I skipped work yesterday. I slept late and then had some cereal on the deck with the cat. Ben called after a few minutes and we toyed with a few ideas: drive out to Wellfleet & find a skatepark, visit a friend of his on Martha's Vinyard, go for a hike in the state forest, I forget what else. Anyway he'd call the friend to see about that and then be over in a little while. I cleaned up the kitchen, fed Penny and then played the guitar on 8 for about 45 minutes. I'd need a longer cord to handle any more than that. I got dressed and found a frisbee in the basement.

���� Ben arrived and we played frisbee in the front yard for a long time. The sun brightened and sweatiness countered itchiness from diving in the grass. Eventually we stopped diving; soon after that we stopped running. The frisbee kept flying into the woods. We decided to go to the beach.

���� At Ellisville beach, a dog jumped in the back of my car. Sort of a half fox, half eskimo kind of dog. A brown girl in a bikini came to get him out.

���� "Indiana!"
���� "Indiana!"
���� "Jones, come on!"

���� We crossed at "the bend," an elbow in the tidal stream connecting ocean to salt marsh, and left our stuff on a patch of hot white dune beside the plover zone. Walked down to the water.

���� There's nothing like floating face down in the ocean, bobbing up and down in the little swells, hearing the birds and wind sounds go on and off as your ears submerge and emerge. Tasting the salt by way of water in your nose.
���� It was cold. Bone hurting cold. We paddled around for a few minutes and then creeped up the rocky beach back to the sand. The chill melted away and we both fell asleep in the sun.

���� The result is a painful sunburn. On the way back to the car we stopped to collect, stack, and throw some stones. For your reference, stone categories are as follows (names should be pronounced with a Massachusetts accent):

���� Pierce - small throwing stone. Probably no more than 1.5 inches.
���� Bernards - comfortable size for throwing. 1.5-2.5 inches, maybe.
���� Okeno - larger than bernards, but I think doesn't apply to stones you can't throw with one hand.

���� Stopped at Star (or is it Shaw's now?) on the way back, bought pita bread, falafel mix, a lemon, half a watermelon, a small package of italian sausage, four ears of corn, sour cream, and some sunflower seeds. Went home, made dinner, cleaned up, took the keyboard thingy to Ben's house for his dad to play. Ben's dad played it, and it was impressive. The thing can actually sound good when somebody knows what to do with the sounds it can make. I had some ice cream, we said adios, hasta luego, have a nice time in Colorado, and I drove home.

���� The moon really lit up the sky last night, so I didn't notice any of the big meteor shower that supposedly happened. I sat on the front step and looked at Mars through the telescope for a few minutes, but my eyes were watery and itchy and the bugs were attacking so I went to bed.

���� I'll probably try it again tonight.


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