Beach Day

This is how it looked today at the beach, except with no clouds in the sky at all. It was literally the perfect beach day, and I was lucky enough to be on a beach enjoying it. The summer is slipping through my fingers. Labor Day is just around the corner and after that it's pretty much autumn, which I love, but sometimes I wish I could just stop summertime, make it stay still for a while, and enjoy it fully before it flies away. Well, today I did enjoy summer. It was in the back of my mind that I needed to go to the beach before summer ends, so I made it happen. My new roommate and I made plans to meet up after her work shift and take the train out to Jones Beach. But while I was waiting for her, I started chatting with another friend on facebook, so I asked if he wanted to come with us, and as it turned out he did, and he had a car that I was unaware of, and so we all drove to the beach, except we ended up going to Long Beach instead, which was perfectly fine because they have a new Five Guys there, which was so perfect because by the time we got there I was starving. We parked in the parking lot of the Burger King to walk across the street and go to Five Guys, which made an old man laugh. He told us that he was born and raised in Long Beach and came back recently to visit and ate at Five Guys. He said they have the best burgers he's ever had in his whole life.

If my sentences are long and rambly, its because I'm beach-tired and sun-addled. Probably drank a bit of salt water too, so I don't know, I'm feeling a little silly. But anyway, the beach was so gorgeous. The sky was spotless blue, the water was warm and the waves gentle. There were little translucent pearl jellyfishes washing up along with the seafoam that glittered like perfect agates in the sun. Umbrellas of all colors, people of all sorts, kite-surfers, body-surfers, swimmers, sand-castle-builders, nappers, paddle-ball players... Part of the fun of the beach is watching the other people all around. I brought my watercolors and painted some of them. The beach is a great place to do figure studies. I swam, I napped, I drank soda, I walked along the shore, I stared at people, I ate a peach, I analyzed barnacles, I wrote in the sand with a stick, I gazed pensively at the ocean, I laughed at strangers, I chatted with my friends, and I found a shell with a little hole in it that makes it perfect to wear as a charm on a necklace: my birthday present from the ocean.

We saw the sunset and when the wind started to kick up and we got cold, we packed up and drove back to Manhattan, that big monster of a city that I call home. The Killers played on the stereo, and we sang along.