Finding Things

Approaching the "dog days of summer" it's a quiet time, in a nice kind of way. I go out for my morning walks on the beach and then I have the day to divide between writing, quilting, reading and maybe an errand or two or maybe back to the beach in the afternoon for an hour. Lovely!

Today was a day of finding things. Last year I found a lot of horseshoe crabs, dead, on the beach, none this year until two days ago when a live one, big, old, bronzed was at the edge of the tide fighting to stay in the water. I could not see a way to help him so I had to let nature take its course. I think he survived as I didn't see him on the shore the next day. Today I realize the time of horseshoe crabs is at hand. I found three smallish ones washed up, dead. Last year some days I found a dozen or 15 on a single walk, I hope not this year. I hope they're surviving better.

Anyway I love finding them, even dead, because they are really fossils and I find them fascinating. Today was a day for finding things. Just a few feet beyond the parking lot was a quite nice patio table, white steel and plastic [imitation glass] top with a strip of masking tape saying FREE. I've been contemplating a white Adirondack chair for my little patio and was told where I could get one that actually folds for winter storage. With this table I'd have a comfy arrangement so I brought the table home.

Then, as I was about to complete my walk by the tide line I found, floating right on the water, a five dollar bill, sodden from quite a while in the ocean. So it seems the ocean is paying me for my exercise beside it. A good start to the morning and it's been a quiet, good day, although the sun disappeared about 9:30 and hasn't been seen since. It'll be back in full force probably tomorrow and I'll have a nicely cool night's sleep.