November Beach Day

A New York City November Beach Day. Dogs are running aimlessly here and there on the sand.

[ Back to This Write ]

November Beach Day Dogs are running aimlessly here and there on the sand. One runner takes his dog's baton and throws it into the surf. His golden retriever bounds after it to do the job he was trained to do. The dog is oblivious to the temperature of the ocean. He may be enjoying the day more than I am.

Setting here in short sleeves in the last half of November is a real joy. Just 34 days from the winter solstice. Wish I were able to say the same thing on the 34th day after the same event.

I am sipping a mildly sweet German wine and chunking into a head of Brazilian cheese. It is very hard, I forgot to bring a knife so teeth must make the cut before a bite. Wadded down by the shore a bit, water has washed just enough sand away so there is a 3 foot bank.

Oodles and oodles of small mussels have been washed up, their life cycle apparently ended without them getting much bigger than half a pinky. There are so many of them that at first sight i thought them to be a shoal exposed by low tide.

I've been wanting for this pretend summer day in November. The beach is still here, the beauty is still here but the crowds are not. The perfect day for late fall sunning. I am setting on the lee side of a bush that grabs bits of sand as it blow hither and though. The wind does not hit here so it is a respite from the real season. With jeans and sneakers I am no colder than I am on a day in early June. The days will lose less than an hour of light before the full dark of winter is upon us. I staked out my day at 11:30 and the sun was already on it's wane. It must have passed it's zenith a half hour before. It's only two hours later now and old sol is fully on third past peak. Just three more hours and it will be set.

This day is kind of a Wood Allen day. We are in the city with sand and sea complimenting the more familiar and widely known character that radiates mostly from Manhattan. This too is New York city but is a part the few attribute to it.

Birds are roosting on rails and sand and tops of lamp posts that seem to never turn off. If they could know about what was to happen to them they would probably beat it south. There is hunger and cold coming, it is hard not to know that some of them will not make it to the next summer. Oh well, the same could be said about some of the human strollers as well. Some of them walk by old and stooped but still arm in arm and in love.

Character - character. Why cannot I write about character. I can write about the surroundings and travel when here or there but can I imagine it? No. Can I write about people moving through these times and spaces. No. Maybe I haven't tried hard enough though and will.

There goes the Concord in the unpolluted blue with a roar that requires a look. It's belly licked by the sun in blue, the sun not from the sky but by the from the mirror of the sea. It is a spear in the sticky blue of every piece of sea and sky and it is hard to find because of this reflection. On a day like today it is fun imagining being in Europe in 5 hours, and fun imaging being in New York 2 hours before leaving Europe on the way back. It is delectable to while away a Sunday and think about these things.

Keys:

Beach, New York, City, Dogs, November, winter, Solstice