A Taste of Fall

Although the cool weather of fall is still a couple of months away here in northeast Florida, a mild cold front moved through over the weekend that dropped our temperatures down into the 80s for a few days, and chased away the daily storms we'd had recently.

A couple of passing hurricanes off the coast had brought the rain. Along with them came rougher surf and bigger waves that thrilled the local surfers, but few others braved the ocean with its increased risk of rip currents.

But today, all that was past. While the ocean was still a little choppy and there was a brisk breeze from the north, flocks of sandpipers skittered across the sand and windsurfers skimmed across the water. There were a few other walkers and one surf fisherman. Not much litter other than one plastic bag mostly embedded in the sand at the edge of the surf.

It was high tide when I walked today so the sand was softer, and you could see a more angular drop-off to the beach from the erosion caused by the storms. Few shells were in the edge of the surf, and only a few a little higher up into the softer dunes that don't get washed by the waves. That nice breeze was to my back as I turned around to return home, and its little push was a welcome help for this middle-aged and out-of-shape walker!

I'm enjoying this weather for the next few days, because by the weekend the daily thunderstorms and temperatures back in the 90s are expected to return.