Tuesday, February 4, 2020

On our morning beach walk today – starting, as usual, around 6:45. to catch the sunrise – at one point we agreed that, after another week, we might beome a bit bored with seeing “the same shells over and over”. However, in a matter of seconds, we both understood our mistake. We realized that literally nothing is ever “the same”, that all of reality is constantly shifting, reshaping, restyling, transforming. Everything around us, from clouds to winds to the soil under our feet, is in a steady process of metamorphosis – and that includes the Sanibel Island beach we walk on each morning. Every single shell and small piece of sand has been somehow revised and adjusted, made as new as every single moment always is. You might say our morning beach walk, therefore, is truly a foray through a freshly new universe. We are explorers in a far-fetched, implausible land.

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Three sun-bathers on the beach …

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Tall sunrise shadows of two best friends …

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In the late morning, we took a 12-mile roundtrip bike ride up to the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge — another strenuous but somehow free-and-easy ride. We stopped for lunch at the Sanibel Deli and Coffee – a soothing break at a shady table – and then cruised along in the fairly cool sunshine up to the refuge, where we studied some of the detailed instructional displays in their vsitors gallery.