Look What Washed Up On a Wellfleet Beach!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

If you answered that an empty bleach container had washed up on a Wellfleet beach, you would have been right. Apparently boat owners use bleach to clean the deck. Sometimes the containers get washed overboard, or dropped. They do not belong in the ocean. We all need to rethink some of our old habits. If I had the time, I would try to talk to local seamen and see if someone could come up with an alternative. Any ideas?

And, while we're on the topic of plastic pollution, this week one of my posts featured Teresa Parker. When I spoke to her about tomorrow's Preservation Hall event, she told me this blog had inspired her to pick up trash in the woods of Wellfleet. Look at all the refuse Teresa found during a walk around Long Pond! An empty bottle, discarded in the woods, can become a place for mosquitoes to breed. The plastic bags can injure wildlife. As Teresa wrote, "It's just one of those kind of stories that one doesn't read in the newspaper." I'm glad if we are becoming more aware of these issues on the Outer Cape. I just wish our national leaders would embrace a serious no-litter campaign and get plastic out of our lives. Wellfleet has an excellent Recycling Committee and for that, I am grateful. Do you do your part? Do you pick up trash and recycle it?

Sandcastles = Wellfleet Art?

Sandcastles are one of the reasons I enjoy walking the beach in summer. Kids love to build them, and I love to see a kid at work, total concentration on his or her face. Pleasure and pride are two observable emotions. Sand is often a new element that produces real joy.

I have admired lots of different types of sandcastles on the beaches of Wellfleet over the years: castles with a moat, castles decorated with shells and seaweed, free-form castles, castles created with a turreted pail.

A lot of the young visitors are from the city. Their only previous experience may be sandboxes in parks or schoolyards. Sand is particularly satisfying because it's so malleable. Kids get right down and dirty, allowing their inner-artists to take command.

Digging is fun, too. Some kids prefer to dig holes and watch them fill up with water. I wonder what that says about their personality? Who knows.

My kids used to do both.

Sometimes you encounter kids who like to be buried in the sand.

I can remember one year in particular, at Newcomb Hollow. My son had carved out a pyramid like this one, using a broken shell. Or, two pyramids. I've forgotten exactly how many there were and no photos were taken, but those pyramids were perfect. We were all admiring his handiwork, when my younger daughter pulled on the sleeve of my beach jacket. She wanted me to check out her structure, too. I turned, took a look, and blinked. What lay before me was a recreation of Hatshepshut's temple at Deir el-Bahri. My daughter was too young to have seen a photo, of that much I am sure. This story sounds preposterous, and yet it's true.

When you were a kid, did you build sandcastles at the beach, or dig holes? Can sandcastles be considered as art?

What Tide Do You Prefer?

My favorite tide is outgoing low. In other words, walking a beach right before the tide turns and starts coming in again. Here are four photos taken at low tide in spring, summer, fall and winter. Let's take a vote. Which tide do you prefer?

Why I Enjoy Going to the Beach in Late Fall ...

What I like about the beach at this time of the year is the suspense: you never know what the ocean will look like until you get there. Yesterday we went to Newcomb Hollow at low tide, and the Atlantic was quiet as a lamb. Waves lapped at the shore. Blue water stretched to the horizon. A gentle breeze was blowing. The contrast between the blue sea and the beige sand was striking. The sand had been reconfigured yet again, so that the top part of the beach was higher and almost reached the level of the parking lot, and the lower part sloped dramatically. This new configuration made it difficult to walk along the shoreline, so we did not stay long. We hope access to LeCount Hollow has been repaired after recent erosion. It will be interesting to see how the winter storms affect Wellfleet's beaches. There were a lot of people in town for "Deck This Hall" weekend, mostly non-residents, as far as I could tell, back to check on their summer homes one last time in 2010. Quite a few were out enjoying this rare day at the beach. Tomorrow I will report on the Preservation Hall Wreath Pageant. Stay tuned!

