Monday, July 21, 2008

Hoping For Pelicans

Spent Sunday afternoon at Rialto Beach, sitting on a pebble dune with my back against a drift log, reading a mystery. No pelicans, no eagles; a few gulls, a few surf scoters. Every now and again I'd whip out the camera and take yet another view of James Island emerging from the marine layer cloud, or disappearing back into it.

James Island from Rialto Beach (Click for larger images.)

I was, I might mention, entirely grateful for the low cloud layer. It's been relentlessly sunny, and I was ready to be out of the hard brightness. Not much hope of that, I thought to myself as I drove west; Lake Crescent was totally blue, reflecting the totally blue sky. But just at the ocean, there it was: softened grey world.

The sun almost appeared, went behind the low clouds again.

I listened to the waves. The tide finished coming in, and a couple of hours later it had made good progress towards being out again.

Away from the coast, immediately back in the sunshine; except that when I got to town I could see a fog drifting along the surface of the Strait, and not touching the land at all.

1 comment:

Sky said...

oh, how i love the area you are in! lake crescent with her clear water and the olympics as a backdrop is such a tranquil and beautiful landscape. i have a photograph of me standing in about 2 feet of her clear water where my feet are perfectly visible on the pebbles. there was a duck nearby, and we could see his feet paddling beneath his tail.

rialto beach, its weathered wood and seastacks is a picturesque place i have not seen since 2003. your post reminds me that we should pack a picnic and return one weekend for a couple of days of discovery on the peninsula. :) the photo of me in this avatar was taken on rialto beach - i was sitting against a huge piece of driftwood looking out at the surf.