Sunday Salon---Wonder

Yesterday, Sunday, we skipped church and headed to the Washington Coast for a day of sun and sand. It was a day full of wonder, which is my theme for the Lenten season. So without much ado, here is the day in photos.

I manned the dog, and Don manned the camera. The temperature was in the 60s and there was very little wind. We even used a little sunscreen to avoid burning.

The dog, Bingley, loved everything about the beach and got progressively wetter and sandier the longer we walked. Here he is relatively clean.

I love this photo of the dog and his reflection. Notice how much dirtier he is in this shot.

While I wrangled the dog, Don focused on the birds, the surf, and the sky.

I never remember seeing so many, if any, conch shells on the Washington beaches, but they were everywhere yesterday. Most were about two inches long and a variety of colors. Notice also the sparkles in the sand. The sand shimmered with light as if full of mica or God-particles.

Here the shells play second fiddle to the colors of the light hitting the sand. It was pretty to the naked eye but both of us were blown away by the magical colors that the camera caught. Indeed a wonder-full moment.

The coast is usually fairly monochromatic with variations of gray, but yesterday kite flyers gave us a few splashes of color and the sky was quite blue. (the kites looked better in person.) Windmills collect the power of wind and turn it into energy for us to use. It makes me stop and feel the awesome power of the human brain when put to a task to find renewable energy.

Right about the time that my husband took this artsy shot of the contrails in the sky with Bingley and I on the beach, we heard seals barking off-shore. We never saw them but we could clearly hear them. That was a first for both of us.

Don kept teasing me about my hair. It wasn't bothering me.

All day long I was very aware of the daffodils in bloom. Often they were in planters, like the ones in the photo, but many were escapees from somewhere and were blooming in fields and along side the freeways and roads. Aren't they just about the happiest flowers?

Bingley is checking out the Westport Harbor and its fishing vessels. Just was we walked by charter boats were coming back in and people were carrying their already cleaned fish in bags. Other signs promised fresh crab for sale, though we didn't buy any.

I asked Don to turn around after we passed this American flag made of sticks so I could get a picture of it. Isn't it creative? People who live at the coast often decorate their yards in very eclectic ways. Right after we passed this flag, we saw a yard sculpture which was made out of blue wine bottles made to look like a tree.

What a wonderful day. At one point I just burst out into song, "How Great Thou Art." 

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

(By the way Google, Carrie Underwood did not write this song. She may have performed it but it was written by a Swede, Carl Boberg, in 1885.)