Lake report

This morning I visited one of the most wonderful neighborhoods imaginable. It is home to sand and weather-beaten trees and a zillion gulls, all of whom were standing on one leg at the shore, awaiting the storm to come in across the lake. Amazingly I was the only person there. Not too many people enjoy inclement days at the beach, but they call out to me for some reason. The birds congregate when a weather change is in the offing, so tempest-trolling is learned behavior from my mother, who never saw a bog, marsh or slew in any weather that she didn’t think merited a little attention from the curious, courteous bird-watcher.

We avoided the beach when the sunbathers arrived. But early mornings and steely fall days had us rambling over the dunes and down to the water, binoculars poised to catch a quick look at the rara avis which might happen to grace our path.

As I’ve mentioned before, the adjoining parcel of land has been developed and instead of nature, we have plastic big wheel toys scattered about driveways, nouveau verandas with the latest outdoor furniture stylishly situated on weather-resistant materials, designed to fend off the very elements that made the landscape unique.