Fun Activities For a Rainy October Day in Wellfleet

Sven and I walked at LeCount last week on a day when the weather was quite iffy. We managed to reach Marconi, but the cold wind made for quite a struggle. The sand on the dunes had collected in neat pockets, and signs of erosion were everywhere. Stones on the beach had been chiseled into place.

Today beyond iffy is forecast: 70% chance of rain. It has been windy all night.

“It reminds me of walking in the Sinai, with the sand hitting your feet,” Sven said last week, when I took these photos.

Indeed, it felt like an army of sand creatures had risen up and were throwing tiny projectiles at our bare feet.

Hopefully, the weatherman will be wrong about today's nor’easter.

Here are a dozen fun things to do on a rainy October day while staying in Seagull Cottage:

1.) Sleep late.
2.) Start a loaf of homemade bread.
3.) Go to the library and borrow a book.
4.) Watch the surf from an ocean beach parking lot.
5.) Walk on the beach in rain gear.
6.) Soak in the tub with herbal bubble bath from Kneipp.
7.) Snuggle beside the fireplace with the library book.
8.) Make chocolate-chip cookies, then eat them.
9.) Watch a DVD from our great collection of independent films.
10.) Bake the bread, which has risen twice.
11.) Walk around the marina, holding an umbrella, once the wind dies down.
12.) Have a cup of chowder at the Bookstore's bar …

Does the weather matter to you at the beach?

In Praise of Cloudy Days

On a day like today, when the sky clouds up and a light drizzle begins to fall, our guests look despondent over breakfast, and a bit angry, as if possible recriminations against nature are running through their head. I point out walking on a beach, in non-sunny weather, can be enjoyable, too. But they go into town to shop, or to the pond instead. Apparently most tourists in Wellfleet agree with our guests because when Sven and I drove to LeCount Hollow at 4 pm yesterday afternoon, the parking lot was almost empty, only a dozen cars or so. I had expected the beach to be deserted but folks, who had rented cottages nearby and walked in, frolicked at the edge of the ocean. It was fun to watch reactions to the waves, which thundered against the shore, sending chilly spray in all directions.

“Suddenly it's become very cold!” Sven said as we descended the ramp.

Indeed, the air on the beach hit us in spurts, as if someone had deregulating that great air-conditioning system in the sky. Cold, hot, cold, hot.

“Yes. It does feel like walking away from a hot kiln, then stepping out the door into a snowstorm,” I replied and donned my windbreaker.

We don’t usually go at high tide, but we should. How thrilling the crashing waves! Even Sven was surprised by a renegade wave that rode all the way up the beach to the foot of the dune. We didn't go far, fearing the advancing tide. When the ocean roars, one needs to recognize it as a formidable enemy.

Some teenagers had built a boat in the sand. Their skipper stood half-buried, as if to challenge the mighty Atlantic. I watched their glee as the waves split into two streams at the bow and encircled the sand boat. There were budding photographers on the beach, too. One girl stalked a seagull. Parents photographed their kids, fascinated by the angry waves. Mothers hovered, ready to intervene, although I don’t know how exactly. Shout? Grab a son or daughter out of harm’s way? Dive into the water? There was no lifeguard on duty, so this would have been the option.

A beach never looks exactly the same. The landscape shifts with recent erosion. Today the power of the ocean was obvious. A ridge had formed above where the waves were breaking. (These intrepid kids had built a sand castle there before the tide had begun to rise.)

Sunny days are nice but they do not bring much variety. On cloudy days, not only does the color of the water change according to what's going on in the sky, but sometimes the surface will be smooth, sometimes riddled with waves if there's a storm at sea. Visiting an Atlantic ocean beach will always be an adventure. And, therein lies the ultimate charm …

We have regular guests from Washington, D.C., who swear by cloudy days. They get so much heat and sun at home that they really enjoy the opposite while on vacation. What is your favorite type of beach weather? Do you like to walk on the beach when it's cloudy or only go if the sun is out?