That Special Time of the Year

There's a time of the year when the stores get crowded, a parking spot is nonexistent, the most popular items are hard to find, people are lined up at every cash register all the way to the frozen foods with full shopping carts. People are fighting over the last boys' size 12 cargo pants. Ahhhh, the first day of school is upon us!
These clouds hung low over my area as the children ventured out of their homes at the butt crack of dawn after months of sleeping until noon. They squinted up at the sky, it's message to them that the fun was over. Time to live in the real world for another 180 days.
The high schoolers seemed in good spirits.

The first time middle schooler was not impressed. If you don't think boys are just as hormonal as girls, come live at my house for a few days.

Mom's Day Out

For the first time in 8 weeks there is no one around to ask me to do anything for them. So what do I do? Why I head to the beach. Every time I leave my house to run errands, this is my view waiting for the light to change:

I try very hard to remember that even when it's 180 degrees outside and the yellow flies are biting me; this view, a few miles from my house, is a gift. I'm lucky to be able to see it when I have to do something as boring as pay the power bill. It reminds that even though life goes on, we have cars, we have bills, that view is free--at least until they decide to build a 40 story condo on that land.

This was the sunrise at the beach this morning. I snapped this shot around 8:00a.m.

Here's another picture without people to spoil the landscape:

If you look to the left of center, I think that's a dolphin fin. It's supposed to be a dolphin fin, but it's possible it's a guy on a surfboard. I know there was a dolphin fin there when I pushed the button on the camera. Even though I've lived here almost ten years and I've seen a gazillion dolphins, there is nothing more exciting than to be sitting on the beach and see that fin break through the surface of the water. It never fails to make me feel like a tourist and it also makes me wish that I lived in a house on the bay and Flipper could come and visit me at the end of my pier.

Hey Mr. Lifeguard, that gull, that one right there, he took my bread. What are you going to do about it?

Happy Feet and please don't enlarge this picture because you will get a good look at the hair on my legs because I forgot to shave!

Thanks to everyone for your comments and stopping by to read the blog. When I started this blog a few years ago I never dreamed that anyone but me would read the words I put out in the universe. So thank you!