January/February Beach Days

When it's not raining, it seems to be pleasant enough to spend three or four solid hours at the beach in swimsuits (or underwear, Dane). Note: Although it's warm, it is chilly enough that I draw the line when I hear "Mom, can we practice swimming with you?"

Aubrey and Dane and I head down to our little Sausalito Beach on weekend days when we want to be near Mick should he want to take a break from studying all day at the kitchen table, but far enough away to allow him to keep focus without too much play or work in the house.

Last weekend, the 12th, we met 80-year-old Dorothy when we asked if she wanted help putting her rowboat in the water. It was really heavy, so she was happy for the assistance. (With her tucked-in flannel shirt, high pants, rubber boots, canvas hat and weathered skin, I was really careful not to assume she needed assistance--she looked like she'd been taking care of herself just fine for years.)

Her boat was beautiful. She'd just painted it all-white herself, inside and out, and the square end (oh, brother--the front or the back, the bow or the stern, I quite frankly, just don't know) had "Dorothy's Boat" etched out in it and was painted light blue. We could tell she was proud of her work as she carefully cleaned and shook off her boots before getting in. She asked if the kids wanted to go out but there weren't any life jackets, so I said we'd better not. When she came back a couple hours later, we ran down to help her again. (That part was really heavy.) She said then that she was going to try to put in some life vests from now on, and that if we were down there again on a sunny day, she'd be happy to take us out.

We also met Amanda and Teddy, two pre-teens that Dane and Aubrey couldn't quit talking about, even though their play with them had been limited. The big deal, though, is that Amanda and Teddy helped them recover all their dinosaurs from under the sand, and then played beach ball dodge ball with Dane for a half hour (it was hysterical to watch Dane in his chase-flee giddiness).

Photos: January beach time. Toys that day: construction workers and vehicles. Object of interest: dead seal floating by.