God's Creation

Handsome men, all three, on Skaket beach in Orleans MA. What a stunning place. At low tide, the tidal flats stretch for miles. I have never seen anything like it. I was so intrigued I managed to talk the family into getting up at dawn to see the sunrise on our last morning. Later we found a little diner that served eggs and chorico.

Camping was wonderful. We had a nice site with lovely neighbors, not too far from the bathrooms and a playground. (Both good things.) The kids were free to roam around a bit on their own, especially to the playground, which was only about 12 yards away, through a small stand of trees. They wanted to skip dinner so they could stay and play with the other kids.

On the way home, we stopped in Chatham to hang out on the beach there. There was no place to park our trailer, so we parked miles away and walked back to the beach.





On Sunday we went to Nauset beach and got there just before high tide. The tide was exceptionally high that day and we kept having to move back out of reach of the waves. Finally, we sat at the base of the dune and opened our picnic basket. We had seltzer and chips and bologna sandwiches with aged cheddar cheese. And delicious Empire Apples. We watched a harbor seal frolicing in the surf. We chatted with a family from RI who happened by. We soaked in the sun. (Well, all except me, who looked like a kabuki dancer because the sunscreen I was able to buy had zinc oxide in it... but as a redhead, I had to slap it on anyway.)

Suddenly, a rogue wave came crashing up the beach and soaked us all. The picnic cooler and the kids' shoes where torn away and we scrambled, soaked and laughing, after them. Our neighbor kindly grabbed a couple of shoes and, bravely, socks. We ended up with another neighbor's sandal in our pile. We retreived the picnic cooler, an unopened bag of chips and all the shoes. But lost Nguyen's duck hunting jacket (a yard sale score) and Noah's sweatshirt. Our apples drifted down the beach at remarkable speed. We could see them bobbing in the surf. And we were completely soaked.

So the rest of the day was enforced downtime while Nguyen went to the laundry mat with our shoes and tried to get them dry before nightfall and it's attendant temperature drop. We had, between us, a single pair of rubber flip flops that I had brought for the shower. We swapped them back and forth as necessary.

In the end, the afternoon was sunny, warm, lazy and wonderful. We snuck beers in plastic cups and barbequed chicken wings, flank steak and Nguyen's old leather boots, which he had somehow forgotten to bring to the laundry mat.

Thank you, Beloved, for the time with my family. For the beautiful weather. And for the awsome beauty of your creation.