanography School. The ship which is sometimes docked there(as it was yesterday), is the research vessel Endeavor.
It was so relaxing to be there, with just a few people--some fishing,
some enjoying the cool breeze, sand and view, and warm September sunshine like me.
And to some canines (always allowed at this beach) there were plenty of good things in the air, in the sand, and in between the rocks to sniff out. The gentle waves lapping at the sand and rocks, the occasional cry of a seagull and the cricket and birdsong from the the grasses and shrubs at the shoreline just added to the mellow September stew.

Beavertail Sunset

Some images captured from a family--my brother's visiting family, my parents, and my daughter's boyfriend included--picnic at my favorite place to catch the sun going down--at Beavertail on the island of Conanicut.

The Beavertail Lighthouse (more about the lighthouse here) sits on a "beaver tail" shaped spit of land that juts out into Narragansett Bay, across from Newport on one side of the bay and directly across from where I live on the other(western) side of the bay. The lighthouse is one of the oldest in the country, having been built first in 1749, and was rebuilt numerous times. The earlier wooden ones were destroyed(by fire from British troops in the Revolutionary War, and by hurricanes and storms) before the present lighthouse was built in 1856 out of granite. Guess someone finally figured out that a lighthouse made out of stone rather than wood might be best.
There is a state park there(153 acres) with grassy areas(perfect for Frisbee) and miles of rocky shoreline to explore.

Lazy Days

Just as my weed choked flower beds have been untended, my blog has been withering from lack of attention and interest. I fully intend to get back into the blogging swing of things soon

(and reply to comments and read some favorite blogs, as well).

For now, a slide show of some (mostly out of focus--sorry!) images from my morning on the beach yesterday. We(my sister, my mother and some friends) got there at 8:30 with muffins and iced coffee in hand, and left at noon. I'll have to do "breakfast on the beach" again this summer.

Grey Friday the 13th

There's been a lot of grey skies this week. The waves were even wilder and woollier this morning when I drove by the beach, but of course, I didn't have my camera on me in the car!(as usual) Even if I had, I could not have stopped to shoot some pictures because I was running late for work.(as usual)

So, these images are of the slightly calmer ocean at around 4:00 this afternoon--the rain was only a drizzle at this point and there were actually surfers out in the surf. Crazy!

I have missed a few week's worth of these, but I am in the mood to do a Friday Fill-in again. Please go over to Janet's Friday Fill-in blog if you want to participate, too.

1. The last band I saw live was _____________Guster.(back in July in Newport.) For a sweet clip of them performing in Washington with a children's choir, click here(scroll down to second video clip)--nice singing and whistling by the kids on the stage--wish I could have been there for that!)

2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is _________the day after when I can make a Pilgrim Sandwich with the left-overs. Sliced turkey, some stuffing(!), cranberry sauce, and a light schmeer of mayo on a bulky roll.

3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is __________almost done(this is a first).

4. Thoughts of _____________ all the other things I *should* be doing as I type out this Friday Fill-in just before suppertime, fill my head.

5. I wish I could wear ______________high heels without feeling self-conscious walking in them.

6. Bagpipes ________thrill me.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____toasting an acquaintance's 50th birthday here , tomorrow my plans include _____some house cleaning(needs it bad), making a big bowl of fruit salad for the family up the street who just had a death in the family and a women's basketball game at the university that I was given free tickets to because no one goes to the women's basketball team games but now I don't want to either except my sister is expecting to go with me....

and Sunday, I want to _____ just relax a little. There's a wake, too, that we'll be going to in the afternoon. Very sad, that'll be(for the husband of my daughter's cross-country coach and this family lives just up the street from us, too--very unexpected).