As much as I resisted the idea it was time to go home, back to my hibernaculum. It happens every year. I am stoic and brave as my kids go back to their non-summer world; I assure myself that I will just enjoy the quiet and the beauty and the cooler days and the uncrowded streets. And I do. But then? Ah, but then… some signs of serious fall appear. A morning such that I struggle over getting the gas logs pilot lit but then feel guilty about enjoying the warmth. The mornings become too chilly to have coffee out on my little deck, and a sweat shirt feels good. There is little activity to see on the waterway. A visit to the beach at twilight finds only a few of the committed still waiting for the big ones.
My daughter, Sigrid, had kindly offered to drive down and help me load my car and her SUV. I spent the day before packing things up for the move and completing my last two photo-related projects for the club. Moving day dawned, however, with the first fog of the season. Is that a message of “Go Home!”, or what? I quickly unpacked the camera and went pixel gathering.
The beach certainly wasn’t inviting.
Nor was the bay. No movement, no sound … Go Home!
Even Jonathan was sad that I was leaving.
WELCOME TO BERGIES-PLACE, MY JOURNAL 
October 14, 2012 at 7:38 pm
The dock/fog and Seagull are my faves. I get the same feeling when I go back to school but in reverse. I have to unpack everything and put the class back together again… no pixels , just pixelated 🙂
October 15, 2012 at 1:26 pm
One chuckle. Thanks, Mike.
October 15, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Ralph,
Have a really good winter and keep em coming. I enjoy getting your links as I toil away in the cold, windy and dark of LBI in the winter. Pat was so appreciative of all of Sigrid’s help and sage advise for the ACC’s
October 15, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Thanks, Larry. BTW if I made the money you do I’d stay there in the winter, too.
October 16, 2012 at 7:51 am
Ralph……………thanks, as always, for your sage and humurous commentary, and your terrific photography………….it has all become very much an integral part of our enjoyment of Beach Haven, and the neighborhood, and the wonderfully diverse neighbors…….we have the best of it all! Enjoy your “off the island” time, as we will enjoy Florida beginning next week, and probably in short order be thinking about the days ’til we can come back to Holyoke!
Best, Jay
October 17, 2012 at 7:09 am
Thanks, neighbor. I think you’re insightful about the diversity of our little half-street. We’ve probably lost Charley though, a part of that diversity who, in his 90s, told me that he thought that this would be his last summer coming down. The fish sighed with relief.
May we all have a pleasant off-island interval.
Best to Lynn.
October 16, 2012 at 9:15 am
Gosh … I feel a little sad for both you and Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I found this quote that might help you make this difficult transition:
“If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we’ve destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don’t you think that we might see each other once or twice?”
― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
October 17, 2012 at 7:00 am
Between here and now
Would be a nice place to meet
More than once or twice.
October 17, 2012 at 11:37 am
Not only did we love your Shore photos, but the comments were
really good as we’re your friend’s responses. The Shore is indeed
a special place. Aren’t we lucky to spend our summers there.
Tom and Jeanne
October 19, 2012 at 9:54 am
Thanks, Jeanne. This is heresy but I’m also enjoying being back home. Different scenery, different friends, different activities, but I do miss the beach at sunrise and the marshes at sunset.