My beach style has evolved over the years, but has settled into the same sweet pattern:

Iced coffees, hot coffees, interchangeably....wearing dresses that are loose on the skin...indulging in pleasures like wine and cheese...keeping tabs on the boats as they chug in and out of the inlet...leisurely strolls through my favorite boutiques (coffee in hand, admiring the decor!)...talking myself out of buying all of the beach jewelry...dreaming about cedar beach houses with big wraparound porches...the impatience of having to wait while a rainstorm rolls through....picturing what life was like at the shore before it became a vacationer's destination...envying the seaside homes with beach cruisers in the front yard, next to heaping blossoms of hydrangea...watching the big steel fishing ships at the docks, hearing the water lap up next to them.

This year, the beach was different. It was a week that actually went by slowly. I wouldn't say I was completely relaxed either (calligraphy work, car troubles, just on the periphery of stress) but I am glad that I was still able to find time for all of the things I love at the beach. It always happens this way - you don't fall into your deepest relaxation until the week is almost up.

Such is life! :) This morning I woke up early and got a coffee at the Deli (it's a short walk from the house). No phone, no camera. It was eerily foggy, but magically quiet - you couldn't see the ocean, and you could hear the big boats coming through the channel before you could see them.  I walked to the jetty - one of my favorite places in the world - and peered out in between the rocks. I saw dozens of tiny crabs, peeking out in and out of the water, with spotted claws, tiny brown legs scurrying in and out of sight. I even saw a fish. I remember one time as a teenager walking along those very rocks, catching a sea urchin...another time, I caught a starfish.

As I sit here, there is a nice slow rainstorm passing through. The sky was light one minute, black the next! I love this about the beach. So I intend to keep watching the ships, savoring the salty humid feeling in the air while I can.