Which Is It?

Witness to devastation or search for reassurance - which is it that pulls us to the sandy barrier between ocean and population after a battering storm?

For myself I must confess it's a little of both.

I'm always awed at the way nature can change miles of landscape with a single swipe of turbulent weather. There is an inability to comprehend how water can move hundreds of tons of sand in increments of sixty minutes. And just how does wind lift a piece of driftwood from the beach and drive it through the siding of a house a quarter mile away?

As intriguing as it is to see these things I want to see someplace else - not at the beach I visit. Yes I know every beach is somebody's beach but I want mine to be special. I want to know that when summer arrives the waters of high tide will stay where they belong - at the edge of the sand, not over it. I want to know that despite nature's temperament I still have my place of solace and rejuvenation.

Now if I could just get mother nature to see things my way.....

Natural Pause

There is that moment when nature takes a deep breath.

Cacophonous birdsong falls silent. Crickets halt the rubbing of legs. Gnats cease their spinning tornado dances. Butterflies fold their swings.

Tree leaves cease to flutter. Blades of grass no longer bend. Empty playground swings stop their ghostly pendulum. The day-long heat halts its advance. Shadows have turned from black to gray.

The silent world lies waiting...waiting... until comes that boom of thunder and sizzle of lightning announcing the opening of heavens gates. Winds churned to a howling fury send pregnant clouds racing to deliver life supporting rain. Even the stoutest of trees bend before the onslaught.

In its wake the storm leaves water drip drip dripping from a dozen and more surfaces. Sporadically at first, then with confidence, crickets resume their concerto - accompanied now by the bass of croaking frog. In the audience, birds chitter excitedly about the sumptuous breakfast to be had in the morn. And people... people revel in the shelter offered by their homes.