People write in the sand, build castles and moats, pile rocks, and create other assorted inscriptions and structures.  I don’t usually photograph them, but this one struck a chord.  I liked the use of the shells and the bamboo — a nice change.  The young man who created it saw us admiring it and told us it was a tribute to his girlfriend.  So, Bash, here you are!

I love these little bitties.  At least three different kinds there.  Lots of people on the beach because of spring break; lots of shells on the rocks because of spring?  The poppies are blooming on the path to the beach, too; another bright harbinger.  They are an impossible orange, intense and pure.

Intense and pure.  That is of value.

Creeping from sand to rock.  Created by wave action.  It’s so easy to conjure shape and form and even motion and intent — where there is none.  The mind creates, eye and brain working together.

The lions and tigers are out!

That’s all.  That’s everything, on this gorgeous day.

Abundant pelicans, abundant sunshine, abundant blueness of ocean.  It doesn’t get much better than this!

There was even a scurrying squirrel who came within just a few feet of our own feet, definitely not concerned with the nearness of humans.

Follow this with a great dinner and an interesting art exhibit, shared with a friend.  Gratitude abounds as well!

The colors and textures and the movement!  Rather galactic in overall presence.  I don’t know what kind of tree this is.  It grows along the sidewalk (planted, no doubt) in coastal Encinitas.  Can’t you just smell it and feel it?

I talk about the jetty often.  Here’s what it’s made of.  The dark place and the jagged edges are lovely, don’t you think?

They aren’t quite the wave patterns; they aren’t footprints; they aren’t cliffs.  They are patterns left on the rocks by deposited sand, and I suspect the composition of the sand is the same as that of the rock they it is spread on.  I like the subtlety of the edges, the blurriness of the transitions, and the speckled patterns in several different scales: powdery on the sand, more defined in the arch forms, and even more clearly dotted in the rock above.

I keep wondering if I’ll find something new, but although it’s the same every day, it’s also different every day.

This is a spider’s web on some beach rocks that have been sitting out on our patio wall.

It is an abstract composition that was not arranged, just happened upon — and the mini-webs within the larger web is something I’ve never seen before.  Like stars within a constellation, looking like crystals or snowflakes or embroidered lace.  A very deliberate and untangled web.  Today’s gift, gratefully received.  Thank you to my Sweetie.

With check mark.  So, we have mushroom stone here and we have had potato stone before.  All we need now are onion stone and carrot stone and celery stone and we’ll have the ingredients for stone soup…certainly have plenty of salted water available, and mussels, and the occasional spiny (?) lobster…more than stone soup!

Placed by the waves or by humans?  Doesn’t matter to me — it’s elegant and eloquent either way.  It feels like a piece of dance, and the repetition of the form in the lower right-hand loop is extraordinary.  Love the several triangles.  And the shadows in the sand and the reflections in the water surface. I didn’t notice most of those things when I took the photo, just thought it was a graceful form.  Noticing to take the picture is good; noticing more afterwards is a continuing gift!

These patterns are ever-changing, and this is the first time I’ve noticed so many stones embedded in them.  The complexity of the tracery is wonderful, and the colors and the shapes of the stones nestling into the engravings enhances the impact.

First day of spring on the beach.  Yet another marvel.

It looks rather fractal, too.  This whole cluster is about 3″ long.  It was sad to see lots of dead birds on the beach today. Don’t know why.  Are they competing for the same fish that the hungry sea lions want?

And this is probably dead kelp, too, unless the incoming tide washes it out to sea again.  I don’t know how to tell if kelp is alive or whether it can be resuscitated either.  I need to add a marine biologist to my circle of friends!

Lots of legs.  Never seen one like this before.  He was crawling around on the big jagged rocks of the jetty.  About an inch long.

On a different scale, and also on the beach, was yet another sea lion.  One yesterday, too.  The one today was galumphing himself through the low tide wet sand and then up through the thicker, drier sand and  onto the rocks.

The lifeguards do an evaluation.  If the animal is injured or suffering from emaciation, they call Sea World to rescue it; otherwise, they let it be.  Sea lions apparently go in and out of the water and up onto beaches and rocks even when they are healthy.  It’s just sad to know there are so many hungry suffering animals about, apparently a record number this year.  Sometimes it seems there is a record number of things to be distressed about; or do we just find out about them more readily than in the past?

Rarely do we see them in this state.  These were fairly large, about two inches each half, still conjoined.  We most often see a single half-shell.  The coloring in this was also unusual.  Mostly there are the common black mussels.  I don’t know what this is.  A new mystery identity.  That is good.

Another ocean condo, maybe even mixed use.  Fun how it’s the same color as the sand.  And there are still some critters in residence, or at least there are traces of their residence.  A complex environment!

We took a picnic lunch to the beach today and were there nearly three hours.  It was gorgeous.  We treated ourselves to chips and salsa followed by sandwiches.  Then we each took a 30-minute walk.  Then we enjoyed steamed green beans in a very light dill oil/vinegar dressing.  Water to drink.

We read.  We watched people play on the sand and in the water.  We watched kids and families and surfers and paddlers and joggers and bicyclists.  We saw the gulls and the godwits and the sandpipers and the pelicans.  We saw the helicopters and planes.  We saw blue sky and blue-green water and sparkling waves.

