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Sanderling, graphite, pen and watercolor by Peg. Click to enlarge

Google Places and Platypie

The End of Summer

September 13, 2011

It’s early September and I’m sitting here on the step our pleasantly damp and sandy camper listening to the sound of the rain on our roof. We are parked¹ just yards from the ocean on the beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Houses all around us are boarded up, the sand is covered with straw and debris from Hurricane Irene and the beach is almost empty.

The families with laughing children are gone. No more castles in the sand, no more children bubbling up onto the beach from the sea clinging to their boogie boards and no more skies filled with pirate and Star Wars kites. They’re all gone, and in their place the fisherman and insurance adjusters (Irene) have arrived. The biggest sound now is the relentless pounding of the huge waves that have been rolling in for days.

This morning in the rain, the fishermen are leaning against their pick-up trucks or overlooking the beach and talking about how bad the fishing has been. Heading back from the Avalon fishing pier a few miles away, a couple of guys reported that there had been at least twenty men fishing from the pier. One caught a blue and one other man caught a spot and that was it. Disappointment loomed large as they packed up their gear and headed North to home. Rumor has it that when the wind is from the Southeast, as it has been for days, it stirs up the sand and that the sand gets in the fish’s eyes...

Lots of local surfers are still standing around on the beach watching the 10 to 12 foot waves rolling in from the off shore Hurricane Katia.

The past few days have been really windy, but the stinging sand has not deterred those who can now get on the beach with their metal detectors and search for riches. Sea glass collectors stand amidst the crushed shells performing sort of a toe dance as they gently dig through the crush looking for pieces of sea glass.

Now and then there will be a brave soul set up on the beach, in the lee of a dune, enjoying the solitude along with a large jar of cheese puffs.

The kids may  be gone, but the dogs are on the beach in full joyous force. Off leash, running in the surf, digging for crabs, swimming out to fetch balls and sticks, rolling in the sand and receiving no hugs for their sandy wet bodies. 

What’s better than a wet dog? A wet and sandy dog with long hair.

This afternoon, a woman came walking down the beach with two lunging, leaping, tail-wagging chocolate labs on short leashes... “Oh, no STAY AWAY, they don’t like collies,” she shouted. We held Sully, who could have cared less while the women and her straining dogs struggled on past us. A few moments later, we heard her shouting again, “Oh no, please hold your dog... they don’t like Dalmatians”

Then again, while some dogs are frolicking wildly about, others prefer to lurk in the sand and wait for an unsuspecting creature to come close.

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Can you tell that on this rainy day I discovered and happily used the Vintage Scene Photography App?

1. Kitty Hawk RV Park is just steps from the ocean.