On the beach

January 1, 2016 by dawnkinster 10 Comments

Many of you have retreated to warm beaches, beaches with palm trees and lounge chairs, beaches that require sunglasses and sunscreen. Where you can dip your toes in the waves. I’m at a beach too, though it’s a bit different. Just a tad cooler and windier.

Since the windstorm Christmas Eve I haven’t been able to walk on the beach right here at the house. The big waves dug away the bluff and now it’s more like a cliff. Sure, I could hop, jump or maybe roll down to the beach. But I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to get back up. And it’s way too cold to take that risk. So I’ve been looking longingly at the beach and staying up on the bluff in the wind.

Windy lake glows turquoise under a purple sky.

Today some neighbors stopped by to say “Happy New Year!” and I mentioned how I’d like to walk on the beach. They reminded me of a long staircase down in the next group of homes. They said it was covered in snow…but once maneuvered would lead me to a wide beach only a half mile or so away.

Well! This afternoon I bundled up, took the camera and headed up the street, down the stairs and out onto the beach. It was beautiful. And cold.

I’m teaching myself how to use manual camera settings.

Oh so cold. I shot a short video and thought my fingers would actually fall off. It’s posted on Facebook if you’d like to see it.

I found a very nice Petosky stone which was partially frozen into the sand. I got it chippped out and put the whole thing, frozen sand chunk and all in my pocket. I found another beautiful Petosky stone, but couldn’t get it chipped out of the ice. Most of the stones were frozen solid to the sand. Ah well.

Waves just keep on coming.

There were big boulders that had waves of ice and sand covering them from earlier in the day when the waves were higher. It was all beautiful.

All the photos in this post were from my walk on the beach. Notice how striking the sky was too. Every day the lake looks different. The sky changes. Wind and waves and light carve out a new view for me.

Giant ice cubes.

It’s going to be hard to leave this place, but soon I’ll be headed back to my husband and my Katie-girl. It will be good to be home, but it was very good to be here too.

Love my Lake Michigan.

Brrrrrrrr!