We also saw our friends the stones and rocks.  “Spotted stone” reminds me of the British dish “spotted Dick” — which I have not tried.  I probably won’t.  Suet does not appeal and I detest candied fruit, visceral reaction.  My mother laughed when I had my first and last bite of fruitcake, as she had the same impolite response.

But spotted stones are still compelling.

Must be yummy, as [s]he’s marching off with it so proudly!  It even looks like [s]he’s smiling — in anticipation?

A day on the beach that was nearly hot.  80s.  Almost too warm for me.  But tomorrow might be a good day for a picnic, and we took off our sandals and walked in the water today.  The hard sand under my winter-white feet felt so good!

In this amazingly benign climate, they are in nearly constant bloom.  They add a fresh brightness to our small but cozy back yard, and we appreciate each and every one.  They have but a brief fully-open bloom, so I rarely cut them to bring inside.  Better that they grace our gray fence.

The pinkish-purple ones show up every once in a while, but I’ve never seen one with this combination of pale pink and yellow.  Lovely, it is, don’t you think?  I can see it as exquisite jewelry.

All three.  And the colors!  And the mysterious unidentified white and orange stuff on the rock!  Ah, the treasures of the beach.  The pleasures of the beach!  (Waxing ecstatic, the author here bows out, rather embarrassed…)

Perhaps.  And this guy was missing a foot.  Maybe difficult to tell in this photo, but he was hopping around and seemed ok.  Wonder how they lose a foot.  We’ve seen this before.  Does it get trapped in something?  How horrid.  Probably doesn’t affect flying, and he was with the group on the beach, so it seems he manages ok.  And it’s doubtful the other birds tease him.  Or that he has self-image issues!

Now, why did I assume he is a ‘he?’  I know nothing about bird coloring, so it isn’t that.  Hm…(him…?)

A rather macabre thing, it is.  Did the bird lose it in a fight, an accident?  Is the bird dead?  All the quills are lined up there like teeth in a comb.  The shadow.  The sand, indifferent.  The human eye, puzzled, both repelled and attracted.

The ocean never fails to yield up its — treasures?  Its relics, its spoils, its fresh and not-so-fresh miracles.  Will this be washed out to sea, to reappear on some other sand?  Or be torn apart by the relentless tides, losing its structure and sense of source, its sculptural essence, its origins in use, its freedom of flight and protection?

Another sadness.

Poor thing.  He was moving his head around but not too much more.  The lifeguards sent for rescue.  They got him into a net and then a crate, which was loaded into a truck.  It was hot on the beach in the sun.  I hope he got some water and some medical treatment.  Lots of people watching with concern.  This was on the dog beach in Encinitas this afternoon.  We had breakfast/brunch out and then a 3-mile walk on this beach.  We once saw a stranded sea lion in La Jolla, too.  Someone said there isn’t enough food for them.  Sad.

As promised.  The grains of sand add a jeweled sparkle. A bright, warm sunny day on the beach today, it felt like the first day of summer.  I was too warm in jeans and a tee; there were lots of bathing suits out there, and a few sunburns, too.  Glorious.

It must be some sort of combination of wind and bacteria that makes the surf break onto the sand and leave clumps of foam behind.  Some of it looks clean and light and sudsy and then some of it looks like this.  The varying texture and thickness and density of color make for mini-landscape drawings on the beach, all soft with craters and edges and thick and thin places.  The two stones also add the possibility of a face, yes?  A walrus mustache, a rather sad one?

It should be some sort of elegant shawl.  Many of these photos are a puzzle to me: should I crop them or not?  The texture of this plant (?) is so intricate and fine and lacy, yet the form is strongly suggestive.  Perhaps I’ll crop it tomorrow.   Or is it an alien bird?

Yet another beach mystery.  They look a little forlorn.  Probably another casualty of the storm.  The shadow is compelling, too.

There were things on the beach that looked like they’d washed up from boats, and other things that looked like they’d washed down from the cliffs, and still other things of nonassignable origin.  And then the next day, they’d be gone; they were either salvaged by someone unknown, or washed away again, and who knows when or where they’d turn up?  The sea was giving up its treasures and then disappearing them again…

A new-to-me sort of seaweed.  It has itsy bitsy leaves every so often.  It lies in a big tangle on the beach, and in the nearly 15 months we’ve been here, I’ve never seen it before.  The colors are yummy.  It certainly looks like it should be edible, but no, I didn’t take any home to steam or stir-fry.  Hm…

On the beach, a few hours before our walk.  Actually, it poured today, which is unusual.  It didn’t pour for long.  There was no thunder or lightning.  But still, it came down hard and for more than five minutes at a time.  Nothing like a several hour storm of the caliber we were used to in the Midwest, but still.  But still.

It’s been raining the last two days so I’m glad the jetty has a wealth of photo opportunities…here’s another one.  The richness of texture and the distribution of colors is painterly.  I was only fortunate to be there and have a decent camera phone.  Sometimes the light seems too dim, and in this one there are some pale chartreuses that didn’t come through, on my screen anyway.  Just a hint under the central black mussels. But I like this photo anyway.