Lobster...

...is what I feel like about now (not eating it, being it!), after 5 hours on the beach! Various limbs and other exposed body parts are about as red as one of the lifeguard stations here.

We went to Siesta Key, off the coast of Sarasota, and spent hours just reading, sunbathing, listening to the waves. Great relaxation method.

We took a look at Turtle Beach first, but went on to Siesta Beach because of its beautiful sand...white sand some call sugar sand, because its consistency is like confectioners sugar. It's so soft, so white, kind of sparkly when it's on your skin. That's because it's made from quartz.

Hardly anyone was on the beach when we arrived at about 9:30 this morning. Kids being in school, not prime vacation season, plus the early hour guaranteed us a close parking spot and a choice of locations to park our beach chairs.


We had seen the weather forecasts change from possible rain showers to sunny, so figured it was a good day for the beach.

But after a while the clouds started blowing in. We held our ground though, and after an hour or so of threatening clouds, they blew away and the sky cleared again.

Of course the clouds moved so fast because it was so windy, in fact, perfect kite-flying weather. I don’t know when the last time was that I’ve seen people flying kites. But there were a number of them there, including this cool pelican kite.

There was one shaped like a big barrel, another bird shaped one, one that had some noise-making thing in it, one with a long multi-colored tail, a red, white and blue kite (which later had a flag hoisted up its tail). Finally we saw a kite that had two gliding heads connected to each other that made loop-de-loop shapes with the tail connecting them. Pretty cool.

We stayed out probably an hour to 90 minutes too long. Both my sister and I got burned, me far worse than she. Good thing we had plenty of aloe back at Mom’s house! Hopefully the worst of it will be gone by the time I go home.

One of the most interesting things was all the people watching. This guy was out for quite a while, doing what looked like TM or something. He would put his hands in a receptive posture for a while, then stretch them out, then bring them together in a prayer pose. And he sat there in a lotus position for the longest time.

There were also lots of parents with pre-school kids, some really cute and laughing, one that kept crying (and finally left, to our relief!). Some people had their metal detectors or sand sifters, looking for natural or man-made treasure.

All in all, it was a great, relaxing way to spend a day. It’s probably been 30 years since I’ve just lain out a beach like that, and 10 years since I’ve spent any quality time at any beach (last time being mission trip free day on the other side of the Gulf).

So I think this time the lobster skin is a small price to pay!