The Beach

The day after Thanksgiving.

For some, it seems to be a day for shopping. For us, it kicks off our return to the New Hampshire beaches in the off-season. Today we visited the Rye Beach at low tide, a nice stretch of sandy beach for dogs to run, for kids to play at the tide's edge, for surfers to surf, and for some of us to enjoy the small stones, shells, debris, and sand patterns exposed by the receding waters.

As we looked out to sea and explored the beach, we couldn't help but ponder the row of homes sitting just above the beach. Hurricane Sandy, if it had hit this far north, would have destroyed all those homes along this seashore. In time, I suspect such a storm will reach here.

I'm glad we live 15 miles inland. We visit the beach when few others are there, including, it seems, the people that own those beachfront homes. My nieces and brother-in-law, visiting from Vermont, played at the tideline, while Srini walked Kodi down the beach in search of other dogs, and my sister and I looked for shells and stones. It is a lovely place to walk about and explore, not so good, I think, to own a home.