One morning, four days after the beach “opened” for the season on June 20, we got up early and headed down there before it opened for the day. What a difference! Now that people have to pay for a pass to enter between 8am and 8pm the freeloaders and all their litter, cigarette butts and dog crap have disappeared. Peace is restored and we had such a lovely walk!
near Avery Pond
In contrast to the tranquil Canada goose family, the killdeer parents were beyond frantic, chasing after and chirping to their three chicks, who were darting all over the place and in every direction. It made getting their pictures next to impossible! They blended in well with the gravel.
Someone is tending some beautiful rose bushes near the entrance, along the chain link fence.
I love the contrast between rusty old metal and fresh new flower.
The water was very calm on the river/estuary side of the point.
Another risk factor to worry about:
The two stretches of DNA implicated as harboring risks for severe COVID-19 are known to carry some intriguing genes, including one that determines blood type and others that play various roles in the immune system. In fact, the findings suggest that people with blood type A face a 50 percent greater risk of needing oxygen support or a ventilator should they become infected with the novel coronavirus. In contrast, people with blood type O appear to have about a 50 percent reduced risk of severe COVID-19.
~ Dr. Francis S. Collins
(Genes, Blood Type Tied to Risk of Severe COVID-19,
NIH Director’s Blog, June 18, 2020)
I have type A blood. Fortunately my husband, children, and grandchildren are all type O. Reading this article made me glad that we haven’t let our guard down and continue to remain firmly self-quarantined. And now our governor has ordered out-of-state travelers to quarantine for two weeks when entering Connecticut because of the way COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire in so many other states. I’m glad to know he is still looking out for us. The numbers are getting very alarming again.
It’s good to know my beach sanctuary is available to me again, at least for the summer. Looking forward to many early morning walks on the sand.
The salt of those ancient seas is in our blood, its lime is in our bones. Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments, or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war.
~ Loren Eiseley
(The Unexpected Universe)
I like this place, and willingly could
Waste my time in it.
~ William Shakespeare
(As You Like It)
We are nature. We are nature seeing nature. The red-winged blackbird flies in us.
~ Susan Griffin
(Made from this Earth: An Anthology of Writings)
Good Morning Barbara! The yellow flower looks more like a “mustard”. Can’t id for sure, leaves would help, as would height.
Good morning, Janet! It’s about my height, 5′. I will have to go back and look at the leaves. Thanks for the suggestion, from what I can tell from a quick google searh, your guess is probably spot-on.
Beautiful, Barbara! Made me feel like I was walking along side you.
Thank you, Victoria! I’m so glad to know you were able to enjoy this walk, too.
Enjoyed seeing all the pictures. I have also heard that study about blood type, sigh. Hopefully we can all continue to stay healthy. Barry just discovered last night that a friend/co-worker has been exposed, may she and her family not get it.
Oh no, Kathy ~ I join you in hoping that Barry’s friend and her family won’t get the virus. The next couple of weeks will surely be full of anxiety and uncertainty for them. It’s all so very frightening. Sometimes I think I take too many pictures to keep my mind off of the lurking danger. Please stay safe, my friend!
Lovely photos, Barbara, as usual. I enjoy walking the beach with you and Tim. It has been a long time since I have been to any beach in Connecticut, and I loved them all. Thank you for taking me and so many others with you on your walks, wherever you go.
Thank you, Liz! I’m so happy to know you’ve been enjoying our photo adventures. Connecticut’s shoreline draws us in and is enticing in a different way than Florida’s beaches. I hope you and your sister are doing well and staying safe down there in the sunshine state. *hugs* ❦
The beauty of mother nature and discovering the morning tide. Beautiful images, Barbara.
Thank you so much, Otto!
I love the gull tracks, they’re so pretty! And one of those shells is crying out to be used as a spade to dig up some wet sand.
I’d never seen a killdeer before, I don’t think. I went to have a listen to its call and song – quite a sharp little tone, but I don’t hear ‘killdeer’ in it. Strange, isn’t it, how different people hear things differently? I suppose like taste and smell, etc.
The roses are beautiful, let’s hope a real deer doesn’t find them, as they regard them as very tasty, I hear…
I, too, have read about the blood group… I hope you don’t succumb, Barbara. Hugs.
I love the gull tracks, too! I don’t often see their tracks but the beach had just been groomed so the gulls had been there only shortly before our arrival.
Perception is a mysterious thing… I don’t hear “killdeer” in the call, either. These seemed to be at their wits’ end. “Nest is a shallow depression scratched into the bare ground, typically 3-3.5 inches across. After egg-laying begins, Killdeer often add rocks, bits of shell, sticks, and trash to the nest.” I now suspect their nest was in or near the gravel driveway, giving them plenty of rocks to add to it.
Thanks for your well wishes, Val. The idea of being on a ventilator fills me with dread. I hope you’re keeping safe and well, my friend. *hugs*
PS – Have edited the typo for you!
Thanks, Barbara. The ventilator scenario doesn’t bother me quite as much as it used to now I know they knock people out for it. But I aim to avoid getting it…
I was looking at another blogger’s birdie post earlier today and got completely distracted finding the audio for that, then that led to another bird, and that led to something else… and on and on it went! I don’t know about you, but some days I get very easily distracted (in an enjoyable way.)
I welcome distractions like those but lately I’m feeling more and more anxiety over the pathetic lack of leadership on the national level here. While my state is doing well thanks to our governor and in spite of our president, most of the rest of the country is losing the battle, including the states where my children are living. It’s getting harder and harder to ignore. Sigh…
Let’s hope enough people vote Trump out…
If he doesn’t lead us into the abyss before then…
Thank you for sharing this post with me Barbara. I love those Killdeer chicks. How sweet. I’ve never been lucky enough to see them, but, like you, I like the parents and the way they run quickly on long legs and their song is so identifiable. I see them running more than flying, usually to get away from me I guess. These are all beautiful pictures and how perfect the quotes about nature are. I spent a weekend out in nature and hate for the weekend to end. At the end of this post, you mentioned Type A blood. I have A+ blood, so that didn’t make me happy either. I got side effects from this second booster – heart palpitations in the middle of the night, plus my arm felt like a Mack truck ran over it, flu-like symptoms and a bad headache. It lasted 24 hours and worth it for coverage by the shot, but this was worse than the second vaccine. Very odd as Moderna boosters are only a half-dose
You’re welcome, Linda! The killdeer parents seemed frantic to me and I couldn’t get both of them in the same picture — lol. They must have had some sort of strategy for keeping those little speed demons safe. So happy you got to have a good weekend outside in nature but sorry you had such a bad reaction to the second booster. I hope it means you had a good immune response. My sister got a huge bruise on her arm from her second Pfizer booster. Tim had no problems with his second Moderna booster. I have A- blood.
Those killdeer run like crazy – the poor parents! Well that’s good about the immune response Barbara. When I heard today that VP Harris has COVID and she is double vaxxed and double boosted, it gave me cause to pause and I shall stay masked up in public until the bitter end.
Me, too! The good news is that VP Harris is reporting no symptoms. Our positivity rate is still over 8%.
Yes, that is great – something we should strive for if we are stricken with COVID. And Dr. Fauci said today that we are into a more controlled phase of the pandemic. Good to hear if it can remain status quo and not go off the rails when the colder weather arrives. I just looked and as of today, we are 8.8% up from 7.2% last week.
I heard Dr. Fauci, too. I do wonder how many people, who aren’t being tested all the time, are walking around unknowingly with asymptomatic covid.