Walking at LeCount Hollow yesterday, Sven and I saw evidence of dune erosion. I checked back in my photo file and located a fall shot of the same area,with a happy beachcomber out enjoying life.
How changed the beach has become! The wooden walkway was removed before the winter storms lashed at the dune. People use the walkway in summer to reach the shore from the houses above. No matter how many times you walk a certain beach, it will always look different, based on the tide, the light, and the weather. As we went along, jumping across little streams of rushing water that would never form in exactly the same spot again, it occurred to me how fortunate we are to be healthy and able to take such walks here. 
When you are in the midst of a phase of your life, you do not necessarily think to look around and appreciate the world as it is then. On the way home, Sven turned on the radio and we heard Mark Knopfler’s guitar solo in “Sultans of Swing,” which reminded me of my days as a radio talk show host, in Paris. 
A French DJ friend had brought in the latest Dire Straits album, which he had sweet-talked some secretary at Polydor into giving him before anyone else. He pulled the album from his briefcase as if it were contraband. I remember listening to Sting croon, “I want my MTV,” and, at the time, it did not occur to me how extraordinary the experience was. We rush through our lives and don’t make time to smell the roses. At LeCount Hollow, this afternoon, Sven and I smelled roses. 
