Monday, November 21, 2011

NOVEMBER ALREADY!!

Now that Thanksgiving is almost upon us, I am finally thinking back to the first weeks of November and decided to post a few images. As usual November weather was very changeable with a few warm sunny day interspersed between the fog, the clouds and Nor'easters.

Early mornings often had beautiful sunrises as the clouds passed through on their way to sea. And the Goldenrod and October Daisies were in full bloom, causing problems for those with allergies to the pollen.

The Monarchs, though were attracted by the blossoms as they passed through in great numbers on their way south.

The sandpipers accumulated by the ocean edge to store up on food in preparation for their migration.

Pestering this lone gull by their numbers he felt required to squawk his protest.

But as the waves came in the lifted off the sand en masse to find a better spot.

As the evening approached the fishermen appeared to try their luck under the darkening clouds.

NOVEMBER COMNTINUES ON OUR ISLAND

As the month goes on, and the storms come and go -

We get some spectacular sunrises. The old adage holds true - "red skies at night, sailors delight, red skis in the morning, sailors take warning.

The shells accumulate on the water's edge.

The Cormorants join the migration south.

The waves increase in size leaving nice islands of sand,

For the Herring Gulls who winter here.

They are left to follow their own pursuits, watched by the occasional mother and child - and photographer.

The wind leaves interesting patterns in the sand at the base of the dunes.

The bay, covered with whitecaps, even at low tide throws spray over the bulkhead,

and drops waves onto the narrow beach.

But back at out house the holly tree, dug out of the pine lands nearly 70 years ago is covered with berries. It survives despite hurricanes and yearly trimming by the trash truck when we don't get to it.

Though most of our annual flowers have succumbed to the wind and salty air, the snapdragons have decided it is not yet time to give up the ghost, and bloom again.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

OCTOBER ON LONG BEACH ISAND

I have been very neglectful of my blog of late, no real excuse laziness and some pleasant distractions. Enjoying several of my friend's photos and comments on their blogs have re-inspired me, so I decided to go back a month when our daughter was visiting. After our trip to the Chesapeake and the safe retrieval of the boat from Cape May where we left it as we drove home to beat the approaching bad weather, her time on the island was nearing the end. Asking what she wanted to do on her last day she responded, go to the ends of the Island.

It was a cloudy day and signs of fall were appearing in the foliage near the lighthouse in Barnegat Light at the northern end.

Golden rod appeared several places between the rocks of the jetty.

As we walked along the inlet to the beach on the ocean the light peeped through the cloud cover in a array of soft pastel colors.

On the return trip, while my daughter walked the rocks, I cut across the sand to capture this shot of Barnegat Lighthouse behind this concentration of goldenrod.

Back by the lighthouse the October Daisies were in full bloom

HOLGATE IN OCTOBER

Holgate, the southern end of Long Beach Island is always much more deserted that the northern end. Most of the area is closed during the summer as it is a bird sanctuary during the nesting season. This time of the year it is practically empty, except for the ever present gulls that is.

As the tide receded on this afternoon it left interesting patterns in the sand at the water's edge.

Away from the ocean the remains of wind blown trees stand testament to the severity of nor'eastern storms.

The tire tracks of the occasional fisherman's jeep remain long after the catch has been taken home.

The small dunes at the edge of the nesting area showed a bit of the color of fall with the bay visible in the background.

Walking back along the waters edge we met a small group of Amish people, probably visiting from Pennsylvania, enjoying the beach. They were almost the only people we encountered on our long walk.

There is nothing as pleasant as a walk on a nearly deserted beach in the fall after the crowds have departed.