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I took these pictures last autumn at Cape May Point, New Jersey, near the State Park, on the Delaware Bay.
This is the start of the path leading up, over the dunes.
As the path continues, you can see a pair of birders at the top of the dune, looking out over the water.
As we reach the top of the dune, we see the surf.
Below us, on the beach, is a lone birder with a scope. I wonder what it is he is trying to see out there.
Sky Watch is hosted each week by Tom, Sandy and Imax. Please visit the site and discover the photographs taken by participants from around the world.
I would like to say that I try to visit as many participants as possible. There are so many truly wonderful photographs, and I enjoy them all. I only wish that it could be possible to comment on every one of them, but like most of us, I find I cannot do this when there are over 300 on the list. I continue to view them throughout the week. Others must do this too, since I often receive comments late in the following week. I really appreciate what Tom, Sandy and Imax are doing for us with Sky Watch.
There is a huge difference between the average, every day, nature lover - like myself - and the fanatic. I truly love Nature. I enjoy nothing so much as hiki
ng woods or fields - or cliffs, if I'm luck enough to be in California, breathing the fresh, wonderful air, viewing flora and fauna, water and countryside, listening to the birdsong and all the other marvelous music of the out-of-doors. (You do understand, I am now speaking theoretically, since I am no longer really able to do these things.) But occasionally I have made the mistake of joining a group led by people like the head of this or that local organization. Uh-uh. These people make me feel very ill at ease. I start believing that I'd better listen carefully and be sure to remember it all - there 
may be a test later. No. I would much rather wander along in my own quiet, uninformed way, appreciating what God put here for me to see, and put me here to see. I want to thank Him, not Mr. or Ms. So-and-So from the organization.
Please don't misunderstand. I am grateful for those organizations and those good people who have learned so much more than I about the names of birds and flowers and their habitat and habits. I do like to learn about them myself, from books or the internet, or in conversation one-on-one. It's just that when I am out there, I just want to be there - me and Mother Nature, peacefully absorbing it all. At times like that I don't want instruction. I want to be allowed to discover thing
s on my own rather than having my attention drawn to this or that. I want the adventure and excitement of finding it for myself.
Can't do so much of it these days, but Hugo and I do manage once in a while. God bless whoever invented the Hugo. Without that walker I'd be stuck in the house and have to rely on my computer to show me the Great Outdoors.
This morning I called my daughter in California, since it is her birthday. She tells me they had birthday cake at breakfast! Partly because Isaac was begging for it. Mostly because she and Mike are busy, busy, and there are other things to do when he gets home tonight. They haven't even had time to celebrate their anniversary yet. That was earlier this month. They have decided to have anniversary month instead, and manage to celebrate later. If not before, they have reservations for a couple of nights in a lighthouse hostel, the last week of the month.
We were bemoaning the fact that stores have grown so BIG. Way too big, so far as I'm concerned. I have to plan which items I'm going to buy in a supermarket - those at this end of the store, or those at the other end. I just can't walk all the way to the back. It's too far for me any more, even though I use the shopping cart sort of like a walker. That helps. Department stores are too big too. Some have motorized scooters for old fogies like me, but I don't like them. There are always things piled in aisles that obstruct them, or crowds get in the way. And sometimes people don't plug in the scooters when they're finished with them, and the power will run out when you're halfway through the store.
Then there are super big stores that swoop into a neighborhood and drive out all the nice little shops that I love. This also applies to craft shops and book stores. I wanted to cry when our small bookstore went out of business. Also, a huge craft chain moved in nearby, and all those little guys left too. I can't shop in the big new one. That is just waaay too big, and the sales people don't know the stock well enough to direct you to anything. I had hoped they would carry the Artful Blogging Magazine that has an article about Caroline's Crayons in the new issue, but no such luck. I know that Border's carries it, but that isn't within my driving range. One of my daughters will find it for me.
Anyway, it's Kitty's theory that sooner or later, all of this will turn itself around, and we will start to move back to the smaller businesses again. It seems to be happening in California, where just about every small town now has a market night, when you can stroll through the town's main street, buying fresh produce, and just about anything else you can imagine. Of course, in California the produce is fresh all year 'round. We don't have that advantage here.
Kitty writes a column for her County paper about whatever cultural events are going on each week. This week there was much about the Steinbeck Museum in Salinas. She was unhappy with it because it concerns a big Mexican Festival - free (with admission to the musem). We wonder just who this is aimed at. Certainly not the poor Mexican families with whom Steinbeck himself was so concerned. There are so many of them in Salinas who work the farms. But they will not be able to afford the admission to bring their children to the festival.
Also big doings down on Cannery Row, where they opened Doc Rickett's lab for a day. He was a famed marine biologist and Steinbeck's friend. (co-author Sea of Cortez) My daughter is educating me in these matters.
So anyway -
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KITTY. I love you.
The day started with me going out to put gas in the car.$3.63 a gallon here! It keeps dropping in price! Kitty tells me it's still over $4. in California. When I left the station, the sky was so gorgeous I had to take a picture. The sun was up, but not all the way. It was so bright behind the clouds that I couldn't point the camera right at it. I reall
y wanted that picture, so what I did was take off my sun glasses and hold them in front of the camera lens. This is what I got.
I like it.
Never tried that before.
Crazy little storms have been going on here. We have beautiful sunshine for a while (but windy enough to blow over the big mandevilla plant I have 
under the hummingbird feeder - I had to tie it up.) , then suddenly darkening skies, thunder, lightning, and torrential rain for about three minutes, then bright sunshine again. Oh yes. And I forgot to mention the hail.
This has happened a couple of times today.
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Reminder: Don't forget to check out
In Their Boots if you haven't seen it yet.
(See my sidebar and click on the image.)
There are something like 33,000 wounded
from Iraq and Afghanistan.
There's also an amusing Obama video at the bottom of the page.
And we have another 162 days to get through.
