Long Beach, Memorial Day, pre-Beryl

Nothing initiates summer for us quite like a beach trip, and this year we headed back to Long Beach for the umpteenth time. Subtropical storm Beryl was hanging around south of here, doing some very odd storm stuff, so we kept an eye on it (or, we checked various weather websites to try and figure out what the heck it was doing). Beryl left us untouched until late Tuesday night, but here's some photos of our pre-Beryl fun:

Looking west down the beach; vision partially obstructed by a can of Tecate.

Sitting in the surf, watching the wheels go by. I just love to watch them roll.

Barrie's feet in the ocean.

High winds blowing sand. Some slight leg sandblasting was endured.

Fun in the surf with our friends Mark & Cindy.

Barrie and Cindy guffaw.

Down at the point at low tide.

Big clouds hovered over the land for days.

These laughing gulls were chattering away as we walked by.

Our abode for the week.

 

I came in through the bathroom window: staycation and home improvements

A week of home-bound staycation was highlighted by a new bathroom window! We enlisted the services of Sean & Andrew at Slate Creek Builders, and they did excellent work.

Andrew removes the sheet rock in the bathroom.

Light peeks in the new orifice. A ladder was in transition when this photo was taken.

Andrew and Sean replacing the siding.

Let there be light! It's an eastern facing window and the morning light is quite nice.

While I was at home during the window installation, I called the power company to come and remove a long-unused light pole in our backyard. Here they are taking it down:

They were very careful about not stomping on Mom's hydrangeas.

While construction counted for several days of my staycation, I did manage to have some fun otherwise.  Asta, of course, was ready to romp at any time. Here she is in the morning light:

Note my nicely backlit tail.

Barrie and I explored a wonderful trail at the Nature Conservancy's Bottom Creek Gorge Preserve. There are a number of late 19th-early 20th century homesteads throughout the Preserve, which means you stumble upon rusted iron bed frames in the woods:

Nap time!

One of the trails leads to an overlook that looks across the gorge to Bent Mountain Falls:

Bent Mountain Falls

Barrie on the trail.

Back home in the backyard.

A nice beverage in the backyard.  Hello summer!