Beach Days/Overcast Skies

7:14

7:37

8:37

High Tide

8:40

Sandpiper

Nothing seems to change.  It's just after 6:00 and I am the only one up in a still darkened house, drinking coffee and listening to Morning Joe on my earphones.  It's 67º and will get up into the high 70's once again, perfect beach weather.  It looks like a cloudy day, however, with occasional sun, a good day for beach walks.  It's 8:00 and I have just returned from a half-hour walk on the beach, the sky overcast, shades of gray. At the moment, three are up, three still sleeping.  Time for breakfast.   10:49 High Tide, 5:12 Low Tide

At Fish Market

A Gathering Of Gulls

Kitbitzing

Yesterday we stayed in the condo early morning although I did get out at sunrise for some photographs along with a few others, dotting the beach.  High tide was at 9:45 so there was literally no beach, with waves up to the sand dunes.  So we sat out on the porch although I sat out on the steps, just above the dunes, enjoying my breakfast, watching the waves break.  Around 10:00, we drove off to Surf City, the major beach town on Topsail.  I was surprised at how built up the area has become, condos or house on every piece of property near the beach, even a number of trailer parks.  Surf City is a typical tourist haunt, with lots of small, garish beach shops, restaurants, and other stores jammed together.  We stopped at perhaps the most obnoxious beach shop, with Trump flags flying from its parking lot,  I am not sure why we gave them our business because the clerk was not wearing a mask although customers were supposed to.  After browsing, we went across the street to the fish market and bought three and a half pounds of red snapper for our dinner.  On the way home,  I got the feeling this is Trump country.

Beaching It

Dusk

We were home around noon, enjoyed a lunch of sandwiches or leftovers, then most went down to the beach for the afternoon.  Since I was up early, I stayed in and read, then napped briefly before joining everyone around 2:00.  It was a glorious sunny day, a decent breeze to keep us cool.  We stayed until 4:30, occasionally cracking open a Miller Lite and going for a walk on the vast sands of low tide.  I went body surfing and the water was surprisingly warm.  The waves were choppy so it was difficult to get a good ride but I hung in there until I got tired.  Still, it felt great to be in the ocean again. And it was fun to watch the shrimp boats cruise up and down the beach, followed by hordes of birds.

Gull Frenzy

Shrimper Flying A Trump Flag

We were back at the condo by 5:00 because Drew's favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs were playing Buffalo.  So instead of enjoying our wine on the beach as the sunset, some of us watched the game which was fine because we had enough of the beach in the afternoon. Evie, Halle, and Jan, however, played some cards, teaching Jan how to play Telefunky, a game our family enjoys,

The Exhausted Cooks

Around 6:30, Evie and Jill got busy frying up the red snapper fillets.  Once they were done, Jill put together a red curry sauce and served the fish on cauliflower rice with the curry sauce,  It was a great combination, the sauce hot but not too much.  With a salad, that's all we needed for our dinner.  Once dishes were done, we sat around talking, watching some more football until we were tired and went to bed.