LONG BEACH ISLAND

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Our travels last week took us to Long Beach Island, a place we became familiar with many years ago as a spot to spend a summer vacation - which we did several times. One of the attractions there is the Barnegat Bay Light House which is no longer functioning, but is still a tourist site. I spent a while talking to the attendant on duty. Bruce was 84 years old and said he still made the climb up to the top of the lighthouse about four times a week and, occasionally, twice a day. We should all be in such good shape. Guess I'm not, since I decided not to make the effort on this occasion.

It was a good day to take a picture, with the clouds in the background. I also found the moss on the rocks along the barrier that protects the beach from erosion intriguing, so I took this picture:

We have our own little watering hole in the neighborhood here in Brotherton Acres. It's called "Shadow Lake". It's only a little over a mile from our house, so we walk to it every once in a while. In fact, we did that again this morning. In California we often walk in a county park that is home to a great blue heron rookery, so we see them there regularly. Today we saw a great blue high-tailing it to the other end of the lake as we approached. The proof is in the picture below. Look carefully, just at the shore line near the middle of the picture. That's him flying away:

When the water is calm, it makes a great mirror. As the fall progresses, the colors will become more spectacular, but, even now, the mirror effect is enchanting. Here's a shot I took on a recent morning when the water was very still. You can hardly tell which is real and which is reflected:

There are some other tantalizing effects that the water produces. There is a drain at the lower end of the lake that funnels the overflow down below the dam there. When the sun is right, the water looks very blue in a photograph, so much so that you would almost think it was sky and, in a photo like the one below, the drain appears to be floating out there in the ether. I call this one "The Black Hole". OK, so it takes a little imagination. Bear with me here:

That's it for today!