too cold for a picnic

It was too cold for a picnic today, but I had one anyway. After a week-end of mostly rain the sun came out so I grabbed some one-handed-food (the kind you can eat easily with a book in the other hand) and a book and headed down to the beach. In true west coast style by the time I got the beach the sun had moved on and the clouds were starting to look decidedly gray. No matter.

I made my way over to my favourite spot -- a piece of drift wood that's nearly 20' long and about 4' wide. I think it must have been part of a barge or floating deck at some point. I can't imagine how it made it's trek up the beach. It's flat enough to balance a drink on, wide enough to stretch out. For some reason I always want to take off my shoes when I get there. I keep a blanket in the trunk of my car for impromptu days like this so I had something to cut the chill a bit. The beach was worth it.

This time of year the beach is almost completely disserted, especially towards the unfashionable end. I like it best down there, away from the madding crowd. The tide was almost all the way out, carving watery crescents on the beach. There's one particular photograph of those crescents that I've seen for sale a few times. One day it will hang in my house. Today I had the real thing. I sat there for awhile, not as long as I would have liked, but there was no ignoring the fact that my hands were getting really, really cold. Nothing a good cup of tea won't fix. I folded up the blanket and put it back in my trunk. There will be other days and other picnics.