Notes from the Fog

Today the rain flew across the landscape in sheets, and my dear friends Don and Marie, who have been visiting me here in this Cape Cod cottage, had to drive home in it.  

After they left in a splash of puddles, I took advantage of the rainy afternoon to work on an art quilt. I decided I'd keep an eye on the weather and try my luck at around 5 p.m., when the tide would be going out and there would still be enough light to see it.  Instead, I saw my chance at 4:30, when the rain stopped briefly but the sky still glowered.  I put on a raincoat and drove through the fog to my favorite beach, First Encounter. I couldn't get in.

Plan B: Boat Meadow beach, a mile or so down the road. Boat Meadow is similar to First Encounter in that both beaches feature running water flowing into Cape Cod Bay. That confluence makes for a constantly changing landscape.

I would love to show you a map that shows both beaches and the streams that feed them, but I lack the technical skills.  Instead I'll provide this link to Google Maps and hope it works.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.826718,-69.9989884,13z

If you can open this link, look at the left, or west, side of the Cape, on the Bay, and see the two little creeks that empty into it.  First Encounter Beach, fed by Herring Brook, is on the north, and Boat Meadow is the one to the south.

At Boat Meadow, the beach encompasses the mouth of this creek where it joins the Bay.

It's supposedly a public, town-administered beach, complete with a public boat launch, but it didn't look very public to me, tucked away on a road that advertised that it had no outlet.  And how about this little home? 

And this little place below?

 Still, what a view down there.  What a lovely spot.

As I walked down the beach, I noticed dozens of small twittering black and white birds swirling around in the sky.  Here's a video, and if I've failed to download it properly I apologize:

And what should you expect to see in a place called Boat Meadow other than boats?

And how about this boat, below?  I don't know what kind of a boat it is, but it sure looks utilitarian.  It's a man's man's boat, and the man's man who pilots it has an unfiltered cigarette between his teeth and grease on his pants.

And how about these berries and this foliage, which I noticed growing along a low fence?  The leaves remind me of those of Virginia creeper (parthenocissus quinquefolia).  I believe that's what it is, but who can tell me for sure?  And how about those colors?

I love the color contrast of the two below.  I can identify one of them, beach pea, by the blue green color of its compound leaves.  The other plant is a toughie that creates these spiny pods about an inch long.  Who knows what that is?

 
And how about the colors of these plants, below?  I believe they're glasswort (salcornia).  I'm charmed that they turn red in the fall.

See this guy? He had the thickest Boston accent in the universe.  He said he'd just come out because the rain had let up for a few minutes.

He said he had to get out. Otherwise he'd go crazy.