I walked down to the beach after work today. I haven't done that nearly enough and I really hope I start doing it more often. It's a short walk really, and so beautiful and peaceful.

As I strolled along, parallel to the waves, I watched little sea birds (not sure what they were) scurry among the receding waters and pluck treats from the foam. I immediately thought "sand piper" when I saw them, but since I've never seen a picture that said it was a sandpiper, I have no way of knowing. They were pretty, though. Smallish, a little smaller than a robin, with white bodies, brownish gray wings and black legs and beaks. Watching them run this way and that reminded me of Stratos, my former love bird, and his adorable little skitter across my vanity dresser while I would put on makeup.

I watched the waves as well, but they were rather low swells tonight as the tide was a long way out. The sand caught my eye and my imagination though. As usual, it was dotted with shells of all shapes and sizes (as long as they were smaller than my thumb) and colors. The sand itself was decorated in various colors: green from algae, seaweed, etc., red from something (I'm not sure what - maybe a different kind of algae?), but most fascinating were the hints of gold and white light, as if someone had sprinkled gold and diamond dust all over the sand. It was very subtle, and very striking.

As always, the sky was amazing; giant puffball clouds surrounded me on all sides, but none were overhead. The sky was a bit hazy because it's humid as heck right now, but the sun was starting to descend out to the west (away from the water obviously) and the clouds were just starting to show hints of sunset colors.

I could have stayed out there for hours, but there were things that needed doing, so I came home to get them out of my way.